Chile Camp Focus – La Roja look to power on after an impressive opening victory
After a rampant 2-1 victory over a young, inexperienced Mexico side, Chile will look to continue their good form against Uruguay in what could turn out to be a decisive match in the competition. Chile could secure their place in the quarter-finals of the Copa America with a victory and coach Claudio Borghi’s philosophy will remain in an attacking vein as always.
La Roja are undefeated in their last five international fixtures and will look to capitalise on Uruguay’s poor start to the competition by upsetting the odds. The threatening forward line of Diego Forlan, Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani could cause havoc against a Chile side who love to attack at all times, but Chile hold aces of their own upfront. Udinese forward Alexis Sanchez is tipped to be one of the standouts of the competition and showed exactly why he is being hunted by Champions League winners Barcelona and wealthy Premier League side Manchester City in the match, earning player of the game in the process.
In their opening game, Chile came from a goal behind to win 2-1 and showed their resiliency to continue with their attacking philosophy. The Mexican goal came against the run of play and Borghi will be looking to keep tight defensively with the help of holding midfielder Arturo Vidal. The Bayer Leverkusen player scored the winner against Mexico and performed admirably, protecting the Chilean backline from the youthful exuberance of the El Tricolor forwards.
15,000 Chilean fans made the trip across the Andes to Argentina for the opening fixture and showed their rapturous support in the freezing conditions in San Juan. A similar amount of fans are expected to make the trip to the Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza, a ground which holds 45,000 spectators.
The only injury worry for Borghi is the fitness of midfielder Matias Fernandez, who was substituted after 83 minutes of the fixture against Mexico. Chile club doctor Luis Maya believes that Fernandez is not fully ruled out of the tournament, but could miss the second group game against Uruguay. A scan showed that the Sporting Lisbon midfielder has ‘no bruising or muscle tears’ and the problem was an acute issue.
Fernandez and the rest of his Chilean teammates are prepared for the task of Uruguay with forward Alexis Sanchez stating: ‘It’s a very hard rival, but all are in the Copa America.’ Uruguay reached the semi-final of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and were widely expected to top Group C, but a lacklustre start against Peru has given Chile renewed confidence in how they can hurt the Celeste.
Uruguay are aware of the attacking capabilities of Chile with Napoli and Uruguay forward Cavani believing that there will be a completely different contest for the Celeste compared to the one they faced against Peru. Cavani said: ‘Chile is a team that goes out to impose their game, likes to create plays on offense.’
Chile will have to live up to the early promise they showed against Mexico and coach Claudio Borghi is expected to try and keep with the same line-up against El Tricolor on Monday.
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