SA Blog Number 16: South American World Cup Fortunes: Group H Not Too Hot For Chile & Saint Marcelo
January 10th 2010
Having already taken a look at the groups facing Argentina and Brazil this summer, let’s move swiftly along to that of every South American neutral’s favourites these days – Chile.
Group H: Spain, Honduras, Switzerland and Chile
Chile have quite simply been a joy since former Argentina coach Marcelo ‘El Loco’ Bielsa took the reigns in 2007; wowing the continent with their aesthetic blend of pace, skill, and most importantly in a time when even Brazil are enough to send football fans into a sombre state of siesta, their insistence on playing high-tempo attacking football.
Chile cruised through qualification as swiftly as their consumable namesake races through one’s digestive organs and emerged out the other side smelling of roses. They won no less than ten of their 18 qualifying matches, a record not bettered by anyone in the continent, and finished comfortably in second place.
Despite opening qualification with a 2-0 loss at the hands of Argentina (when they used to be quite good at football), Chile took scalps all over The Americas, most notably cruising to a 2-0 victory in the dizzy heights of La Paz and thrashing Colombia 4-0.
They also finished with the tournament´s top scorer in their ranks: the beast that is Humberto Suazo, who has just sealed a move that will take him to La Liga with Zaragoza after being linked with, well, everyone in Europe really. Suazo is undoubtedly one of the best strikers to be playing outside of Europe in recent times and boasts a quite incredible goalscoring record. He’s quick, strong as an Ox, and, endearingly, a little bit mental. He resembles Debray Dario Silva at the height of his powers, yet is stronger and more ruthless in front of goal.
While Suazo may be their most high profile star right now, Chile have a host of sublime talents at their disposal; Mati Fernandez is dynamic in the midfield; Udinese’s Alexis Sánchez is, as Tim Vickery says, ‘The Real Deal’; Claudio Maldonado is capable of doing battle with the worlds best in the middle of the park; Carlos Villanueva, when on song, is a beautiful playmaker, a real 10; Roma’s David Pizzaro orchestrates the passing game with an elegance rarely seen in the modern game; and, well, it seems that even a Pineapple-headed Jason Lee would look world class in this team right now.
In fact, strength in depth is something else that Bielsa seems to have effortlessly brought to La Roja (The Red). Their last performance in Europe, a friendly in which they comfortably shrugged aside fellow World Cup qualifiers Slovakia with a second string side, left Slovakia manager Vladimir Weiss proclaiming, “at times it seemed like we were playing Barcelona, they don´t let you get near the ball.”
El Loco has his Chile team playing high-intensity attacking football, they get the wing-backs flying forward and they’re just, well, they’re just fun! The cool climate in South Africa will no doubt aide the players’ ability to keep that intensity going over 90 minutes and El Loco is confident enough in his bench to haul off anyone who doesn’t. Bielsa has also successfully installed a solid work ethic throughout the squad, “Every player, at whatever time in the match, has a good reason to be running somewhere.” He says, “There is no reason whatsoever for a player to be standing still.”
And not only have they captured neutral fan’s imaginations, but it’s brought results too. Chile will play their first World Cup for twelve years. Not since the days of Ivan Zamarano and Marcelo Salas have Chile braced the world stage with their presence. Marcelo Bielsa has excelled in everything he’s done as Chile coach, and as I’m supposed to keep this blog relatively short, here’s one swift shortlist of the high-praise and many superlatives his tenure has earned.
President Michele Bachelet said he was “an example and role model for young people;” model Pilar Jarpa claimed he was now a “sex symbol;” CFF President Harold Mayne-Nichols said “Marcelo has become a true idol among the people;” There’s a facebook campaign to see him become the country’s next president and last, but by no means least, there’s this website. The whole of Chile is bowing down to Saint Bielsa, and at last count, around 70,000 candles have been lit in his honour.
So, Spain aside, it’s hard to see Chile not emerging from Group H. While Honduras have impressed in CONCACAF and are hugely improved, they are still very much a footballing nation finding their feet on the world stage. Switzerland topped their World Cup group, but faced nowhere near the strength of opposition that Chile came up against.
This Chile side will surely emerge from Group H, and from there, who knows. But one thing is for sure, if you want to take in some exciting South American football as part of your World Cup viewing this summer, you can forget Brazil and Argentina, there is nobody hotter than Marcelo Bielsa’s Chile.
Elsewhere in South America..
Manchester United Target Douglas Costa Signs For Shakhtar Donetsk
Keep up to date with the goings on in South American at your number one English speaking South American football site, aptly named http://www.southamericanfootball.co.uk
Rupert Fryer, SouthAmericanFootball.co.uk
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Nathan Wind
:::2010-01-10 15:45:10
Lovely little blog that...quick question, what´s your opinion of Gary Medel. How´s he got on since moving to Boca and will he be a definate starter for Chile in the summer?
Rupert_SAF
:::2010-01-11 14:25:47
Gary Medel definitely has potential. He is athletic, tenacious, can play box-to-box and even chipped in with a few goals in the Apertura just gone.
His problem, or blessing depending on how you wish to look at it, is that he has joined a club in real crisis. Boca were awful last season, finishing 11th which means they won´t be playing Libertadores football this coming season either.
While not playing in the continents premier club competition will no doubt hinder his development, arriving at such a massive club only to find them struggling so badly may actually see him mature a little quicker.
There were a number of occasions last season when, with no Riquelme, Boca were completely pitiful and Medel went on a one man mission to try and lift those around him. To see him taking such responsibility so early in his Boca career is encouraging.
He has enough ability to play in Europe and is now developing a mental strength, one more year in Argentina and he will be ready to play anywhere.
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