Spain Vs Chile latest update Spain 2-1 up if Spain wins they face Portugal next
Spain is leading the score by 2-1 over Chile and int he 68 min are set to win the game unless Chile with a man short can pull a rabit out of the hat.
Here are the thoughts before the match
In Loftus Versfeld Stadium Chile and Spain are set to play their final Group H game. Chile needs one point to advance to the round of 16 and if they win, the Spanish could be packing their bags and heading home, an embarrassing finish for the Worlds number two team. Spain has not been eliminated from group play since 1998, ironically the same year and last time that Chile reached the knockout round.
Chile has two suspended players, midfielder Carlos Carmona and playmaker Matais Fernandez. Jorge Valdivia will replace Fernandez and Rodrigo Millar, who just recently recovered from a calf sprain, will play for the combative Carmona. The team is hoping to avoid getting any more yellow cards, especially Waldo Ponce, Humberto Suazo, Jorge Valdivia and Gary Medel, all of whom will be suspended from the next game if they do.
Chile has kept seven clean sheets out of the past eight games, and has won 10 of their 12 last matches including the last five. The last time Chile advanced from the group stage was in 1998, but lost to Brazil 4-1. This year their defense has been airtight and offense very opportunistic. Coach Marco Bielsa is very optimistic for his team, who are first in their group after a pair of 1-0 victories over Honduras and Switzerland, admitting "We are in a good position, and we have one more game to prove ourselves even more."
Spain is happy star forward David Villa was not suspended after slapping Honduran Emilio Izaguirre, look for him alongside Fernando Torres, Spain’s famous football duo. Villa is one goal away from becoming Spain’s all time top scorers in the World Cup, so far scoring five times. Andres Iniesta is back after recovering from a minor leg injury which kept him out of the Honduras match and will play in the starting lineup. Spain is the only team in World Cup who has not yet received a yellow or red card, and needs to win the match today if they are to avoid being eliminated.
Spanish keeper Pepe Reina believes they can still win the World Cup despite their defeat to Switzerland, “We knew that any opponent here was going to be tough, and maybe this was good for us to lose now, so we pay a bit more attention and wake up a little bit for the future games” he said after their defeat. Spain entered the World Cup as trendy favorites but Reina has made it clear the team never considered themselves favorites, “We don’t consider ourselves clear favorites. . . We’ve never done particularly well in the World Cup as a nation, but I don’t think there’s extra pressure on us because of that. We want to win the World Cup and we will try to do so”
Though Spain has never lost to Chile in the seven meetings they’ve had, Coach Vincent Del Bosque admits past triumphs will have no gravity on future successes. This comes in light of Spain’s loss to Switzerland, a team they had never been beaten by until this year’s World Cup. The only other time Spain and Chile have played on the World Cup stage was in 1950, and Spain won 2-0.
Spain has won all of their final group matches out of the six World Cup competitions they’ve participated in. Spain is second in the world, Brazil is first, and if they win the World Cup they will make history as the only team to win the cup but lose their first group match, a 1-0 defeat from Switzerland. Spain strengthened their goal differential after a better finish of 2-0 over Honduras on Monday. Villa scored both and was too wide on a third, but the outcome of the match has put Spain in control of their destiny.
Defender Sergio Ramos said "The team has found the path to follow and the only thing we need to improve upon is our finishing . . . It's true that it would have been useful to have won by more goals, but we'll still go into the game against Chile high on confidence." If Spain can pull off a win, they will secure their second place spot in the group.
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