Chile will be making their eighth appearance in the World Cup in South Africa which will come as a surprise to most, simply because the Chileans have never really made much of an impact on the tournament barring the 1962 competition which they hosted. Chile are difficult to beat at home, but question remarks remain about their ability to perform away from South America.
Five of their previous seven World Cup campaigns have ended in the first round. However, in 1962 as hosts, they made it all the way to the semi final where they lost 4-2 to Brazil. Their second match against Italy went down in infamy as the ‘Battle of Santiago’ and is considered to be one of the most vicious matches in World Cup history. Incidentally, the referee from that game Ken Aston went on to invent yellow and red cards a few years later. They also defeated European Champions the USSR and officially finished third after beating Yugoslavia 1-0 in the third place playoff. Their only other excursion past the first round came in 1998 when they got into the second round after an impressive 2-2 draw with Italy in the group stages. However, Brazil were far too good for them winning 4-1 in the last 16.
What is normally an arduous journey through South American qualifying ended with great success for Chile as they finished in second place, only one point behind group winners Brazil. The highlight of their campaign undoubtedly a 1-0 home win over Argentina, although they sealed their passage to the World Cup finals with a fine 4-2 win in Colombia.
Their World Cup group is certainly an interesting one containing Spain, Honduras and Switzerland. Conventional wisdom suggests that Spain should coast through, but Chile will certainly not fear Switzerland or Honduras and will feel that making the second round for only the third time is well within their capabilities. They will be looking to ex-Liverpool winger Mark Gonzalez and prolific goalscorer Humberto Suazo to fire them into the knockout stages, although Suazo currently has an injury that will sideline him for a few weeks. Chile will be hoping that he returns in time to help them in their World Cup quest.