Match 31: Chile-Switzerland 21 June (Pre-Match)

Re: Match 31: Chile-Switzerland 21 June

Yep, Honduras was a pretty tight defensive unit...we had a lot of possession in their area, but their penalty box was a wall.

Although I'm not sure it is because they are used to this or Chile simply pushed them back and forced them to play this way. Some posters from the N.American zone tell me Honduras is not usually a defensive side.

 

looks rather we're going to start similar in this match than vs Spain. Maybe, there are no changes in our squad except Senderos. Then, I hope Behrami and Frei will be back for Honduras as we'll have to attack and especially Behrami could be very helpful to bring in some good movements

 

Only that now, you`ll have to deal with Sánchez`s movility and probably find out why H. Suazo was top scorer in the South American qualyfying zone.

Please try to bunker against us, do us a favor by doing so.
Besides, we`ve already overcome our past stigma of not being a wining team in World cups.

 

I fear 3 teams tying with 6 points each. Strangely Chile is assured of advancement with 5points (barring Honduras winning out, near impossible), but can be eliminated with 6 points.

Now chew on this possible scenario. North Korea holds out for 2 draws, Brazil wins out, and that group advances a team with 2 points, while a 6point team in this group is eliminated

 

Re: Match 31: Chile-Switzerland 21 June

no honduras isnt
but we had 3 injuries to our 2 staring forwards
david suazo and carlo costly
and our creator and free kick tacker rambo de leon
3 of our key offensive players
thats y we looked so lost on offense because we didnt have those guys
lol
i mean thats y we didnt have any offense

 

The dice has been rolled. We have to deal with the group we have.

 

Re: Match 31: Chile-Switzerland 21 June

Are any of those players recovering for the next couple of matches? I fancy Honduras against the Swiss. It's a bad matchup for Switzerland.

 

Chile will advance and hopefully take first place. In this forum it seems that Chileans believe that Spain will certainly win against us. However this is not the view of our players. Our players know that they can win and they will aim for this.


No offense to Spanish fans.

 

Not sure why Spanish fans would take offense to what you said. You should believe that you can beat Spain, you have a very good team.

 

Lets hope that Switzerland plays confident since they beat Spain. Also, Switzerland has not received goals in 2 world cups in a row...Lets see what our players can do, we had the 2nd best offense in the Conmebol qualies against a very good team at defending. When we score 1 goal, the game will open up allowing us to score more, as it would allow the likes of Sanchez, Mati , Suazo lots of 1 on 1's. The problem is that the first goal will be hard, hope im wrong.

IT would suck so much not making it with 6 points for either team.

 

i can't see Honduras losing all 3 games.

either spain or switzerland are likely to end up with 4...this means two ties or one would be enough for Chile.

I have a feeling Honduras ties spain

 

Re: Match 31: Chile-Switzerland 21 June

only david suazo should be back vs spain
but carlo costly and rambo de leon are out for the world cup
=/
injuries killed us

 

Game by game... at this point, to me, the game against Switzerland is a big question mark. Many Chileans predicted we would beat Honduras by 3 goals and we couldn't manage more than one.

 

Caturro, my friend, you must know that we Chileans before any match have the tendency to minimize the possibility of the rival, and mostly it is done without any decisive fact that can support a conclussion as that. So in the case of Honduras, many of us said that they practically don`t even know how to play the game, so they were going to be an easy prey for us, which is a complete ignorant statement, but based on those ficticious facts, you can say whatever you please, but it has no valid argument. Honduras is a very good team and they won their place in their qualification zone with lots of courage and ability, so they are a dificult rival for any team. Also remember that our team (Chile) lost in preparatory matches against some of their rivals in the Concacaf zone, which got eliminated precisely by Honduras. So our victory against them by 1 - 0, is an absolute valid score for a match between two equal opponents. Of course during the game it seemed as they were outclassed, but this was due to that our team played
marvelously and didn`t allow them to play what they can play. This fact, enhances the future possibilities of our team, but it doesn`t minimize Honduras possibilities in the next future matches.

Of course it is not an easy game too, neither for us, neither for them. We both have the same chances, and therefore we must support our team at all cost, in order to give them the exact mood, so they can achieve the best possible result. And of course, our Swiss friends, are going to support their respective team the same way as we do, which is totally respectful and out of the question to think that they will do otherwise. They have the same certainty, wishes and doubts about their team, that we can have about our own, since both teams are at the same level. A tie among our teams is an absolute valid result and if ever one beats the other, it is very likely that it will not be a huge diference. The fabulous result they achieved against Spain, taught us all, that Spain is at our same level too, so anything can happen in the next 2 remaining matches, and at this point anyone can pass to the next round. Before this group started we all thought that Spain was going to be without doubt first beating all of the rest of the teams, and of course it was going to force us (Honduras, Switzerland and Chile), to fight only for the second place, and now this has changed to a very diferent, complicated, unthinkable and very tough scenario.
I wish that we beat Switzerland now, I can`t think much about the next game against Spain, because this game against Switzerland is going to be terribly hard. One thing first, than the rest, we`ll see afterwards what can happen...........

 

Chile plays more direct football...there isn't much faffing about and side to side passing and probing...it's pretty straightforward and frenetic...it demands a lot from our players though and I think it will get harder and harder as time passes. I'm hoping we make a quick opening goal and take it from there. Suazo should be back which is a massive plus.

 

So nervous about this game and it's still only Friday! We definitely need to score early to set the tempo. And yes, hopefully Suazo will give us the boost needed to stroll into the 3rd match with 6 points.

 

Agreed 200%. 'That said...

Come on, bro: it's fair to say that if H. Suazo had played, we would have scored at least one more.

Like I said in my "game analysis", the Honduras game must be interpreted in the context in which it was played: the only two "9s" in the squad were not available and consequently we were playing with an improvised "10" as our "hombre-gol".

 

I just hope we approach this match with the same discipline like the first. We can not afford to sit back. Senderos will once again be replaced by von Bergen. The question is will Frei and Behrami return to the team after their injuries?

GK: Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg)
LD: Reto Ziegler (Sampdoria)
CD: Stéphane Grichting (Auxerre)
CD: Steve von Bergen (Hertha Berlin)
RD: Stephan Lichtsteiner (Lazio)
LM: Gelson Fernandes (St. Etienne)
CM: Gökhan Inler (Udinese)
DM: Benjamin Huggel (Basel)
RM: Tranquillo Barnetta (Leverkusen) or Valon Behrami (West Ham)
FW: Blaise Nkufo (Twente)
FW: Eren Derdiyok (Leverkusen) or Alexander Frei (Basel)

 

Good luck my friend, although I wish we have a little bit more.

 

Probable starting XI:

Claudio Bravo (Real Sociedad/SPA)

Waldo Ponce (Universidad Católica)
Gary Medel (Boca Juniors/ARG)
Gonzalo Jara (West Bromwich Albion/ENG)

Mauricio Isla (Udinese/ITA)
Carlos Carmona (Reggina/ITA)
Arturo Vidal (Bayer Leverkusen/GER)
Matías Fernández (Sporting Lisboa/POR)

Alexis Sánchez (Udinese/ITA)
Humberto Suazo (Real Zaragoza/SPA back to Monterrey/MEX)
Jean Beausejour (América/MEX).

Coach: Marcelo Bielsa(ARG).

I hope to see Jorge Valdivia (Al-Ain/UAE) and Fabián Orellana (Xerez/SPA) in the 2nd half.

 

we gotta win to aviod Brasil, most likely theyll be first, specially after today.

 

We have to win...and if possible get a good goal difference. We need a pillow for the Spain game should they put 3 goals past us again.

Am I asking for too much? Yes...but that is what you need in world cup level and I don't think its something out of our reach.

 

If we can win 2-0 or 3-0, I'll be ecstatic. I'll say it again, I like that line-up alot. I have a very good feeling about Suazo coming back.