Chile are so fluid and offensively minded that formations are almost irrelevant. When faced with tougher opposition, coach Jorg Sampaoli tends to deploy three centre-backs; Gary Medel, Gonzalo Jara and Francisco Silva played against Spain and the Netherlands, with the latter left out against Australia. Mauricio Isla and Eugenio Mena work the flanks, with Marcelo Diaz and Charles Aranguiz notionally holding midfielders. If that group can contain Neymar, Oscar, Fred and Hulk as capably as they did Andres Iniesta, David Silva, Pedro and Diego Costa, they will stand a fine chance. In attack, Arturo Vidal, Alexis Sanchez, Eduardo Vargas and possibly Jorge Valdivia will press high up the pitch, breaking at pace, switching positions and attempting to wreak the sort of havoc that has yielded four first-half goals thus far. They may be particularly keen to get at Brazil full-backs Dani Alves and Marcelo, neither of whom have looked convincing in a sporadically shaky back four.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 11:49:23 +0000
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