The Chile vs Northern Ireland (Irlanda del Norte) friendly match will be played this Wednesday, June 4,2014 (5:00 PM Pacific) at the Estadio Elías Figueroa Brander.
Chile had a pretty comfortable qualification path to the World Cup, finishing at a strong third place behind Argentina and Colombia in the South American qualifying group. Northern Ireland didn’t have a great campaign, finishing only in front of Luxembourg in their qualifying group.
Both teams played a few friendlies after qualification cycle has ended, and Chile enjoyed much more success. The South Americans played five games, mostly with very strong opponents, and won three of them. They beat Egypt, Costa Rica and the big guns, England, and lost to two of the biggest favorites in the forthcoming World Cup, Brazil and Germany, only by one goal margin.
On the other hand, Northern Ireland didn’t manage to score in three games against Uruguay, Cyprus and Turkey, but they were undefeated against Cyprus, holding them to goalless draw.
Considering all of this, this game should be a chance for the Chilean manager to try out some of the players who didn’t get a great amount of game minutes up to date, and maybe experiment a bit with formations and style.
For the Northern Irish, this is the chance to play against the strong team which qualified for the World Cup, and see how they fare against them.
Chile is drawn in a tough group in the World Cup, along with Netherlands, Australia, and the reigning champions Spain. They will play against the champion and the finalist from the last championship, but considering their results against top teams in the qualifications and friendly games, they will have a chance to surprise one or both of the European big guns.
Chile has great players, among which Barcelona’s attacker Alexis Sanchez and Juventus’ midfielder Arturo Vidal really stand out.
Chile vs Northern Ireland Prediction
It is expected that Chile will start attacking right from the start, putting Northern Ireland in a defensive position – the Northern Irish are unlikely to spend too much time on the opponents’ half due to their inefficiency.
Considering all the facts, even if Chile feature reserve team in the field, this shouldn’t be a tight contest, and an easy victory should fall into the hands of the South American squad.
Chile vs Northern Ireland Television
The match will be televised on beIN Sports Play at 5:00 PM Pacific.
