Chile’s national coach Marcelo Bielsa assures that star striker Humberto Suazo will play next Wednesday against Honduras in their inaugural match. The talented forward has been nursing a hamstring injury that he suffered in a preparation friendly last month and was expected to miss the first two games for Chile. However, the Argentine Bielsa was adamant that Suazo play against Honduras.
The real story should be why Bielsa will not save his star player, especially against a winnable opponent like Honduras. My thinking is that cerebral Marcelo desperately wants not only to win this game but get a favorable goal difference. Keep in mind that Chile plays in the same group with cup favorites Spain and one of the two teams that will move forward from this group will likely face Brazil in the second round. Conventional thinking is that Chile is playing for second place in this group and likely will face Brazil from Group G. Chile has an abysmal record against powerhouse Brazil and Marcelo would rather take his chances at upsetting Spain in group play than face “joga bonito” in round 2.
Group H will be interesting to watch as Chile might be a world cup surprise and Spain will have to demonstrate its worthy of being considered a cup favorite.
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