When Chile lifted the Copa America in front of their home fans in July it marked the first time that the Chilean national team had ever won a senior football title. They fulfilled all of the dreams that the public had for their exciting crop of players.
The ticker tape has now been cleared from Santiago's squares and the partying has finished, and now two months later Chile embark on their first chance to prove that they are still capable of dominating the continent and stake their claim for a place at the World Cup in Russia.
Thursday night sees the Chileans return to the scene of their great triumph, the Estadio Nacional in Santiago, and Alexis Sanchez and co will be hoping to get their World Cup qualifying campaign off to a good start as they face traditional heavyweights Brazil.
The Brazilians, however, will be without talisman Neymar who is suspended after his unceremonious red card during his nation's Copa America match against Colombia last June.
Replacing Neymar would be an impossible job for any player or coach but it is likely that Phillippe Coutinho will given given the task of generating Brazil's attacks alongside Willian of Chelsea and Douglas Costa of Bayern Munich.
Brazil looked very short of attacking ideas during the Copa after Neymar's suspension and coach Dunga will be hoping that his team of experienced players - including former world footballer of the year Kaka - can upset a confident Chile side playing in front of their own fans.
Chile will themselves be without an important player in Charles Aranguiz, who injured his ankle before the season and will be missing for up to six months.
For those fans packed into the Estadio Nacional the great hope will be that Chile avoid repeating Colombia's failure of 2001 when they won the Copa America and then endured a dismal World Cup Qualifying campaign to miss out on the championships in Japan and Korea the following year.
As usual, the hopes of Chile will fall on the shoulders of star men Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal, both of whom starred in the Copa America and will need to perform similar heroics to help Chile board the plane for Russia in two and a half years time.
Sanchez and Vidal, however, are both doubts for the match against the Brazilians and coach Jorge Sampaoli will have to wait until the last moment before deciding whether or not to include the two in his match day squad.
When: Thursday, October 8th
Where: Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile
Kick Off: 19:30 ET
TV Schedule: BeIN Sports USA
Live Stream: BeIN Sports Connect
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
