As the soccer universe still tries to make sense of the Netherland’s 5-1 win, the World Cup moves on.
The other half of Group B takes to the pitch in Cuiaba as Chile looks to keep pace against Australia.
The match kicks off at 6pm ET, and here’s all the essentials.
[ MORE, Previews: Chile | Australia | Group B ]
[ MORE, Soccerly: Preview | Follow live ]
LINEUPS:
Chile – Bravo; Mena, Isla, Medel, Jara; Vidal, Valdivia, Aranguiz, Diaz; Sanchez, Vargas.
Australia – Ryan; Franjic, Spiranovic, Wilkinson, Davidson; Bresciano, Milligan, Jedinak, Oar, Leckie; Cahill.
Talking points:
1. Australia builds for the future with a very young squad.
Goalkeeper Maty Ryan is 22, winger Tommy Oar is 22, Mathew Leckie is 23, Tommy Oar is 22, Jason Davidson is 22, etc, etc. With so much youth, it’s hard to see Australia making much noise in this competition at all, but they could be a force for the future.
2. Can Chile become the dark horse many are predicting them to be?
With the Dutch making a statement and the defending champions still the defending champions, Chile has a mountain to climb in their group, but many have tabbed them as a team to watch for an upset. As the Netherlands put up five goals on Spain, Chile will need as many as they can muster to keep pace. Arturo Vidal is leading the way of a relatively unknown squad, and they’ll be looking to change that, starting here.
Expectation: Chile should win this one comfortably, and they’ll need to if they want to keep pace with both teams playing earlier.
One blogger’s predictions: Chile takes it 2-0, getting their legs early before using their experience to take down a young Australian squad.
