Chile’s coach Jorge Sampaoli confessed late Tuesday, that he was still unsure if his star midfielder was physically fit to play in important group B match vs. Spain on Wednesday.
Juventass midfielder Arturo Vidal is still not 100 percent after undergoing knee surgery last month. Despite the short recovery time, Vidal was able to play just under an hour in Chile’s 3-1 win of the Socceroos of Austraila last Friday. “My knee has responded very well. Playing against Australia was my decision. As I said, I wanted to play at the World Cup even if it meant risking my knee.” He revealed.
Vidal was asked if he was 100 percent since earlier reports were that his coach did not believe he was. “I’ll try to be 100 percent.” He answered hesitantly.
Wednesday’s match vs. Spain is perhaps the deciding match of the tournament for the Chilean squad. A win and they most likely move on to the knockout round, while sending the defending World Cup champions to elimination. A loss and they will have to beat a difficult Dutch team on June 23rd to move on to the second round.
With Vidal, Chile has only lost twice over their last 16 games, a torrid stretch for the South American country. Vidal knows how important the match against Spain is and that their opening round loss to Netherlands 5-1 can be misleading. “If you stop to look at this Spain (team) and the one in South Africa, I believe this (team) is stronger. We’d take a draw, but we’ll go out to win as always.” He said.
When asked the same question, Sampaoli answered, “Don’t forget they lost against Switzerland in their opening game at the last World Cup, but still became champions.”
Sampaoli said he will wait until just before the game before he decides whether or not to start Vidal. If Vidal doesn’t start, look for Sampaoli to bring in midfielder Franciso Silva in his place and switch Chile’s style to a three-man defensive approach.
If by chance, Chile is able to draw or beat Spain, look for Vidal to rest his knee against Netherlands in hope of being fully fit for the round of 16.
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