Chile is not exactly a force in world football and was never a glamorous team, but in Brazil they might spent some time in the spotlight. It is quite possible for them to do it for all the wrong reasons, because the South Americans will be playing in one of the most difficult groups, alongside the Netherlands and Spain. The reigning champions have the first chance to win the group and they will be trying to win maximum points in those games played against Chile and Australia.
The Netherlands can also be a hard nut to crack, simply because they have so many options upfront that you can't effectively defend against all their strikers. If given a chance to take the initiative, the Dutch will steamroll past any opponent and this is something that Chile needs to prevent. The good news is that they have a good manager in the person of Sampaoli who proved his worth in the qualification campaign and safely delivered the national team to the World Cup.
Group stage and event prospects
The last time Chile achieve something memorable at the World Cup happened more than half a century ago, when they finished third. It is going to be very difficult for the South Americans to replicate that performance, but the good news is that they have an excellent chance to surprise everyone. Their starting formation is full of players trained in Europe and they are vastly experienced, which makes them uniquely suited for these types of encounters.
Chile has one of the best midfields of all teams that participate at the World Cup, with a couple of players that are just as deadly upfront. The manager has a rather original system that he sticks to, but so far it is hard to argue with his choice, since the 3-4-3 starting formation delivered results. Compared to Spain and the Netherlands who are given insignificant odds to survive the group stage, Chile is priced at even odds by Bet365. Betting on them to win the group is far-fetched, but this particular wager makes sense.
Key players for Chile at the World Cup
Chile has radically changed his starting formation and compared to the team that played for years ago, they are a more experienced and homogenous bunch. They play enchanting football and the reason is that most of their midfielders play offensive roles, and frequently support the strikers. Speaking of which Alexis Sanchez and Eduardo Vargas are remarkable ones, capable of penetrating the best defenses. The former is given odds of 67 to 1 to score the most goals at the World Cup 2014.
What is truly surprising is that the next favorite to win this trophy is not Eduardo Vargas but midfielder Arturo Vidal. His own the best players at Juventus and he played a central role in their victory in Serie A, while bringing the team just a step from playing the Europa League final. The odds for him to be the top scorer are 81 to 1 and they say a great deal about his abilities and offensive prowess.
The bottom line
Chile could be the dark horse at this edition of World Cup and punters would be wise to keep an eye on them from start to end. One way to extract value is by betting on them to survive the group stage, while those who don't mind taking chances for the sake of high odds will of the fact that their given odds of 41 to 1 to lift the trophy.
