FIFA World Cup 2014 Predictions: Match #19 Spain vs. Chile
Final Score
Spain 0 Chile 2
[Spain, the winner of 2010 FIFA World Cup, becomes the first team to be eliminated]
Overview
The nineteenth match of the FIFA World Cup 2014 is going to be held between Spain and Chile. The Group B match should be interesting as it is a must-win match for Spain as it already lost against the Netherlands. Chile, on the other hand, must know that a win here means a berth in the "group of 16," just like 2010.
Teams
Spain: The world champions are hurt, and they are hurt really bad. In fact, this Spanish team has never faced the kind of humiliating defeat that it suffered against the Netherlands in the opening match. There is nothing more dangerous than a hurt lion. There are only two things that can possibly happen to Spain. It can either sulk in and humiliate itself more or act like a champion that it is and strike back even harder. Expect the latter. The star-studded team will forget about the miserable defeat and prove its true strength against Chile.
Chile: Chile played impressive football against Australia and enjoyed an emphatic 3-1 win. It has been consistently playing well for quite some time. It finished third in the South American qualifying section, being only four points behind Argentina and three points ahead of Uruguay. It is a higher ranked team (14th) than star teams like the Netherlands, France and Croatia. Jorge Sampaoli emphasised on more improvements in the team as he would want more "complete" performances from his team, he said.
Head to Head
Spain and Chile played 10 times against each other before. Spain won 8 out of it, and 2 matches ended in a draw. Chile, which never won against Spain yet, scored 8 out of 33 total goals scored between the teams.
Key Players
Spain: David Villa, Xabi Alonso and Andrés Iniesta
Chile: Alexis Sánchez and Jorge Valdívia
Date, Time & Venue
Brazil's time zone is UTC/GMT -3. The match starts at 4 pm (local time) on June 18, which means it is 5 am on June 19 in New South Wales, Australia. The match will be held at Maracanã - Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho in Rio De Janeiro.
Prediction
Spain will show why it is the present world champion. It will win with a final score line 4-1.
Group Predictions
Group A, Group B, Group C, Group D, Group E, Group F, Group G & Group H
Reference: FIFA
Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au