Santiago, Dec 25 (IANS) Chile’s chances of winning the 2014 World Cup in Brazil are slim, Chile’s National Football Association (ANFP) President Sergio Jadue said Tuesday.
The Chilean national team faces tough competition from the start, as its competitors in Group B include Spain and the Netherlands, Xinhua quoted Jadue as saying in an interview to a radio station.
“It would be surprising to eliminate the Netherlands, Spain or Australia from the World Cup. We cannot be labeled the favourite (to win). Chile has never won a World Cup or even an Americas Cup,” Jadue acknowledged.
Jadue said he backed the assessment of national team coach Jorge Sampaoli, who told the website of world soccer body FIFA several days ago that Chile was not in a position to be favoured to win the 2014 event.
“Considering the teams we are going to face, it is illogical to think that we can win the World Cup,” Sampaoli told FIFA.
“What Jorge (Sampaoli) was pointing out is that if we are in a group that includes two finalists from the last World Cup, then neither he, the national team nor the ANFP is responsible” for winning the World Cup.
Chile will play its first match of the World Cup June 13 against Australia. On June 18, it will face current world champion Spain, and it will finally close the first round of games with a match against the Netherlands, which came in second place at the 2010 South Africa edition.