Chilean Players Announced for Match Against Iran

The names of the players of the Chilean national football team for two friendly matches against Iran and Brazil have been announced. The Chileans will face Iran on April 6 with the same lineup as the World Cup. The match between Iran and Chile will be held at the St. Pölten Stadium in Austria. Three days later, Chile will compete against the Brazilian national team in London at Arsenal's stadium, and Iran will face the Swedish national team in Stockholm five days later. Interestingly, although both upcoming matches for Chile are friendly, they are considered a form of revenge, as they lost to both Iran and Brazil in their last encounters via penalty shootouts. This will be the third time Iran and Chile meet. In 1972, at the Santa Cruz Stadium in Recife during a tournament known as the Mini World Cup, Iran lost 2-1 to Chile, with Majid Halvaei scoring for Iran and both goals for Chile scored by Carlos Caszely. The two teams also faced each other before the 1998 World Cup in a tournament in Hong Kong, where Manuel Neira scored for Chile and Mehdi Mahdavikia for Iran, ending the regular time at 1-1. Iran managed to defeat Chile in the penalty shootout, with Ahmadreza Abedzadeh shining in goal and converting the last penalty for Iran. Chile did not have its two superstars, Ivan Zamorano and Marcelo Salas, who were playing for Inter Milan and Lazio at that time. Chile advanced from its group in the 2010 World Cup but lost to Brazil in the Round of 16. They defeated the defending champion Spain 2-0 in the 2014 World Cup and advanced to the next stage along with the Netherlands, facing Brazil again in the knockout stage for the second consecutive time. Their 120-minute match against the World Cup host ended in a 1-1 draw, with Chile winning in the penalty shootout. The Chilean Football Federation has announced the names of 20 players for the matches against Iran and Brazil. Claudio Bravo, the Barcelona goalkeeper with 87 international caps, will wear the number one jersey. Gonzalo Jara, who plays in the Bundesliga for Mainz, is one of the defenders. Gary Medel from Inter Milan, Mauricio Isla from Queens Park Rangers, Miko Albornoz from Hannover, Enzo Roco from Elche in La Liga, and Igor Lichnovsky from Porto are other defenders from Chile. Among the defensive players, only Eugenio Mena is not in Europe; he is a member of the Cruzeiro team in Brazil. In midfield, Arturo Vidal, the Juventus star, is present. Matias Fernandez and David Pizarro from Fiorentina, Carlos Carmona from Atalanta, Pedro Hernandez from Celta Vigo, Jose Fuenzalida (Boca Juniors), Jorge Valdivia (Palmeiras), and Rodrigo Millar (Atlas Mexico) are other midfield players. The most notable Chilean player is Alexis Sanchez, who has joined Arsenal from Barcelona and plays a key role in the team. Eduardo Vargas from Queens Park Rangers and Fabian Orellana from Celta Vigo are also other attacking players from Chile. This team, known as La Roja in the football world, is coached by Jorge Sampaoli from Argentina, just like in the 2014 World Cup. Iran and Chile were supposed to meet on September 10, 2013, in a training camp in Portugal, but opposition from some clubs regarding the camp, the upcoming match of Esteghlal against Buriram of Thailand, and ultimately the Iranian Football Federation's inability to cover the $300,000 cost of the camp led to the cancellation of the match.