Date 2 of the South American Qualifiers has arrived. This Tuesday, the 10 Conmebol teams will face their second match leading up to the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Colombia, who debuted with a win over Venezuela, will visit Chile who were forced to score at Santiago’s Monumental stadium. La Roja lost against Uruguay in Montevideo and now need to get the points back as a home team.
Eduardo Berizzo, coach of the Chilean team, analyzed the upcoming confrontation against the Colombian team in a press conference and emphasized the offensive capacity of the players coached by Néstor Lorenzo. On the other hand, he explained that, barring a surprise, Alexis Sánchez will be the starter. The striker of Inter Milan fell in the premiere vs. Uruguay, recovered and available.
“In a complicated Qualifier like this, the important thing is to be clear about the objective, to keep working, keeping ourselves mentally focused. We have an important match tomorrow, we will play at home, we will try to win like every game,” said the conference coach.
And he added: “Tomorrow we will think about a game where we have to control the ball and play it with intelligence.” In addition to the availability of Alexis, the Chile coach confirmed that Marcelino Núñez is out due to injury.
Berizzo: “We will try to prevent Colombia from playing”
There is Alexis Sánchez: “He can start the game clearly. Now he is an option and he is an important player who opens the attack with quality. “He is a high player, important for us and for sure We will include him in the starting team.”
Analysis of Colombia: “An opponent who plays well, with very strong wing players, players who have a destabilizing 1 on 1 on the sides and who develop the game very well. We will put pressure, we will try to prevent our opponent from playing, we will use the ball well and make better attacks than what happened in the first match in Uruguay (…) In a Qualifier like in this you can lose games and that does not mean that you lose strength to reach the end alive.”
What do you expect from Tricolor?: “They have been playing with a 4-3-3 system for a long time. So we expect the same system, with particularities given the characteristics of the steering wheels and the band. Arias is a footballer who started the game with Venezuela as a midfielder, then finished it as a right winger. Carrascal is an organizer of the game with James. Three midfielders like Lerma, Barrios and Uribe are not the same.
In the formation of their midfield they also talk about the structure of the game, the circulation of the ball, but they are a team that respects the game and we have to adjust our midfield well to give them pressure and disrupt the circuit of. balls to the wing where they have 1 on 1 man and are very strong.”
