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Chile 1, Honduras 0

Chile: Beausejour 34

Starting line-ups:

Honduras (4-2-3-1)

Noel Valladares;

Osman Chavezlad, Maynor Figueroa, Emilio Izaguirre, Sergio Mendoza,

Ramon Nunez, Wilson Palacios,

Roger Espinoza, Edgar Alvarez, Amado Guevara,

Carlos Alberto Pavon.

Substitutes: Georgie Welcome for Pavon (60), Henry Thomas for Guevara (68), Walter Martinez for Nuñez (68).

Chile (4-4-2)

Claudio Bravo;

Waldo Ponce, Mauricio Isla, Arturo Erasmo Vidal, Gary Medel,

Carlos Carmona, Matias Fernandez, Jean Beausejour, Rodrigo Millar,

Alexis Sanchez, Jorge Valdivia.

Substitutes: Gonzalo Jara for Millar (52), Pablo Contreras for Vidal (81),

Mark Gonzalez for Valvidia (87).

Referee: Eddy Maillet (Seycheelles).

Venue: Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit.

Forty-eight: That’s how many years Chile have been waiting for a World Cup win. Their last World Cup win was at home soil when they defeated Yugosalvia in the third-place playoff. Ever since, Chile have failed to win a single time in 13 matches, a run that that stretched through four World Cups. But their stellar qualifying campaign suggested that their World Cup hoodoo could end at last. Moreover, they hardly could have asked for a more comfortable opponent to secure that long-awaited win against.

Honduras qualified for the World Cup by the skin of their teeth, thanks to a last-gasp goal by the USA against CONCACAF competitor Costa Rica, who was competing with Honduras for the final spot in that regional group. With David Suazo injured for the Hondurans, Pavon was their only potential threat in attack. Bielsa’s Chile had to leave a Suazo of their own on the bench – Humberto Suazo, who was the leading top scorer in South American qualifying campaign. Hence, Bielsa opted for an attacking 4-4-2 formation. Playmaker Matías Fernández came close to giving Chile a second-minute lead when his swerving free-kick was just over the bar. The talented Alexis Sánchez caused havoc in the Honduran defence but his decision-making was questionable as he chose to dribble instead of passing the ball to a teammate when passing was the better option.

Honduras, meanwhile, offered precious little in attack and their attempts to shoot from distance or surprise on the counter-attack didn’t exactly strike fear into the Chile defence. Chile’s neat passing finally yielded a goal but it was a combination of slick passing and luck. Mati Fernandez pierced the Honduran defence with a superb pass. Isla pulled it back, but it was deflected by a Honduran defender into Beausejour’s path, and the latter slid it in.

Honduras’ best chance arrived at the end of the first half when Núñez’s free-kick forced a good save from Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo. The second half followed a similar pattern with Chile dominating and Honduras producing very little to make the Chileans rue their missed chances. Chile’s best chance to double their advantage came midway through the second half when Ponce headed straight at the Honduran keeper’s hands from six yards. Chile couldn’t capitalise on their chances but luckily for them, Honduras were too toothless to make them pay for their shoddy finishing.

Budour Hassan
DFN Sports Staff Writer