Spain vs Chile Prediction - Will Spain Be Able To Bounce Back After Such a Heavy Defeat?

Next Wednesday, Las Rojas from two different Continents, Spain and Chile, will measure forces at the emblematic Estádio Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, on a match that the Spanish need to win in order to be able to advance into the next round of the competition.

Spain probably have not yet woken from the nightmarish night the Dutch imposed to them last Friday. The current World and European champions failed to find a way to impose their game against an Dutch side that seemed to have studied all the frailties of the Spanish side in detail. The Spanish defensive line had a night to forget and Casillas, in particular, will certainly remember that match forever and, although Del Bosque has already claimed that he will not be making any changes in the team just for the sake of it, he will probably, at least, rethink his game approach after such an embarrassing defeat.

The clash against Chile will be another major test for the Spanish side. For years, Spain have based their style in the one that Guardiola implemented at Barcelona a few years back, the famous tiki-taka, but with Barcelona going through a fairly less impressive period, the Spanish team also seems to be crumbling down as well.

As for Chile, a win against Spain could already grant them a place in the next stage of the competition, and the Chileans will certainly want to break all boundaries and defeat the World Champions for the first time in their history.

Chile displayed half an hour of quality football against Australia but let themselves be affected by the Australian goal and somewhat struggled after that, at least until Jean Beausejour netted in the third goal in the dying moments of the match.

Jorge Sampaoli privileges a type of football similar to the one Spain used to display, a possession-based style with an intense high pressure from the forward and midfield lines, which almost restrain all of their opponents’ attacking movements.

The match against Australia has, nevertheless, exposed some frailties in the well organized Chilean team. Their centre back duo, composed of Jara and Medel, looked very “soft” on the aerial game, and although Spain don’t usually base their matches on pumping balls to the box, they might try to exploit that blatantly obvious weakness from the Chilean defensive line.

Despite their last unconvincing performance, Spain are favourites to win next Wednesday’s clash, especially if we have in mind that Chile have never defeated the Spanish armada in official matches. Notwithstanding, Chile have already proven that they are a very brave and well organized team and that they could have what is takes to defeat a somehow fragilized Spanish team.

Spain

Stats: W-3 L-2 D-0
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Chile

Stats: W-4 L-1 D-0
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Possible Line-ups

Spain (4-3-3) - Casillas - Azpilicueta - Sergio Ramos - Piqué - Jordi Alba - Xabi Alonso - Busquets - Xavi - Iniesta - Juan Mata - Fernando Torres
Chile (3-4-3) - Bravo - Jara - Medel  - Isla - Vidal - Díaz - Mena -Aránguiz - Valdivia - Sánchez - Vargas

Prediction: Spain 1 Chile 2