Chile and Australia will meet for their respective opening matches of the World Cup on June 13th in Cuiaba. Of the four teams in Group B, these two are most often overlooked and are not really expected to do much of anything past the opening rounds.
Both Spain and the Netherlands are shoe-ins to advance to the round of 16, but Chile aren’t being labeled dark horse Group B contenders just for fun. They are a highly skilled team who will need to take care of business on Friday if they want any real chance of making this year’s World Cup more than solely a 3-match endeavor.
Match Preview
Team Chile
Chile are by no means considered to be one of the best South American sides being featured in Brazil. That said, they will still greatly benefit from the home field advantage that comes along with playing on their home continent. Alexis Sanchez stands out as the top player on this year’s Chilean side and will need to be particularly lethal in each and every group match to help ease some of the pressure that will inevitably be levied against his questionable defense.
The Chilean defense is generally untested and has limited to no experience playing on a stage as massive as the World Cup. While I don’t envision them encountering too many issues when facing off against the Aussies, the same cannot be said about their two subsequent matches.
Team Australia
Australia were experiencing the World Cup blues shortly after groups were drawn for the sole fact that they were matched up in a group with two of the top European teams in the form of Spain and the Netherlands.
In their opening match and two following matches it is clear to see that Australia are completely and totally outmatched. The simple fact of the matter is that Australia’s backbone is comprised of a few players who are well past their prime, in their early to mid-30s. Australia are a slow side, generally speaking, but in a group as talented as Group B they are going to look like they are running through molasses.
Betting Tip
Bovada is currently listing Chile at -240 on the moneyline and that is the only bet I would even entertain taking. Australia are currently sitting at +700 while Betfair lists them at 8:1. The 2.5 over currently being offered by Bovada sits at +105 and features great value. I do not see the Australians putting up much of a fight and, as such, would not be surprised to see Chile, through Alexis Sanchez, net in upwards of 3-4 goals.
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