With the US and Chile set to meet Wednesday in both teams' first match of 2015 (6 pm ET, FOX Sports 1, UniMas, Univision Deportes, match preview), we prepare you with a look at seven things you need to know about the USMNT's opponents:
1. CAMP CHORRILLANA: Much like the United States, Chile are using their January camp to take a close look at players from their domestic league as they begin preparations for the 2015 Copa América. That means no Alexis Sanchez or Arturo Vidal, with head coach Jorge Sampaoli naming a 20-man squad playing their club soccer exclusively at home. Again like the US, there is a mix of veteran and young talent in the squad; the most recognizable name is likely to be former Liverpool and Real Betis winger Mark Gonzalez. (For those of you wondering what a chorrillana is, here's a summary, but be warned – just looking at the photo could cause your arteries to thicken.)
2. COPA AMÉRICA HOSTS: Chile, who hosted the World Cup in 1962, will host the Copa América this summer, and with their new generation of talent, have as good a chance as ever to claim their first continental title. (Venezuela and Ecuador are the only other South American nations never to have won.)
Despite that Copa América title drought, the Chileans have often impressed in World Cup play. They finished third on home soil in 1962 and, more recently, made the Round of 16 in 1998, 2010 and 2014. Despite playing some sparkling soccer along the way, they have been thwarted in each of those last three tournaments (and in theh 1962 semifinals) by a team they will likely have to face again if they want to take the next step this summer: Brazil.
3. "THE LIEUTENANT": That's the English translation of El Teniente, the stadium in Rancagua named after a nearby copper mine, one of the biggest in the world. El Teniente is home to club side O'Higgins, the team named after one of the country's founding fathers that recently won their first top-flight title in the 2013 Apertura. (It is also the former home stadium of newly-signed Vancouver Whitecaps forward Octavio Rivero.) This will be Chile's third game at El Teniente and first since 2008. The venue was originally built in 1945 by an American firm, the Braden Copper Company, one of a number of US mining companies doing business in Chile until the nationalization of the copper industry in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was a host venue for the 1962 World Cup (hosting one group and one quarterfinal) and was remodeled in 2013-14 specifically for Copa América.
4. SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND: The 5-foot-8 Sampaoli is nicknamed, “El Hombrecito,” aka "Little Man." Judging by his biceps, good luck saying that to his face. Sampaoli is the third consecutive Argentine to coach Chile, following Claudio Borghi and, most recently, the widely-revered Marcelo Bielsa. (Chile's most successful native coach, Manchester City's Manuel Pellegrini, has yet to coach the national team.)
Sampaoli, so far, has the best winning percentage of any Chilean national team head coach with at least 10 games coached: 68.96% in 29 games. Sampaoli can certainly be considered a disciple of his predecessor, Bielsa, retaining much of the high-intensity, high-pressing, attacking style that vaulted Chile back into prominence in the late 2000s. However, he's now a big enough figure in Chile that he has his own impersonators.
5. PROUD FANS: Unless the traveling US contingent comes out gangbusters, you'll be hearing these chants from Rancagua:
That one's easy: "CHI-CHI-CHI! LE-LE-LE! VIVA CHILE!"
You can also impress your friends at the bar and and call Chile by the same name thousands of its supporters use: La Roja (meaning "The Red One.") Since the more successful Spain appropriated the name during their recent successes, Chile launched a campaign before the two countries' group-stage game at the World Cup, called, "La Roja es Nuestra" (La Roja is ours). Chile, of course, won that battle for bragging rights with an impressive 2-0 triumph.
Speaking of national pride, you may remember the infamous Chilean mine collapse of 2010, when 33 miners were trapped in a collapsed mine in northern Chile for 69 days before being rescued. Their survival was a heartwarming moment for a country devastated by an 8.8-magnitutde earthquake just months earlier, and of course was not forgotten in Chile's preparations for the 2014 World Cup.
6. SCANDAL AND INTRIGUE: Chilean soccer has been the center of some of the more bizarre incidents in world soccer. One of the most infamous came during qualification for the 1990 World Cup, with Chile trailing 1-0 against Brazil in Rio de Janeiro in a must-win game. The game was called off in the 67th minute after Chilean goalkeeper Roberto Rojas was apparently struck by a flare thrown from the stands and had to be stretchered off the pitch, blood pouring from his face. A subsequent FIFA investigation revealed, however, that the wound was self-inflicted by a razor blade Rojas had concealed in his glove, leading to a lifetime ban for the player, as well as Chile's coach and team doctor. (Rojas was pardoned in 2001.)
Back in November 1973, Chile was involved in one of the strangest World Cup qualifiers ever to take place. La Roja were set to play the second leg of a World Cup qualifier against the Soviet Union at the Estadio Nacional in Santiago (the first leg in Moscow had ended 0-0), but there was a notable absence at kick off: the Soviets.
It's essential to mention here that two months before the game, the democratically-elected Chilean government of Socialist president Salvador Allende was overthrown in a US-backed coup by right-wing General Augusto Pinochet, who would go on to rule as the country's dictator until 1990. Pinochet subsequently used the Estadio Nacional as a concentration camp for opponents of the new regime, right up until two weeks before the match was supposed to be played. The Soviets asked FIFA to find a different venue in Chile to host the match, but when a new site could not be found, the USSR refused to show up, and Chile were awarded the victory and a spot in the World Cup, though not before scoring one of the most bizarre and chilling goals you'll ever see. The incident was the subject of the ESPN 30 for 30 film The Opposition.
7. THE AMERICAN CONNECTION: Books on books could be written on the US-Chilean relationship during the 1970s, but we'll keep this one exclusively in the realm of soccer. The US and Chile have met nine times in their history, with the Yanks sporting a 3-4-2 record against their South American counterparts. The first meeting between the two was a 5-2 Chile win in the 1950 World Cup, and the most recent meeting was a January friendly much like Wednesday's, a 1-1 draw in Carson, California, in January 2011. Since a Chilean win in 1994, the US have gone 3-1 in the series, including a 2-1 victory in the 1995 Copa América (both goals were scored by FOX Sports analyst Eric Wynalda) and another 2-1 win in the only game played on Chilean soil, in 2000.
Multiple American soccer players have plied their trade in Chile, and in the vein of many US exports, the two most notable are goalkeepers. Current FC Dallas man Dan Kennedy was with Municipal Iquique from 2007-08, while former Dallas, Columbus and New York 'keeper Jonny Walker spent four successful years with Universidad Católica, where he won a title, and also played for Huachipato and Colo Colo. There is also at least one American prospect currently on the books of a Chilean team, as 20-year-old Atlanta native Modou Lamin Jadama currently plays for Colo Colo, the most successful team in the country.
