With the exit of the national football team, the Top 12 in the Asian zone is boring, but in the distant southern hemisphere, the competition for the South American qualifiers is far more exciting than the Asian region, in the 16th round of the competition, Bolivia ushered in the challenge of Chile at home, Although Bolivia is not very famous, the world ranking is only 77th, 3 points lower than the Chinese team, but it is only 3 points away from the play-off area before the game, on the contrary, it is the world ranking 24th, and the qualifying hot Chile, who holds the Copa America double crown, is only 1 point more than Bolivia. So it's a decisive battle about qualifying.
The Chilean team has aged in the golden generation in recent years, Vidal, Bravo, Vargas and other tough players have now retired, and only Sanchez is still very familiar to fans in the starting lineup. In the first 13 minutes of the game, Chile won the set-piece on the left side of the front, 30 meters away from the goal, the angle of the ball was not good, and it was far from the goal, playing was a better choice, but Sanchez, who was extremely confident in his footwork, personally blasted out of the World Cup, the ball went straight to the top left corner of the goal, the goalkeeper whip was out of reach, and the score was rewritten to 1-0.
However, in the 36th minute, Bolivia took advantage of a corner kick opportunity to equalize with Enuba's header, and the two teams returned to the same running line. After a midfield adjustment, both sides once again stepped up their attacks, eager to destroy the opponent's defense with a sharp counterattack. Fast forward to the 76th minute and Chile are once again the leading side. Isla found Nunez with a precise cross on the counter-attack, who easily pushed the shot. Chile, who had played well, sealed the victory in the 84th minute, this time it was Sanchez who used his personal ability to enter the box, then shook off the defender and shot calmly low, fixing the score at 3-2.
But the tenacious Bolivian did not let the game lose suspense. In the 87th minute, Bolivia played a cross from the right, and then Moreno received a precise cross from his teammate in the box and broke the goal, making it 3-2. Moreno also became the all-time top scorer of the Bolivian national team with this goal, scoring a total of 28 goals. Unfortunately, the last time was too short, Bolivia was not able to create another killing chance, and the final score was maintained until the end, and Chile won.
The game was a game of twists and turns, and Bolivia showed its dark horse nature. From the statistics after the game, it can be seen that Bolivia's possession rate is as high as 54 this time, Chile is only 46%, in terms of the number of shots on goal, Bolivia has 22 feet after the explosion, while Chile only has 14 times, and the number of shots on target is 10-5. It can be seen that the chilean team's data is lagging behind across the board, but due to the existence of Sanchez, a superstar, Chile is still the last to laugh, this is the power of the star, seeing Sanchez in such a hot state, the most happy is inter Milan club.
After winning the victory, Chile's points rose to 19 points, just two points away from peru in fifth place. According to the rules of qualifying, the top four teams can directly qualify for the World Cup, and the fifth place is to play a play-off match with the third place in the Asian region. Therefore, with two rounds left, Chile's most realistic goal should be to get a play-off spot. At present, the third place in the Asian region will most likely be Australia, and for Chile, it should be easier to play against Asian teams, and they can still stand out from the play-off stage.