In the early hours of Friday, Chile host Venezuela in South American qualification for next years World Cup.
Chile have not enjoyed a great qualification campaign so far, as they are eighth place in the standings, five points shy of the play-off spot for World Cup 2022.
🤜🤛 ¡Qué noche de @benbreo!🎙 El delantero de #LaRoja 🇨🇱 habló de todo tras el triunfo ante Paraguay 🇵🇾 por las #EliminatoriasSudamericanas 📌 El primer gol en Chile 📌 El apoyo de la hinchada 📌 Venezuela 🇻🇪, el próximo rival #VamosLaRoja #VamosChile pic.twitter.com/mdAXhb0rDx— Selección Chilena (@LaRoja) October 12, 2021
🤜🤛 ¡Qué noche de @benbreo!🎙 El delantero de #LaRoja 🇨🇱 habló de todo tras el triunfo ante Paraguay 🇵🇾 por las #EliminatoriasSudamericanas 📌 El primer gol en Chile 📌 El apoyo de la hinchada 📌 Venezuela 🇻🇪, el próximo rival #VamosLaRoja #VamosChile pic.twitter.com/mdAXhb0rDx
They are also just three points clear of opponents Venezuela, who are currently bottom of the standings.
A 2-0 win over Paraguay in their last qualifier ended a seven-game winless run for the home side in qualifying. The game also saw Chile finally find their shooting boots, as they had scored in just one of their previous four qualifiers.
The clean sheet was a welcome one too, as it was only their second in their previous eight qualifiers.
Chile’s recent home record in qualifying has been an inconsistent one, although they have been harder to beat on home soil, as they have lost just one of their previous six home qualifiers.
Martin Lasarte’s team has also scored at least two goals in eight of their previous 11 qualifiers on home soil.
Venezuela have taken just seven points from their 11 qualifiers so far, losing eight of the games in the process. However, the visitors ended a run of five straight defeats in qualifying by recording a 2-1 win over Ecuador.
The win looks to have come too late for the visitors to rescue their qualification campaign, though.
Venezuela have found victories hard to come by on their travels in recent World Cup qualifying matches, as they have won just one of their previous 17 away matches in qualifiers.
The fact that the visitors have kept just one clean sheet in those 17 matches has not helped their cause.
Forebet predicts that Chile will record a victory in a low-scoring encounter to kick-start their qualification campaign.