Do you know who else will be starting the midfield? Will it be Gutierrez, Aranguiz & Diaz? And which one of those should i look forward to? I don't know why, but i have high expectations for Aranguiz...
Btw, do you think Vargas will start next to Sanchez in front?
The team should be: Bravo (Real Sociedad); Isla (Juve), Medel (Cardiff), Jara (Nottingham Forest), Mena (Santos-Brasil); Aranguiz (Internacional de Porto Alegre-Brasil) Diaz (Basile) Vidal (Juve); Valdivia (Palmeiras - Brasil); Vargas (Valencia) Sanchez (Barcelona).
It should be 4 3 1 2 with Valdivia being a classic number 10 that will be looking to put great through line passes for the small, quick forwards. Beuasejour (Wigan) and Felipe Gutierrez (Twente) have also been named in the starting 11. They are both lefties and would be replacing Vidal in the 3 man midfield. Beuasejour is less talented than Gutierrez, who has exquisite technique, but he's fast and puts in decent crosses. This would be his second world cup - he scored against Honduras in South Africa 2010. Gutierrez is a extraordinary young player, was chosen the best player of the dutch league last season, but has difficulty getting a spot on the starting 11. Chilean team is very competitive.
Aranguiz is a great player as well as Diaz. Both know each other very well because they played in Universidad de Chile under Sampaoli (the chilean NT coach) together. They won the chilean league three times in a row and also won la Copa Sudamericana, something like UEFA Cup in Southamerica. Aranguiz is very smart on the field and also very complete; he is able to tackle, pass and score. Diaz is the chilean Pirlo; a deep lying playing maker that helps the chilean team start the attack from its half. From what I've heard, the aussies will try and suffocate him - it's probably a good idea. Aranguiz-Diaz-Sanchez will probably be in charge of set pieces.
If Valdivia starts he will probably be replaced during the second half by Gutierrez or Beausejour. He has awesome vision and very impressive passing but he's not able to last the 90 minutes. Mauricio Pinilla is also on the bench, he's the Cagliari forward, a classic number 9, and if Chile is losing or drawing against Australia, Sampaoli might be tempted to start crossing into the australian box looking for him. Not sure if that'll be a good idea considering the height of the australian players.
Big problem for Chile: very small defenders. Gary Medel and Gonzalo Jara will have to deal with alot of crosses and set pieces. Let's hope they're able to win the headers.