ChileChile - National football team
The Chilean national football team represents Chile in all major international football competitions. The team is controlled by the Federación de Fútbol de Chile which was established in 1895. They have appeared in seven World Cup tournaments and were hosts of the 1962 FIFA World Cup finishing in third place. It has been commonly known as 'La Roja' since the early 1980's. Chile finished with a record of 4 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses in the matches played in 2006.
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It all started with the friendlies preparing teams for the 2006 World Cup. The tour included many of the players who started in Copa America 2007 as well as the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers. They beat the Republic of Ireland 1-0 in Dublin, drew with the Cote d'Ivoire 1-1 in Paris, France and drew with Sweden 1-1 in the Råsunda Stadium Stockholm. Chile lost to Colombia 2-1 in Santiago de Chile but beat Peru twice, 3-2 in a home game in Viña del Mar and 1-0 in an away game in Tacna, Peru, a few days later. The team then beat Paraguay 3-2 in Viña del Mar, Chile. The year ended with a 1-0 loss to Aragón in Zaragoza, Spain with Elías Figueroa as a guest coach and a "B" team. In 2007 in February, they earned a 1-0 victory over Venezuela, but in March, in the return to Sweden (this time in Gothenburg), the team lost against Brazil 4-0. The next week,in Talca, the team drew 1-1 against Costa Rica. Chile then drew 0-0 against Argentina, in Mendoza, Argentina. On 11 July 2007, the Chilean Football Federation banned six of the national team players, because of "internal indiscipline" during the Copa America tournament, for 20 international matches each and none of the players will ever be allowed to captain the national team. The players banned were captain Jorge Valdivia, defenders Álvaro Ormeño, Rodrigo Tello, Jorge Vargas and Pablo Contreras and striker Reinaldo Navia.[19] Nelson Acosta's resignation as manager came after Chile were knocked out of the 2007 Copa America. Chile had qualified to the quarter-finals after a win against Ecuador 3-2, and a draw against Mexico 0-0. But, two losses against Brazil sealed Acosta's fate. Former Argentina manager Marcelo Bielsa was given the task of becoming the current Chile national team manager in preparation for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.[20] In 16 October 2008, Chile beat Argentina 1-0 for the first time in a qualifying competition, making history. Marcelo Bielsa was acclaimed for this accomplishment by both Chilean and Argentinian people, this match was seen as one of the reasons that ended in the resignation of Alfio Basile from the Argentinian bench..
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SpainSpain - National football team
The Spanish national football team represents Spain in international football and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. The Spanish side is commonly referred to as La Furia Roja (The Red Fury).[6]
Spain is the current European champion, having won the UEFA European Championship in 2008. Spain also won the European Nations' Cup in 1964 and reached the UEFA Euro 1984 Final. Spain has qualified for the FIFA World Cup 12 times, reaching fourth place in the 1950 tournament.
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In July 2008, Spain rose to the top of the FIFA World Ranking for the first time in its history, becoming the sixth nation, and the first who has never won the World Cup, to top this ranking. Between November 2006 and June 2009, Spain went undefeated for a record tying 35 consecutive matches —record shared with Brazil— including a record 15-game winning streak. Luis Aragonés left the manager's role after the Euro 2008 success, and was replaced by Vicente del Bosque.[11]
2008 saw David Villa score 12 goals in 15 games, breaking the Spanish record of 10 goals in one year held by Raúl since 1999.[12] On 11 February 2009, David Villa broke another Spanish record as his 36th-minute goal saw him become the first Spanish player to score in six consecutive games.[13]
Spain began its 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign with six successive wins, and went into the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup as one of the favourites. By the start of the tournament, Del Bosque's had ten consecutive wins, making him the first international manager to do so from his debut, breaking Joao Saldanha's record, held since 1969, of nine consecutive wins with Brazil.
Spain won all three of its matches at the group stage, the 5–0 win over New Zealand including a Fernando Torres hat-trick that is the earliest and fastest hat-trick in the tournament's history. With further wins over Iraq (1–0) and South Africa (2–0) they earned not only qualification for the semifinals, but also obtained the world record for 15 consecutive wins and tied the record of 35 consecutive unbeaten games (with Brazil).
On 24 June 2009, Spain's undefeated record ended when the United States beat Spain 2-0 in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup semi-finals which sent Spain to the third place match. This was Spain's first defeat since 2006. Spain defeated hosts South Africa 3–2 after extra time in the 3rd-place playoff.[14]
On 9 September 2009, Spain secured its place at the 2010 World Cup finals after beating Estonia 3–0 in Mérida.[15] Spain went on to record a perfect World Cup qualifying record with 10 wins out of 10 in Group 5, finishing with a 5–2 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina on 14 October 2009.[16] The Spaniards will enter the 2010 World Cup as second place in the world rankings..
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