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Chile tackle Venezuela in Copa América quarter-final

Tim Sturtridge,Alejandro Prez
Sunday 17 July 2011 09:38 BST
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Chile will attempt to maintain the natural order at the 2011 Copa América when they take on Venezuela for a spot in the semi-finals.

With the big guns misfiring Chile are eyeing the chance of getting their hands on a first ever Copa América title.

Chile’s goalkeeper and captain Claudio Bravo sees a path to the final opening up for his team after they topped Group C.

“We have seen a lot of the teams that were expected to do well at this tournament struggling. These results have given us the belief that anything is possible.”

Alexis Sánchez has all the ability to make the difference against Venezuela. A hat-trick from the Barcelona transfer target is priced at 30.00 with paf.com.

Chilean fans are still waiting to see the best of Humberto Suazo at the 2011 Copa América but head coach Claudio Borghi is set to keep faith with the powerful striker.

Birmingham City’s Jean Jean Beausejour’s red card in the final group match against Peru has forced Borghi to shuffling his deck slightly. Borghi will however be thankful that right-back Mauricio Isla seems to have shaken off a knock picked up in training.

The mastermind behind Venezuela’s route out of Group B is 38-year-old head coach César Farías. The youthful manager has got his Venezuelan team playing an expressive game without fear.

Venezuela’s two goals in second-half injury time to tie 3-3 with Paraguay will have la Vinotinto coming in this game with their chests out.

If Venezuela does manage to beat Chile it will mean that they will have doubled their tally of victories at the Copa América. The semi-final stage of the Copa América remains uncharted territory for Venezuela.

Before this edition of the Copa América, Venezuela had only ever won two matches in the history of the competition.

Venezuelan captain Juan Arango has revealed the team have been working on a special “anti Chile” tactic ahead of the quarter-final.

“Chile are a team full of pace and they have proven themselves by coming through a tough group unbeaten. We are also enjoying a good moment ourselves so I’m expecting an even match.”

Venezuela to emerge with a 2-1 victory is chalked up with paf.com at 18.00.

Chile: Claudio Bravo; Pablo Contreras, Waldo Ponce, Gonzalo Jara, Mauricio Isla, Gary Medel, Carlos Carmona, Arturo Vidal, Luis Jiménez, Alexis Sánchez, Humberto Suazo.

Venezuela: Renny Vega, Roberto Rosales, Grenddy Perozo, Oswaldo Vizcarrondo, Gabriel Cichero, César González, Franklin Lucena, Tomás Rincón, Juan Arango, Salomón Rondón, Nicolás Fedor.

Watch Chile v Venezuela live on ESPN UK

Email copaamerica@independent.co.uk for your €15 bonus from paf.com

For more on Copa America 2011, listen to The South American Football Show.

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