Spain 0 Chile 2: Jorge Sampaoli hails 'rebels' after knocking out World Cup holders

The South Americans booked their place in the next round with a deserved win

Martyn Ziegler
Thursday 19 June 2014 11:53 BST
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Chile celebrate
Chile celebrate

Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli hailed his "rebels" after the South Americans knocked reigning champions Spain out of the World Cup.

The 2-0 victory means Chile and Holland have already qualified from Group B for the knock-out round of 16 - and will play each other to see who tops the group and avoids a likely meeting with Brazil.

Spain, meanwhile, will go home to lick their wounds and their early exit - the first time the reigning champions have been knocked out after just two group matches - means a question mark over the futures of coach Vicente del Bosque and a whole generation of players after a glorious era.

Sampaoli said: "We have a chance to see if this is the best Chile team ever but that is something we can only say after the tournament is over.

"We were very courageous in the way that we played and you could say that we are the rebels of this tournament."

Goals from Eduardo Vargas and Charles Aranguiz secured victory for Chile, who included Cardiff centre-back Gary Medel and Nottingham Forest's Gonzalo Jara in their starting line-up.

Del Bosque said he need to take time to think about his own future and "what is good for Spanish football".

He said: "It's true that when such things happen during a World Cup or a tournament like this then it has consequences but I don't want to start thinking about that right now.

"We have time to analyse that and it is not the right time now.

"There will be time to think and reflect what we are going to do. I think this team is good but we have to take a decision about what is good for Spanish football and that applies to myself as well."

He added: "In the first half we were really shy and sluggish and not brave enough so Chile were able to put the pressure on us."

Sampaoli - who also masterminded a 2-0 win over England at Wembley last year - had sympathetic words for Spain, whose winning streak of two European Championships either side of a World Cup has come to a sorry end.

He said: "In football everything changes.

"Spain has played very well over the years and had wonderful performances but today that generation of players couldn't keep that success going, and that's normal because success is not forever."

Meanwhile, Chile's impressive keeper Claudio Bravo is to join Barcelona from Real Sociedad, according to reports in the Catalan press.

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