Chile-Australia Preview: Sampaoli sweating on fitness of Vidal

The Juventus midfielder is struggling with a knee injury and could miss the entire group stage but the South Americans should still comfortably see off the Group B minnows

The fitness of Arturo Vidal has dominated the build-up to Friday's game between Chile and Australia. Arguably one of two world-class Chile players, Vidal aggravated a knee injury in a hasty return from injury against Northern Ireland last week.

There are fears he could even now miss out on the group stage entirely having undergone an operation in a bid to resolve the problem, after another Serie A-winning campaign with Juventus.

Despite the likely loss of their heartbeat in midfield, Chile are expecting progress from a group containing both 2010 finalists Spain and the Netherlands. That is a measure of the ambition and expectations of their quixotic Argentine coach Jorge Sampaoli, who replaced the under-performing Claudio Borghi in December 2012.

Sampaoli is a coach who is determined to stick by his attacking principles and his teams - particularly his highly-successful Universidad de Chile side of 2011 - have borne the typical, pulsating hallmarks of his philosophy. Sampaoli has placed his trust in a number of key performers of that team like Eugenio Mena, Charles Aranguiz, Eduardo Vargas and on-field lieutenant Marcelo Diaz.

Complementing that band are some players who have made their names at the very top level in Europe. Aside from Vidal and Sanchez, goalkeeper and captain Claudio Bravo has earned plaudits in Spain with Real Sociedad and is likely to join Barcelona this summer.

If Chile have a settled side and a clear identity, then Australia come into the tournament as somewhat of an unknown quantity. German Holger Osieck made heavy work of qualifying the team for Brazil 2014 and a pair of 6-0 defeats in friendlies to Brazil and France cost him his job. He had long since lost popular support as a result of his dour football and reluctance to breed a new generation of Aussie internationals.

Replacement Ange Postecoglou is a renowned A-League coach and has wasted no time in replenishing the Australian stocks. Out have gone established names like Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill and David Carney and in have come 13 players with 10 caps or fewer to the tournament.

Expectations for the team barely stretch beyond a hope to avoid embarrassment and Chile are a tough first assignment for the side ranked bottom of all 32 qualifying teams.

Opta Facts

• Australia's first ever point in a World Cup group came courtesy of a 0-0 draw against Chile in June 1974; it remains their only clean sheet in 10 World Cup Finals matches.
• Since their third place finish in 1962, Chile have only won two of their 17 World Cup games (D6 L9).
• Chile have lost against a subsequent finalist in each of their last three World Cups (West Germany in 1982, Brazil in 1998 and Spain in 2010).
• The Socceroos have only won two of their 10 games at the World Cup (D3 L5) – these coming against Japan in 2006 (3-1) and Serbia in 2010 (2-1).
• Australia's last eight World Cup games have produced seven red cards (four for the Socceroos, three for their opponents).
• Chile conceded 1.56 goals per game in the qualifiers, more than any other of the 32 participants in the 2014 edition.
• Australia have never beaten la Roja in any competition, drawing one and losing three so far.
• Arturo Vidal was the top scoring midfielder in South American qualifying, helping himself to five goals.

Match Preview

Games played: 0 W0 D0 L0

World Cup Chile v. Australia 13 Jun 23:00 - Arena Pantanal

Games played: 0 W0 D0 L0

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