Off the wire
• Honduras' former president enters a plea of guilty in FIFA scandal  • Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, March 29  • Williams, Murray eliminated at Miami Open  • Urgent: Myanmar lifts state of emergency in western state  • Dunga predicts difficult World Cup qualification for Brazil  • 1st LD Writethru: U.S. Justice Dept. scraps request for Apple's help in phone hack  • Miami tennis results  • Tabarez lauds Suarez maturity  • International soccer results  • Aussie dollar lifts on greenback weakness  
You are here: 　 Home

Chile, favorite to defeat Venezuela in Russia 2018 qualifier

Xinhua, March 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

Chile is favorite to defeat Venezuela despite the absence of several stars on Tuesday in the Venezuelan city of Barinas (west center) as part of 2018 World Cup South American qualifying round, local media reported on Monday.

The Chilean team, led by Argentine coach Juan Antonio Pizzi, will suffer the absence of Eduardo Vargas, Jorge Valdivia and Claudio Bravo, who are sanctioned, as well as Charles Aranguiz, who is recovering from a surgery.

Also, Chilean players Matias Fernandez and Marcelo Diaz will not play against Venezuela because both were injured in the previous match against Argentina. The good news is that Chilean star Arturo Vidal will return to play after being absent.

Venezuela, led by Noel Sanvicente, is in its worst moment after the beginning of the tournament. The Venezuelan team has lost four games and has only one point.

Chile stands fifth in the 10-team qualifying round table with seven points from five games while Venezuela lies at the bottom. Enditem