If Alexis Sanchez, the former darling of the Vélodrome, rants, it is not because of his short playing time at Inter Milan, joined in the summer of 2023, where he is barred by the Lautaro duo Martinez-Thuram. The former Marseille player, winner of two Copa America with Chile in 2015 and 2016, protests the conditions of preparation of his opposing selection, on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, at Ecuador in Quito during the sixth day of the qualifications of the AmSud zone for the 2026 World Cup.
“In Juan Pinto Durán (the Chilean Clairefontaine, editor’s note), there are three showers and they don’t work. You have to wait for someone else to take a shower before you can take one, joked the La Roja star (155 caps, 51 goals) during a press conference. In the Colo-Colo stadium, I was sitting stretching and in the sewer there is feces coming out of the shower. So tell me if it’s a national team or a third division team? »
????????????️ “Out of the drain comes excrement from ourselves in the shower. So you say: ‘Is this a national team or a Third Team?'”
???? Strong criticism from Alexis Sánchez of the Chilean football facilities pic.twitter.com/zZdnbEAO0q
— Diario Olé (@DiarioOle) November 18, 2023
The description is edifying. She recounts the decline of a selection in full doubt. After the draw in Santiago against Paraguay (0-0), Argentinian coach Eduardo Berizzo resigned on Thursday, November 16. With only one success in 5 matches, Chile is currently eighth in the AmSud zone, tied on points with Paraguay (5), which precedes it on general goal difference. The accounting situation is therefore complicated, but not yet desperate, with several nations holding together in a pocket handkerchief. For the record, the first six in the AmSud qualifiers will validate their ticket for the 2026 World Cup, while the seventh will go to the repechage.
Chile did not qualify for the final phase of the last two World Cups, in 2018 and 2022, after being eighth-finalists in the previous two editions in 2010 and 2014.
