Chile opened their Copa América campaign with victory over Ecuador, although the joy was confined among Jorge Sampaoli's side as they did not hit the expected heights. First-day nerves played their part but in spite of that Chile picked up a valuable victory in front of their own fans.
La Roja's second opponent is Mexico. With the confidence born of having three points in the bag in Group A, Chile will hope to see off El Tri with considerably more ease than they did Ecuador. Mexico's campaign started with a blank-firing goalless draw against Bolivia.
Chile's self-criticism centred on the lack of pressure when not in possession in the second half against Ecuador. The idea against Mexico is to recover the side's trademark verticality to avoid any unpleasant surprises from Cuchillo Herrera's side, which is considerably weakened with the Gold Cup the main priority for El Tri this summer. "We have to improve to that we don't risk losing dominion [of the ball]," said Sampaoli ahead of the match. And he doesn't lack reason. It remains to be seen if the side will put in place the latest instructions from their coach.
Mexico's mission is to repeat the same blueprint they laid out on the pitch at Viña del Mar against Bolivia, but with more efficiency, above all in the final third where in their opening match they were not effective at all. "We had chances but were not convincing [in front of goal]," said Herrera, who hopes that duck will broken in the Estadio Nacional on Monday night.
El Tri are without highly experienced defender Rafa Márquez, who was injured against Bolivia, and he is unlikely to make it back in time for the final match against Ecuador. The novelty in Herrera's line up against Chile is likely to be a start for Atlético Madrid striker Raúl Jiménez: a scrapper to put the Chile back line under pressure. Eduardo Vargas and Alexis Sánchez will lead the host nation's attack.
- Follow the Copa América timetable here.
- And the day-to-day fixtures here.