The Chilean women's national team is already thinking about their debut in the 2022 Copa America, which starts this Friday. La Roja will make their debut on Monday and begin a journey where they dream of equaling their past achievement - where they finished as runners-up - and securing tickets to the World Cup and the Olympics.
The team led by José Letelier aims to secure one of the top two spots in Group A, which they share with Paraguay, Ecuador, Colombia, and Bolivia, to face the top two teams from Group B (Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Uruguay, and Peru) for a place in the final.
And despite facing tough rivals in the tournament, with powerful women's national teams, the hopes are high within and outside the squad. "We have the abilities," said Tiane Endler in anticipation of the trip to Colombia. And a goalscorer agrees.
Iván Zamorano believes that Chile has the abilities to compete with anyone. "In Copa America, we always talk about Brazil, Argentina, or Colombia (as favorites), but you have to fight until the end and go and compete against anyone, the girls have that ability," he said in conversation with Betsson.
"They have earned it on their own merits. In recent times, women's football has raised its level a lot, it continues to grow towards goals and dreams. Hopefully, this time they can represent us in the best possible way. We are all very confident and hopeful that they can achieve something important," he continued.
Bam Bam recalled his own experience facing the giants of South America. "From a sports and personal point of view, it is one of the most important competitions that a player can have the opportunity to wear the national team jersey. That feeling of playing at a high level with such important teams at the South American level was very important to me," he concluded.