Losing to brazil IN NO WAY automatically eliminates chile.  Chile could technically qualify for playoff with 2pts if other results go their way.  3pts is realistic.  Even if chile win both fixtures, the other results could still knock them out.  Chile's WC fate is not exclusively in their hands.

Yes, chilean FA officials have visited Blackburn.  And they have also visited Milan, Sevilla, Marseille, and Rome.  It is what south american FA's do: visit the clubs where their players play.  This is not "interference".  The FIFA rules are clear, so there is no need to "interfere".  I understand few want him to make the journey but let's not mischaracterize what is going on.

Chilean FA would love to have Ben on the field but he wont be played if he isnt fit.  It is very very unlikely he'll play vs Brazil and the hope is he can make it for the home game vs Uruguay.  

"World cups come and go", WTF?  They come and go every 4yrs.  Rover's attempts to make it out of the 2nd division "come and go"  EVERY year more like it.  There seem to be a lot of naive commentary regarding how international play works between club and country.  The tug war is not unique to Rovers.  Go cry to FIFA.

5 hours ago, Mellor Rover said:

Not what I'd heard, this new treatment sounds very Chile driven and not Rovers driven. He was due off on holiday with Rovers full blessing for a weeks break the Monday after the Millwall game. His missus was going with him too.

I had assumed chile was behind it.  I was going to write that if BBD were not an international player he would just be back in England with his team mates waiting to heal.   But the article i read in chile's newspaper La Tercera (a reliable source) stated it was Rovers idea to send him to the UAE. 

Chilean FA medical personnel have been in daily contact with Rovers medical staff and BBD himself.  The Chilean national team coach, the uruguayan Martín Lasarte, will personally pay BBD a visit on his trip to Europe next week.  

i was going to ask what all this talk about a holiday was about.  Glad somebody posted what i was going to post, that BBD has gone to Dubai where they have a team of specialists to help with his injury (don't know what makes them so special in Dubai but whatever, he is an élite athlete now and he gets élite treatment).  And yes, the Chilean FA is involved in his treatment because they hope to have Ben on the pitch vs Brazil next month.  He had been in London this last week with two specialist doctors (one of whom is Chilean) and then Rovers decided to send him to the UAE, not just because they have the best specialists but because they reckoned Ben would benefit from a warmer climate, Chilean papers are reporting.  He should be back in England on Sunday.

1 hour ago, Kie_BRFC said:

More bothered that he’s missing games for us to be honest fella 

Of course you are.  I would question your loyalty & fan credentials if it were otherwise.  I, on the other hand, have other priorities....

Alarm bells continue to go off in Chile as the image of BBD on crutches & a boot are causing panic.  Ben has been deemed "irreplaceable" on the Chilean squad.  The country's slim chances of qualifying look even bleaker if BBD will be out until April or beyond, as he will miss conmebol's last 2 qualifying games next month.

"Brereton reappears with crutches and an orthopedic boot"

18 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

So the girl is there in a football shirt and Ben is wrapped up like a mummy !

The girl is a dude.  Dude looks like a lady....

Ben's injury has been followed in Chile, with eyes towards the upcoming final two qualifiers next month vs Brazil and Uruguay (along with goalkeeper Claudio Bravo in this note).

"¿Bravo & Ben out of [the Chilean national team] La Roja?"

"Red Alert: will Brereton play against Brazil?"

Just now, booth said:

It's £13.

13lbs is a measure of weight not money 😉

It's not REAL money though.  Dollars & sense/cents. 😉

2 minutes ago, DE. said:

Tonight's game was on ESPN+, a US-based subscription service. They show a fair amount of Championship games, so worth the $6.99 a month if you have any interest in the competition.

I saw that.  I only have FuboTV.  Most Rovers games arent shown on espn+ though.  Very few & far betwixt.

..

1 minute ago, bluebruce said:

Didn't I already show you how to watch the games on Rovers TV? Dunno if this one would have been available without a VPN as I think ESPN were showing it, but generally speaking you can watch our games on that.

Yeah but 13lbs?  A lot of pesos week in week out.  To watch them live at least.

4 minutes ago, bazza said:

I live 7 miles from Ewood Park and had to listen to the radio commentary.

You can watch the full game on Rovers TV tomorrow.

Yeah.  Tomorrow.  We latins are all about tomorrow.  But a game as shitty as today's sounded should be watched live.

Reading 20pages of comments here makes up for me not being able to watch the games here in the USA.  

8 hours ago, arbitro said:

Thanks for the updates and all the information you post. How does this leave Chile from a qualification point of view?

It is still a tight race.  The teams fighting it out (Chile, Perú, Uruguay, Colombia) would be just as happy qualifying directly as the playoff, since the view from South América is that playing the Asian 5th is as good as qualifying.

Here is the current table going into the final 2 games in March.  Chile play Brazil away and end vs Uruguay at home.  

A tie vs Brazil would be considered a "win" since Chile has little hope of beating this Brazil in Brazil.  Chile's hopes rest on defeating Uruguay, with Chile having a slightly favorable goal difference at this point vs its 3 other rivals for the last spot.

Looking at Chile's qualification rivals these last 2 dates:

Colombia host Bolivia (likely COL win) then end away at Venezuela (toss up).

Perú is away vs Uruguay (likely URU win, most important game for Chile) then end at home vs Paraguay (PER favored).

Uruguay host Perú and end with Chile away.

Chile's qualification depends in large part on how their direct rivals fare the last dates.  If Chile can get 3pts and Perú loses both or merely ties at home, Chile could clinch the 5th spot....if Colombia doesnt win both its last games.  If Chile can get 4pts they would likely get the 5th spot.  Only Chile winning both games (highly unlikely) would they be guaranteed anything.

CONMEBOL qualification is always decided on the last day.  And the 2 top teams Brazil & Argentina still have a game to make up.

Match highlights, argentine narration.

It was an odd game yesterday.  Rain caused a 30min delay (if anyone noticed, at min 7 the ref called both team captains to the sideline to check if the teams wanted to continue playing on a swampy pitch) and almost cancelled the game.  VAR was not working in La Paz.

Brereton had a decent game but was winded by mid 2nd half and taken off around min 74.   Alexis looked like the Sánchez of old, scoring 2 great goals (now 49 goals with Chile) .  Bolivia controlled large portions of the 2nd half as the altitude took its toll on Chile.  Looked like it was in the bag at 1-3 but 2-3 made it uncomfortable & tense until the end.

Ben vs Bolivia "he left his life [on the pitch!]", ie "he gave it his all!"

Chile wins 2-3.  Brereton wasnt injured just left out of breath, which is normal considering how much he ran & the thin air in La Paz.  

Chile now up their chances of direct qualificarion to 3% and temporily slip up to 5th place.

Brereton couldnt breathe.  I think this is the first time he's been subbed for Chle.

And Medel scores as i write this!

Field looks like shit.  Bolivia has no ocean, but a lot of standing water 

Ben: the effective one

Chilean news reporting what all the pundits had been saying regarding the game vs Argentina: Ben was the only really effecitve player, the only one who performed well.  He was in good form, was a nuisance the whole game, and almost had the tying goal.

Bréreton has also become the symbol or standard-bearer for the generational change (or "replacement" in Spanish) Chile is undergoing.  He continues to endear himself to the fans.  And his 4th goal for Chile shows "the shirt does not weigh him down" as we say in Spanish.  Ben was even made "the voice of the team" post game.

Ben Brereton: [generational] replacement leader

Chilean news interviewed a football statistician who underscored Chile's slim chances of qualifying.  As things stand, Chile has a 1% chance of qualifying directly for Qatar.  This rises to 3% with a win vs Bolivia on Tuesday.  The team currently has a 13% chance of qualifying for the playoff spot.

¡Keep hope alive!

On 28/01/2022 at 08:19, riverholmes said:

I haven't followed international football closely at all but my impression, which could be far off, is that African national teams haven't developed as some had thought they might. Nigeria and Cameroon, for example, were so impressive in the past that some were predicting that they could be compete for the World Cup one day. 

Nigeria used to produce explosive, skilful forwards like Yakubu, Aghahowa and Martins,  but I don't see it really in their current squad. I wonder if the formation of European-style academies, earlier player recruitment and more formalised approaches, have changed anything - or, whether, it's just a random phase. Perhaps, societal changes might play a role too, with less opportunities for street football.

Edit: Perhaps a distinction exists regionally for example, sub-Saharan Africa and northern countries. 

Africas problems are more related to off-pitch issues.  Most if not all federations have abysmal management.  When the world cup rolls around, many squads are mired in problems ranging from unpaid bonuses/salaries to political interference to intrasquad squabbling to last minute coaching changes.  They have talented individuals but many countries cant seem to gel as a team or let go of egos. 

South America has similar issues but on  a smaller scale.  But these problems have meant the difference betwee getting to a world cup semi-finals or finals and winning it.  

You can argue more slots for UEFA or CONMEBOL based on the "quality" of the threshold teams vs africa & especially asia & north américa. 

But it would be unseemly for over 50% of South América to qualify.  I enjoy seeing some of the fringe teams like Panamá or Togo [teams maybe 28-32].  I hope the latest fuckup fifa president doesnt get his way with a 64 nation world cup every 2yrs.  What a joke.  Teams 28-32 are iffy enough without adding 30 more shitty countries.

Ideally, CONCACAF (N Amér &,Carib) would merge with CONMEBOL at least for qualification.  That will never happen since it would mean their cash-cows México (not just a country of 130M but the "foot in the door" to the lucrative US Latino market of 65M) & the USA may miss world cups at the expense of a Paraguay or Chile.  

The CONMEBOL standings as things....stand.

Top 4 qualify.  5th plays the Asia 5th.

6 hours ago, BRFC4EVA said:

I don't think that's correct LB. I live in Nz and I'm sure I remembe r reading about the qualification draw and Oceania got North America..

You are, of course, correct.  I am ashamed.   I swear the quick source I looked up said OFC but yes, looks like it's the 5th place Asian team.  

BBD vs Argentina

Since God created the heavens and the earth, about 6000yrs ago, Chile has only ever beaten Argentina one time ever in an official game (recent Copa América finals aside).  One always has hope but not the expectation.  But a tie would have been nice. 

Argentina were already qualified and they played what seemed like a very relaxed game.  The Argentine team is very pleased to have possibly knocked Chile out of the next world cup (the teams and nationalists in both countries dislike each other).  Chile didn't seem to generate a lot of danger though there were sparks.  Ben had a couple of chances to knock the ball at goal towards the end but it dind't quite happen for him a 2nd time.  Still, he now has a goal against Argentina (to add to those vs Bolivia, Paraguay, and Cubazuela).

As it is (and with Uruguay winning tonight) this puts Chile in a tough spot, now down to 7th with 3 games remaining (the 2nd of which vs a qualified but always good Brazil, in Brazil).  Things look tough but not impossible, given how tight things are for spots 4 (automatic qualification to Qatar) and spot 5 (playoff vs Oceania, which is as good as qualifying really).  Chile must win vs Bolivia at La Paz on Tuesday (8:30pm UK time I think) and will have to defeat Uruguay at home on the last day of CONMEBOL qualifying in March.