By Samindra Kunti in St Petersburg, Russia
June 23 – Chile held world champions Germany to a 1-1 draw in group B at the FIFA Confederations, with the president of Chile’s FA announcing that the country is considering a bid for the 2026 World Cup.
The Chileans arrived in Russia with the expressed ambition of winning the Confederations Cup, but why stop there, with the Chilean football federation president tabling the 2026 World Cup proposal as potential joint bid.
“We will consider the possibility of doing it together with other countries, it can be with two countries or three countries,” said Arturo Salah on the sidelines of the tournament. “We’ll have to see. The bidding period is open. We have to see if there is any possibility of partnering with some of our neighbours and see if we can make a bid.”
Chile hosted the World Cup in 1962 when Brazil defeated Czechoslovakia 3-1 in the final. The USA, Mexico and Canada have launched a joint-bid to bring back the World Cup to the CONCACAF region in 2026, with that bid very much in pole position to win the hosting rights.
Chile draw with Germany in Russia
Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez became his country’s leading goal scorer after he profited from a mistake by Shkodran Mustafi in the German defense to give Chile an early lead against Germany with a neat finish.
Germany had the experience and pedigree of Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, Shkodran Mustafi, Julian Draxler and Emre Can in their theam, but Jochim Low’s team remained largely a young one against the full-strength Chileans. Lars Stindl equalised just before the interval.
The Germans found their feet, with no team finding the net after the break. The result means Chile remain top of Group B, ahead of the world champions on goal difference.
“I’m very happy to be Chile’s top scorer. Our dream is to win this tournament and we feel we have a chance,” said Sanchez, who has been linked with a move away from Arsenal this summer.
Both teams require just one point from their remaining Group B games against Australia and Cameroon respectively to progress to the semi-finals.
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