Uruguay vs Chile 09/10/20

09 October 2020

Uruguay will kick-off their FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign on home soil as they welcome Chile to the Estadio Centenario.

Going back to November 2018, the hosts are unbeaten in 13 international games, friendlies included (W8, D5 – 90 minutes only). Yet, Uruguay’s recent matches have been notably tight, as all of the last eight have yielded a full-time margin of under 1.5 goals. Impressively, ‘La Celeste’ completed their previous FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign unbeaten in four contests (W2, D2) and have run out winners in four of five home H2Hs in World Cup qualifiers versus Chile in the 21st century (W4, D1). Remarkably, though, seven of their last nine World Cup qualifying home fixtures have produced at least three goals, that’s despite Uruguay keeping a blank sheet on six of those occasions (W7, D1, L1).

On the other hand, a 3-2 win over Guinea last time out has brought Chile’s six-game winless streak to an end (D3, L3), marking the first match in which they scored over 1.5 goals since a 2-1 away win over Ecuador in June 2019. Curiously, though, ‘La Roja’ have failed to keep a clean sheet in four of their last six outings, conceding on or beyond the 80-minute mark in each. Slow starts on foreign soil could be a troubling fact here, considering Reinaldo Rueda’s men have managed to open the scoring in just one of their previous eight matches away from home (W1, D3, L4). A lack of first-half goals has highlighted those games, as six of eight contained one goal or less before half-time.