Legacy of Bielsa

Marcelo Bielsa had been out of the game for three years when appointed manager of Chile in 2007. It was quite a job.

Bielsa's brand of football impressed at the 2010 World Cup as Chile played with tempo and verve. An excellent passing game coupled with rapid transitions from defence to attack was fused with an aggressive pressing style that saw the team work tirelessly to win the ball back. Shorn of three key players through suspension, La Roja's South African adventure ended with defeat to Brazil in the last 16. But with Jorge Sampaoli in charge, Bielsa's legacy endures. 

The current Chile coach is a self-confessed disciple of his fellow Argentine. A youth player at Newell's Old Boys when Bielsa was in the first team, Sampaoli remains an advocate of the high-pressing style popularised by the mentor who shaped his football philosophy. "I saw him as a mythical figure," Sampaoli told Argentine newspaper Olé. "I listened to all his talks. I had them on cassette and used to go jogging listening to them." 

But Sampaoli was not the man chosen to replace Bielsa when the experienced coach left for Athletic Bilbao in 2011. Claudio Borghi was brought in but his time in charge was beset with problems on and off the field. Star playmaker Jorge Valdivia was banished from the squad, while six straight defeats - three of them in World Cup qualifying - left Chile struggling to reach this summer's tournament on their home continent.

Return to template

The suits could watch on no more. Sampaoli took over from Claudio Borghi in December 2012 and immediately set about returning to the Bielsa template. Claudio Herrera, football correspondent for Chile's most popular newspaper El Mercurio, believes this was in keeping with the desires of a team struggling to adapt to a new way of working. 

"The players themselves admit that Bielsa has changed their way of playing," Herrera told Sky Sports. "Sampaoli is a fanatical admirer of Bielsa, applies the same methodology to his training and game system. The players who are with Sampaoli today are prepared just as under Bielsa, although they are now enhanced by the experience of a World Cup and have more maturity thanks to playing in European leagues." It's an assessment Sampaoli himself agrees with. 

"The most important thing was picking up from where Marcelo Bielsa had left off in the previous qualifying campaign," Sampaoli told FIFA. "The players still had their mindset from that period stored somewhere. The players already knew that methodology, that way of feeling the game. It was easier for me because I've been following Bielsa since the '90s, so it's easier to get across the ideas of a coach whose way of expressing himself and whose feeling for football you identify with." 

He added: "I've got different characteristics. I think that Marcelo is among the leading coaches in the history of world football. So, making comparisons or thinking that someone is similar is unfair, because he's above all or at least the majority of coaches. I'm very thankful for having been able to hear Bielsa speak loads of times and for having learned so many things from him, but then start to find your own way, which makes you a coach with a similar way of thinking but different ideas." 

There have been some stylistic tweaks. "The tactics are similar except for some minor details," explains Herrera. "It can be a 4-1-2-3, 4-2-1-3 or 3-3-1-3. Bielsa used a classic 'enganche' which was almost always Matías Fernández, while Sampaoli prefers a mix of all-round midfielders such as Arturo Vidal, Aránguiz and Felipe Gutiérrez. Sampaoli has also brought in players Bielsa never considered integral to his squad, such as José Rojas and Marcelo Díaz." 

The turnaround in fortunes has been emphatic. Consecutive victories over Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Venezuela lifted Chile back into contention and goals from Alexis Sanchez and Gary Medel were enough to secure a 2-1 win over Ecuador in the final round of games to beat their opponents to third spot overall. Add in encouraging friendly results against Spain, Brazil and perhaps most memorably, November's 2-0 win over England at Wembley, and Sampaoli's men go to the World Cup in buoyant mood. 

Handed a tough qualifying group that includes Spain and Holland, it will require similarly strong performances just to reach the knockout stages. But Sampaoli is in bullish mood. "It is safe to say that Chile are contenders," he argues. "We will not allow ourselves to be modified by our opponents. We will go mano a mano against anyone." One senses Bielsa would approve.

Claudio Herrera's view:

Is Jorge Sampaoli doing a good job in charge of the team?

"Sampaoli took a team that was struggling after three consecutive defeats in qualifying and managed to finish third in the table with some great performances: 5 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. Moreover, in friendly games, Chile managed to draw against Brazil (2-2), Spain (2-2) and beat England at Wembley (2-0). He helped important players such as Arturo Vidal, Marcelo Diaz, Alexis Sanchez and Jorge Valdivia regain their top level."

What are your ambitions for Chile this summer and will the fact that the tournament is in South America help the team?

"The hope is to overcome the second round, which was the stage where Chile were eliminated in France '98 and South Africa in 2010. But personally, I think the challenge is to overcome the group stage, for which it is necessary to remove either Holland or Spain. That's already a huge task. I do not think the tournament being staged in South America is a huge advantage to Chile. The only ones who will benefit from home advantage are Brazil."

Alexis Sanchez

His more direct approach was supposed to offer something different to the tiki-taka specialists, but it took time for Sanchez to prove his worth at Barcelona. After two seasons as part of the ensemble, the 25-year-old took a leading role in the 2013/14 campaign, passing his previous best tally of 15 goals by early February. Encouragingly for Sampaoli, this improved form has also been reflected in his efforts for the Chile national team. 

In addition to four goals in World Cup qualifying, Sanchez scored both goals in a 2-0 friendly win over England at Wembley in November - raising hopes of heroics in Brazil. "It was a memorable performance," Sampaoli told reporters afterwards. "He showed tonight he can be a real star of the World Cup. A performance like this at Wembley tonight stands him in good stead to have a really good tournament. He showed his class."

Jorge Valdivia

The phenomenally gifted playmaker has been a joy to watch throughout his career but the 30-year-old's time with the national team has not been without its problems. His involvement in the infamous El Bautizazo controversy - in which he and several other stars got drunk at his daughter's baptism when on international duty - saw him fall out of favour with former coach Claudio Borghi. It's a different story under Sampaoli though, and with his recent injury worries now behind him, expect Valdivia to play a pivotal role. 

"Jorge is an irreplaceable talent for us," says Sampaoli. "The wait for him to recover from his injury problems unsettled things for the coaching staff, because we knew that the way he plays he could give us something that a lot of teams lack. Right now, he's key to the kind of football that we play, because he's a class apart - like Messi for Argentina, Ronaldo for Portugal and Ribery for France. We need him at his best."

Arturo Vidal

"I am the best player in the world in my position," Vidal told German newspaper Bild earlier this year. "That's simply the way it is for me. There are a lot of players out there in my position who try and play just like me and want to copy my style of play. But it's quite clear for me that I'm the best in my role. Nobody puts in as much defensive work as I do and then scores a lot of goals on top of it as well." 

Annoyingly for those who find such self-confidence a little disconcerting, the Juventus midfielder has a point. Vidal is the complete midfielder and will be at the heart of the Chile team this summer, if fit after a knee injury. As the player himself notes, despite his defensive role in the centre of the pitch, that is far from the limit of his ambitions - five goals in just 11 games meant that he was also Chile's top scorer in World Cup qualifying.

Alexis Sanchez

His more direct approach was supposed to offer something different to the tiki-taka specialists, but it took time for Sanchez to prove his worth at Barcelona. After two seasons as part of the ensemble, the 25-year-old took a leading role in the 2013/14 campaign, passing his previous best tally of 15 goals by early February. Encouragingly for Sampaoli, this improved form has also been reflected in his efforts for the Chile national team. In addition to four goals in World Cup qualifying, Sanchez scored both goals in a 2-0 friendly win over England at Wembley in November - raising hopes of heroics in Brazil. "It was a memorable performance," Sampaoli told reporters afterwards. "He showed tonight he can be a real star of the World Cup. A performance like this at Wembley tonight stands him in good stead to have a really good tournament. He showed his class."

Jorge Valdivia

The phenomenally gifted playmaker has been a joy to watch throughout his career but the 30-year-old's time with the national team has not been without its problems. His involvement in the infamous El Bautizazo controversy - in which he and several other stars got drunk at his daughter's baptism when on international duty - saw him fall out of favour with former coach Claudio Borghi. It's a different story under Sampaoli though, and with his recent injury worries now behind him, expect Valdivia to play a pivotal role. "Jorge is an irreplaceable talent for us," says Sampaoli. "The wait for him to recover from his injury problems unsettled things for the coaching staff, because we knew that the way he plays he could give us something that a lot of teams lack. Right now, he's key to the kind of football that we play, because he's a class apart - like Messi for Argentina, Ronaldo for Portugal and Ribery for France. We need him at his best."

Arturo Vidal

"I am the best player in the world in my position," Vidal told German newspaper Bild earlier this year. "That's simply the way it is for me. There are a lot of players out there in my position who try and play just like me and want to copy my style of play. But it's quite clear for me that I'm the best in my role. Nobody puts in as much defensive work as I do and then scores a lot of goals on top of it as well." Annoyingly for those who find such self-confidence a little disconcerting, the Juventus midfielder has a point. Vidal is the complete midfielder and will be at the heart of the Chile team this summer, if fit after a knee injury. As the player himself notes, despite his defensive role in the centre of the pitch, that is far from the limit of his ambitions - five goals in just 11 games meant that he was also Chile's top scorer in World Cup qualifying.