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Are we in danger of liking the England football team again? The flair and vigour with which they attacked their two critical World Cup qualifiers last month has arguably left England bathed in a more positive light than at any time since Sven’s lads tonked Germany 5-1 back in 2001. We all know what a false dawn that turned out to be, so England fans should be sure to keep this new hopefulness in perspective.
Tonight’s friendly could be interesting from that point of view – Chile qualified from the South American group with some comfort, so will provide exactly the kind of opposition England can expect to face next summer. Does the presence of a Barcelona striker (Alexis Sanchez) and a Nottingham Forest defender (Gonzalo Jara) suggest Chile are stronger going forward? If so, we could be in for an interesting evening.
A good night for schadenfreude too: this friendly is shadowed by the first legs of the European playoffs. So, even if Chile are proving too hot to handle, it could be worse…