Expectations Weigh Heavy on Hosts Chile as Copa America History Beckons

Brazil, who play Honduras on Wednesday night in a warm-up friendly, will be the last team to arrive in Chile for the Copa America. Jamaica, who flew in late last week, were the first—apart, it may seem obvious enough, from the hosts.

The fact is, though, that Chile had originally planned on turning up late for their own party.

Their coach is Jorge Sampaoli, a hyperactive little Argentinian who seems to run on batteries as he paces up and down the touchline. He has spent months musing on the double-edged nature of playing a tournament at home, on how it can either inspire or intimidate.

Concerned about the latter, he was thinking of holding a training camp in Spain, then bringing the squad back home as close as possible to the big kick-off—a plan only recently abandoned when it became clear that some of his most important players would be in action for their European clubs right up until the end of May or even early June.

Instead, he has been jealously guarding the privacy of his team in a former monastery an hour outside Santiago.

Sampaoli’s fears emerge from the fact that he had a front-row seat a year ago to observe the effects of hosting the 2014 World Cup on the Brazil team. He saw how much the pressure put lead in their legs and tears in their eyes.

Chile met Brazil in the second round—and had Mauricio Pinilla’s last-gasp shot flown two inches lower, the hosts would have been out. Instead it went to a shootout—where Brazil captain Thiago Silva refused to take a penalty and sat on his own in a distraught heap. Before the tournament he had confessed that he was losing sleep.

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It is hardly surprising, then, that Sampaoli wanted to shield his men from that kind of psychological torture.

True, the Copa America is small change compared to the World Cup. But it is Chile’s big chance. In 99 years and 43 Copas, they have never lifted the trophy—unlike Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru.

Now could be the time.

Their last two World Cups have been their best ever—with the exception of the one they hosted in 1962, when, with playing at home clearly not overwhelming to them, they finished third.

By popular consensus, Chile can now count on the best side in their history. It is an experienced team, with almost all the key players in their late-20s primes. They have a highly rated coach and a well-defined identity of play—the high energy, pressing and quick-passing attacking style that makes them so attractive to watch.

This is their moment. Can they seize it?

Many Chileans are optimistic, and some are looking to Europe for a precedent. The Champions League final was billed over here as the moment when a Chilean would finally win the world’s most prestigious club prize—it would be either Claudio Bravo of Barcelona or Arturo Vidal of Juventus.

This was a bit of a stretch: Bravo, the national team captain, has to sit on the bench for Champions League games and does not even receive a winner’s medal. Nevertheless, the goalkeeper played a full part in his club’s triumphant league season.

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It may well be a stretch to hold up his exploits as a symbol that this is Chile’s year—but such mental gymnastics are permissible when the national team can count on a striker as elusive and committed to the cause as Alexis Sanchez.

A local TV campaign refers to the Arsenal man as "the miracle of the desert." He comes from Tocopilla in the arid north of the country, territory as bare as Chile’s trophy cabinet. Now 26, he was shining in the local first division a decade ago. "The wonder kid," as he is known, has detected that along with the hope there is a fair dose of worry in the hearts of his compatriots.

"It didn’t seem like we were playing in Chile," he said after Friday’s 1-0 warm-up win over El Salvador in Rancagua, one of the Copa host cities.

Chile took an early lead with a goal that highlighted their virtues. A quick exchange of passes, with plenty of attacking ambition and movement off the ball, between Jorge Valdivia, Sanchez and Jean Beausejour galloping up from left back was rounded off by Valdivia’s cute finish.

The crowd sat back in expectation of a landslide victory—which never came.

The silence that Sanchez complained about was initially one of quiet expectation. But as the night wore on it became one of quiet worry. If Chile could not put El Salvador to bed in a friendly, then what might happen against far more threatening opponents when the real stuff starts?

The goals have dried up. At the end of March, Chile lost 2-0 to Iran and 1-0 to Brazil. When the second goal refused to go in against El Salvador, the analyst on Chilean TV compared the team to an old school colleague who would dance all night at parties but never seemed to get the girl.

The local press have warmed to the theme. “We’re struggling to score,” wrote former international Rodrigo Goldberg. “This is an important subject, and a worrying one from my point of view.”

The concern is general, because Chile can leave themselves very open.

As the old phrase goes, trying to get the balance of a team right is like having a small blanket on a cold night—pull it over your neck, and your feet freeze; cover your feet, and your neck gets cold. With their bold approach, Chile pull the blanket as high as it goes—and as winter sets in, the Chilean nights are getting colder.

A good example of Chilean nerves is the fact that when the squads were named, one local newspaper took a measure of all the players to find the average height. This is because Chile have the smallest squad (the tallest, by the way, is Jamaica), meaning that every set piece for the opposition near the Chilean goal is a heart-stopping moment.

Rather than looking for height, Sampaoli gives priority to defenders who can pass the ball out from the back—one of the reasons there are so many midfielders improvised in the Chilean rear guard. It is an option with risks, as well as rewards.

If Chile are to make history and put their name on the trophy, then it is going to be an exciting ride—not least because of the calibre of opposition.

It is true that many of the teams in the 2015 Copa America suffer from a lack of preparation, firstly because there are so many new coaches going into their first competitive matches with players they barely know. But adding pressure are the demands of a club calendar that obliged key players to be in action on the other side of the Atlantic as recently as last Saturday, just five days before the big kick-off.

Nevertheless, the 2015 field looks impressively strong. A comparison with the last Copa, four years ago in Argentina, provides food for thought.

In 2011, Argentina had still yet to find a way to get the best out of Lionel Messi. Neymar was nothing more than a promising, callow youth for Brazil. James Rodriguez had yet to be promoted from Colombia’s under-20 side. All three would now seem to be at the top of their games. Uruguay appear to be rebuilding nicely, and Ecuador, Chile’s first opponents, carry a considerable threat.

The 2015 Copa America, then, promises to be full of great football and gripping storylines—one of which will be whether Chile can cope with the pressure of hosting and the burdens of expectation.

All quotes obtained firsthand and translated by the author unless otherwise noted.

Tim Vickery will be contributing in text and video to Bleacher Report during the Copa America tournament.