5 big teams who could fail to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup

3) Chile

Chile are in dire straits in the World cup qualifiers

Could we see a World Cup without the reigning two-time South American champions? It looks highly likely.

Chile won both the 2015 Copa America (at home) and the special 2016 Copa America Centenario, beating Argentina on both occasions. It was a grand success and the trophies only proved that Chile had finally arrived - at least on the continental stage.

However, their World Cup qualification process could have gone a lot better. Since South America does not have as many countries as the rest of the major confederations, they all play each other twice to determine who progresses.

The top four teams in CONMEBOL (Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol or South American Football Confederation) qualify directly for the World Cup. The fifth-placed team goes into an Inter-Confederation Playoff with the winner of the Oceania Football Confederation (New Zealand).

Unfortunately, Chile find themselves in sixth place at the moment with two games to go.

CONMEBOL table - 2018 FIFA World Cup qualfiers

Who do they play next?

Chile's last two games are against Ecuador (home) and - wait for it - Brazil (away). The last thing La Roja would have wanted was a do-or-die game against the Selecao.

Not only do they have to win both their games, they have to hope that other teams such as Uruguay, Colombia, Peru or Argentina drop points in their fixtures.

The last two losses against Paraguay (0-3 at home) and Bolivia (0-1 away) may have sealed the South American champions' fate.