Chile captain Claudio Bravo dreams of defeating Spain

Chile captain and goalkeeper Claudio Bravo wants to beat Spain

Geneva, Sep 10 (IANS) Chile’s national football team captain and goalkeeper Claudio Bravo said the time has come to defeat a rival as high-ranked as Spain in their upcoming match in Geneva on Tuesday.

“It’s the right time to face off against the world champions. I hope we can do it. It’s time to defeat such a high-ranking rival. I hope (the match) helps us to grow and to find out where we place. We are very eager to win,” Bravo said on Monday, reports Xinhua.

Bravo, who plays for Spain’s Real Sociedad, indicated his team was more confident than ever.

“We believe a lot more in our team and we feel we have a different degree of respect in comparison with what we had a few games ago. Teams face us in a different way and that makes you grow and work in a different way,” said Bravo.

Chile play Spain in a friendly meant to prepare them for their respective regional qualifying tournaments. Led by Coach Jorge Sampaoli, Chile have at least secured a space in the playoffs for a ticket to the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

Argentina lead the South American tournament with 26 points, followed by Colombia (26), Chile (24), Ecuador (21), Uruguay (19), Venezuela (16), Peru (14), Paraguay (11) and Bolivia (10). The first four teams will automatically advance and the fifth-ranked team will go into a playoff against an Asian team for a chance to play in Brazil.

Bravo said his dream now is to qualify as soon as possible for Brazil.

“You always have dreams and goals to attain. Our next one is to qualify as soon as possible for the World Cup. We are very close and we depend on our game and our results,” said Bravo.

The captain also referred to upcoming qualifying matches against Colombia and Ecuador in October.

“All the games are very tough, you are always risking something. The good thing is that we depend on us, we’re not afraid or complexed or anything; we are doing things right. We hope everything turns out well and we secure the qualification as soon as possible and not have to wait until the last moment,” he said.