Losing to brazil IN NO WAY automatically eliminates chile. Chile could technically qualify for playoff with 2pts if other results go their way. 3pts is realistic. Even if chile win both fixtures, the other results could still knock them out. Chile's WC fate is not exclusively in their hands. Yes, chilean FA officials have visited Blackburn. And they have also visited Milan, Sevilla, Marseille, and Rome. It is what south american FA's do: visit the clubs where their players play. This is not "interference". The FIFA rules are clear, so there is no need to "interfere". I understand few want him to make the journey but let's not mischaracterize what is going on. Chilean FA would love to have Ben on the field but he wont be played if he isnt fit. It is very very unlikely he'll play vs Brazil and the hope is he can make it for the home game vs Uruguay. "World cups come and go", WTF? They come and go every 4yrs. Rover's attempts to make it out of the 2nd division "come and go" EVERY year more like it. There seem to be a lot of naive commentary regarding how international play works between club and country. The tug war is not unique to Rovers. Go cry to FIFA.

I had assumed chile was behind it. I was going to write that if BBD were not an international player he would just be back in England with his team mates waiting to heal. But the article i read in chile's newspaper La Tercera (a reliable source) stated it was Rovers idea to send him to the UAE. Chilean FA medical personnel have been in daily contact with Rovers medical staff and BBD himself. The Chilean national team coach, the uruguayan Martín Lasarte, will personally pay BBD a visit on his trip to Europe next week.

i was going to ask what all this talk about a holiday was about. Glad somebody posted what i was going to post, that BBD has gone to Dubai where they have a team of specialists to help with his injury (don't know what makes them so special in Dubai but whatever, he is an élite athlete now and he gets élite treatment). And yes, the Chilean FA is involved in his treatment because they hope to have Ben on the pitch vs Brazil next month. He had been in London this last week with two specialist doctors (one of whom is Chilean) and then Rovers decided to send him to the UAE, not just because they have the best specialists but because they reckoned Ben would benefit from a warmer climate, Chilean papers are reporting. He should be back in England on Sunday.

Of course you are. I would question your loyalty & fan credentials if it were otherwise. I, on the other hand, have other priorities....

Alarm bells continue to go off in Chile as the image of BBD on crutches & a boot are causing panic. Ben has been deemed "irreplaceable" on the Chilean squad. The country's slim chances of qualifying look even bleaker if BBD will be out until April or beyond, as he will miss conmebol's last 2 qualifying games next month. "Brereton reappears with crutches and an orthopedic boot"

The girl is a dude. Dude looks like a lady....

Ben's injury has been followed in Chile, with eyes towards the upcoming final two qualifiers next month vs Brazil and Uruguay (along with goalkeeper Claudio Bravo in this note). "¿Bravo & Ben out of [the Chilean national team] La Roja?" "Red Alert: will Brereton play against Brazil?"

It's not REAL money though. Dollars & sense/cents. 😉

I saw that. I only have FuboTV. Most Rovers games arent shown on espn+ though. Very few & far betwixt. ..

Yeah but 13lbs? A lot of pesos week in week out. To watch them live at least.

Yeah. Tomorrow. We latins are all about tomorrow. But a game as shitty as today's sounded should be watched live.

Reading 20pages of comments here makes up for me not being able to watch the games here in the USA.

It is still a tight race. The teams fighting it out (Chile, Perú, Uruguay, Colombia) would be just as happy qualifying directly as the playoff, since the view from South América is that playing the Asian 5th is as good as qualifying. Here is the current table going into the final 2 games in March. Chile play Brazil away and end vs Uruguay at home. A tie vs Brazil would be considered a "win" since Chile has little hope of beating this Brazil in Brazil. Chile's hopes rest on defeating Uruguay, with Chile having a slightly favorable goal difference at this point vs its 3 other rivals for the last spot. Looking at Chile's qualification rivals these last 2 dates: Colombia host Bolivia (likely COL win) then end away at Venezuela (toss up). Perú is away vs Uruguay (likely URU win, most important game for Chile) then end at home vs Paraguay (PER favored). Uruguay host Perú and end with Chile away. Chile's qualification depends in large part on how their direct rivals fare the last dates. If Chile can get 3pts and Perú loses both or merely ties at home, Chile could clinch the 5th spot....if Colombia doesnt win both its last games. If Chile can get 4pts they would likely get the 5th spot. Only Chile winning both games (highly unlikely) would they be guaranteed anything. CONMEBOL qualification is always decided on the last day. And the 2 top teams Brazil & Argentina still have a game to make up.

Match highlights, argentine narration.

It was an odd game yesterday. Rain caused a 30min delay (if anyone noticed, at min 7 the ref called both team captains to the sideline to check if the teams wanted to continue playing on a swampy pitch) and almost cancelled the game. VAR was not working in La Paz. Brereton had a decent game but was winded by mid 2nd half and taken off around min 74. Alexis looked like the Sánchez of old, scoring 2 great goals (now 49 goals with Chile) . Bolivia controlled large portions of the 2nd half as the altitude took its toll on Chile. Looked like it was in the bag at 1-3 but 2-3 made it uncomfortable & tense until the end. Ben vs Bolivia "he left his life [on the pitch!]", ie "he gave it his all!"