Chile vs Honduras Predictions

Not only did the Chileans fail to book their place in Russia last summer, but their efforts of late have been very poor. Manager Reinaldo Rueda will be looking for a reaction from his side after they lost against Costa Rica last time out.

Sometimes it’s difficult to come up with a reason as to why a team is failing to get positive results, though that’s not really the case with Chile, who’ve won just one of their last five. Going forward, with players such as the mercurial Alexis Sanchez and Barcelona’s Arturo Vidal, La Roja are no slouches; they’re capable of both creating and scoring goals, but their forward play is currently being hampered by a lack of defensive solidity.

Against Peru recently, the Chileans made good progress going forward, but even though their end-product wasn’t great, it was what they did in the defensive third that really let them down. If you’re giving up 2.51 expected goals, then it’s going to be difficult to get the desired result. Much of the same can be said for their encounter with Costa Rica last time out. On that occasion, La Rojo clocked a very respectable 3.74 expected goals. However, poor defending cost them yet again, as they shipped three goals and surrendered 1.97 expected goals. The stats tell us that they were unlucky to lose the game, though they still gave too much away.

Honduras have played three times recently, winning once, drawing once and losing once. During that time, even though they’ve not faced the best opposition, the performances of Carlos Tábora’s men have been underwhelming. They’ve not given a great deal away, shipping an average of 0.84 expected goals, but their final-third efforts have been weak, as they’re averaging just 0.83 expected goals for.

The visitors beat Panama last time out, though if they’re giving up 1.31 expected goals against such modest opposition, then they could struggle to keep the Chileans at bay. What’s more, Tábora’s side failed to get competitive in the final third against both South Korea and El Salvador, clocking rather embarrassing expected-goals for counts of 0.26 and 0.46 respectively.

There can be no getting away from the fact that Chile have struggled defensively at times, but this match against a Honduras side that has been offering very little offensively gives the hosts the perfect opportunity to improve.

Honduras are quite disciplined defensively; they’ll go to Estadio Municipal Germán Becker with containment in mind and thus won’t be overly expansive. They’ve given little away in recent times, so much so that they can avoid a heavy beating, though they simply lack the offensive quality to get a result. The hosts are backed to have that extra bit of offensive quality to break down what is a useful defensive side. ‘Chile to Win & Under 3.5 Goals’ stands out.