Former Colombia and Newcastle forward, Faustino Asprilla, has revealed that the Chile national team’s dressing room is completely split with Alexis Sanchez at odds with Arturo Vidal.
Asprilla claims that Chile’s dressing room is split into two sides: Alexis’ and Vidal’s.
As a result, the situation is pretty tense.
“The Chilean players believed that with little effort it would be enough to qualify. In some way it was an excess of confidence, they said ‘we are fourth and they five qualify’.
“Then, they saw each other with the rope around their necks,” Asprilla told La Cuarta, via Sport Witness.
“But, honestly, I don’t know how the dressing room of Chile will be. From outside it is said that there are two sides, Alexis’ friends against Vidal’s friends, and those differences take their toll.”
In October, a 3-0 defeat to Brazil meant Alexis and his compatriots failed to qualify for the World Cup this summer.
It was a massive blow to a South American team that appeared to be in fantastic form, having won two Copa America trophies in a row.
According to Asprilla, the players began to play the blame game.
I can’t help but think back to October and how hard Alexis took not making the World Cup, and wonder whether this impacted his form for Arsenal.
Arsene Wenger gave the 29-year-old the next match, which was the 2-1 defeat away to Watford, off. This alone suggests that the Chilean was festering behind the scenes and not just on the pitch.
“Alexis is in a very difficult frame of mind and I’ll have to speak to him about that,” Wenger said at the time, reported the S*n.
“Chile had just won the Copa America twice and he expected to go to the World Cup.
“He will be 29 at the end of the year — and 33 by the time of the next World Cup — so it’s certainly a big disappointment for him not to go Russia.
“To go to the World Cup is the target of every single player and I don’t deny the competition is a stimulant for everyone.
“But when one target goes you focus on something else — and now Alexis must concentrate on what he can achieve with his club.”
Obviously, not wanting to play for Arsenal played its part in Alexis’ lacklustre displays and I’m in no way excusing the complete lack of professionalism the forward showed during his final months in north London, but it would definitely go some way in explaining why he was so distracted.