Chilean and Cuban national teams to play friendly soccer match

Havana, June 11 (RHC)-- The Chilean and Cuban national teams will play today at the Ester Roa Rebolledo stadium in the city of Concepción a friendly soccer match that will serve both squads to refine their game strategies.

The clash in the capital of the Bío Bío Region is scheduled for 19:00 (Chilean time) and is important for both national teams.

The Argentine Eduardo Berizzo, coach of "la roja", as the South American team is known, will try out an unprecedented starting lineup, where several of the main figures of the local football will be absent.

Claudio Bravo, the goalkeeper who plays for Real Betis of Spain, decided to take a vacation period and asked not to be called up for this and the other friendly matches of his country against Dominican Republic and Bolivia.

In his place, Cristóbal Campos will make his debut in goal, and according to what Berizzo has shown in recent training sessions, he will be accompanied by defenders Nayel Mehssatou, Matías Zaldivia, Rodrigo Echeverría and Eugenio Mena.

The midfield will be formed by Williams Alarcón, César Pérez, Marcelino Núñez and Javier Altamirano or Lucas Assadi; and Maximiliano Rodríguez and Juan Delgado will play up front.

Cuba took 23 players to Chile, many of them young players who participate in the local tournament or play in leagues in Europe, North, Central and South America.

Cuban technical director, Pablo Elier Sánchez, told Prensa Latina that the main objective of this match is to reach the best possible form for the Gold Cup of the North, Central American and Caribbean Football Confederation.

We are going to propose an interesting tactic, said the coach, and added that although they know very well the quality of Chilean football, they will go out to the field with the mentality of looking for a good result.

Once the match is over, the team will travel to Uruguay, where they will play another friendly match on the 20th of this month, a few days before the start of the group stage of the Gold Cup.

Cuba's main goal is to advance beyond the first stage and that is why these previous matches are particularly important, said the coach.