González and Millar fail to make Chile’s World Cup 23

Defender Marcos González and midfielder Rodrigo Millar were the fall-guys after Chile boss Jorge Sampaoli surprisingly named his 23-man World Cup squad on Sunday.

All the indications were that Sampaoli would wait until the FIFA deadline tomorrow to announce his list, but he´s nipped in ahead of time.

With 25 players remaining from the initial 30 announced, the former Universidad de Chile boss had to drop two more players. Of the two, Unión Española defender González is the bigger surprise.

The 33-year-old centre-back was a regular in the qualifiers and his height was seen as a plus for a Chile side short of aerial power. However, it played against him that he hadn´t played competitive football since early March.

Brazilian club Flamengo released him and he signed for Unión Española at the end of the Clausura and has yet to make his debut. The writing was on the wall when Sampaoli didn´t select him for Friday night´s 3-2 friendly win against Egypt in Santiago.
If Sampaoli had wanted to take him to the World Cup, then he would have wanted to have given him much-needed playing time against the Egyptians.

Ex-Colo Colo midfielder Millar was a surprise call to the 30 after not being previously selected by Sampaoli. The Atlas man was brought in as cover in case Arturo Vidal failed to recover from a knee injury, but the Juventus man is recovering well after surgery.

Players relieved to have made the cut will include Universidad de Chile´s José Rojas, Colo Colo midfielder José Pedro Fuenzalida and Colo Colo striker Esteban Paredes, who was originally cut from the 30 and then brought back into the squad.

Chile’s final 23-man squad for the World Cup in Brazil is:
1. Claudio Bravo – Real Sociedad (Spain)
2. Johnny Herrera – Universidad de Chile
3. Cristopher Toselli – Universidad Católica
4. Alexis Sánchez – Barcelona (Spain)
5. Miiko Albornoz – Malmo (Sweden)
6. Charles Aránguiz – Internacional (Brazil)
7. Jean Beausejour – Wigan Athletic (England)
8. Carlos Carmona – Atalanta (Italy)
9. Marcelo Díaz – Basel (Switzerland)
10. José Pedro Fuenzalida – Colo Colo
11. Felipe Gutiérrez – Twente (Holland)
12. Mauricio Isla – Juventus (Italy)
13. Gonzalo Jara – Nottingham Forest (England)
14. Gary Medel – Cardiff City (Wales)
15. Eugenio Mena – Santos (Brazil)
16. Fabián Orellana – Celta Vigo (Spain)
17. Esteban Paredes – Colo Colo
18. Mauricio Pinilla – Cagliari (Italy)
19. José Rojas – Universidad de Chile
20. Francisco Silva – Osasuna (Spain)
21. Jorge Valdivia – Palmeiras (Brazil)
22. Eduardo Vargas – Valencia (Spain)
23. Arturo Vidal – Juventus (Italy)