Chile promise to stay faithful to their adventurous style

South American champions Chile have promised to stay faithful to their adventurous approach which often threatens to blow their opponents away but also leaves their own defence dangerously exposed.“Our gameplan is always to have the initiative, to take the leading role, have control and create openings,” coach Juan Antonio Pizzi told reporters after his side lost 1-0 to Germany in Sunday’s Confederations Cup final. “Our commitment in the future is to continue doing the same.”Chile were once renowned as relative lightweights in South America but in the last few years have become one of the continent’s most inventive and versatile sides, with a readily identifiable whirlwind style of play. They invariably press high and try to win possession deep in the opposition’s half and, when they have the ball, throw players forward in numbers in a manner which former Spain coach Vicente del Bosque once said was like “facing 11 kamikazes.”Marcelo Bielsa, the eccentric Argentine coach who took them to the 2010 World Cup, began the transformation which was continued by Jorge Sampaoli who led them to their first major title, the Copa America in 2015, and by Pizzi.Under Pizzi they also won last year’s Copa Centenario, a special tournament to celebrate the Copa America’s 100th anniversary. Despite their two titles, Chile often threaten to blow themselves out and recent results have been inconsistent.They still have a fight on their hands to qualify for next year’s World Cup, currently lying fourth in the 10-team South American group where only the top four qualify directly. Pizzi admitted that poor finishing let them down in Russia. “Converting your chances is one of the most difficult things to do in football, and when you take them, it completely changes the course of the game,” he said, adding that his team did not know how to play any other way.“Our gameplan was what you saw from the start,” he said.”We like to play this way and we believe it gives us a better chance. Putting opponents under pressure near their goal is also a way of defending. We prefer this to sitting back and playing on the counter-attack.”He said it had won them admiration from other teams. “It was remarkable how much respect we got from our opponents.”Pizzi defended midfielder Marcelo Diaz despite the first-half blunder which cost ‘La Roja’ the title. Diaz’s momentary lapse of concentration in Saint Petersburg let Timo Werner rob him of possession, draw goalkeeper Claudio Bravo and pass to Lars Stindl, who tapped the winning goal into an empty net on 20 minutes.“Marcelo, like his team-mates, is sad, we are all sad,” said Pizzi. “However, we really value his style and the world of football knows the way we play is because of Marcelo. With our kind of style of play, things can happen. No one expected that, but this sort of situation can happen in a match and we support him fully. Of course, he’s disappointed but we need to move on and become stronger from this.”Pizzi admitted Germany’s goal knocked the confidence out of the chileans as Arturo Vidal and substitute Angelo Sagal both fired second-half shots over the bar.“Their goal changed everything – it changed the way my players felt and made our opponents better,” said Pizzi.“Even then, we kept fighting and controlling the game and created more chances, but one of the hardest things is to score and we’ll keep working to improve the team.”Despite chile picking up four yellows cards – including Gonzalo Jara who could have been sent off for elbowing Werner in the face – Pizzi defended his team’s aggression. “It’s a final and that is the reason the game is played at such a high intensity,” he said.