Tokyo, Japan – The Chilean national women’s football team is preparing to make history by participating in its first Olympics in the 2020 Tokyo competition.
By overcoming a resilient Cameroon side 2-1 on aggregate over two legs back in April, the Chilean women’s football team booked its spot in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. This was history in the making: the first Chilean women’s national football team to qualify for an Olympics.
Chile will spar against Japan, Canada, and Great Britain in group E for a place in the knock-out phase. It will be a tough task of progressing from the group stages as the team faces some of the tournament favorites. Japan obviously has the home advantage, although without crowds the edge may be less. Great Britain and Canada both boast historically strong teams that have reached competition finals stages. But Chile must go with confidence into each game and build on its historic 2-0 victory over Thailand in the 2019 World Cup finals.
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No Matter The Result: We Are Proud of the Chilean Female Squad
To take on this challenge, head coach José Letelier has called upon a mixture of experience and youth in the squad with the majority of players taken from Chilean league teams but with others from the French, Swedish, and Spanish leagues. He will be relying on the steady hands of goalkeeper Christine Endler as the team’s captain and most capped player. For goals, Chile will look to midfielders Francisca Lara and Yanara Aedo as well as striker Daniela Zamora. The full team roster is as follows.
- GK Christiane Endler (captain) (age 29) France – Olympique Lyonnais
- GK Natalia Campos (age 29) Chile – Universidad de Chile
- GK Antonia Canales (age 18) Chile – Universidad Católica
- DF Carla Guerrero (age 33) Chile – Universidad de Chile
- DF Camila Sáez (age 26) Spain – Rayo Vallecano
- DF Daniela Pardo (age 33) Chile – Santiago Morning
- DF Javiera Toro (age 23) Spain – Sevilla
- DF Valentina Díaz (age 20) Chile – Colo-Colo
- DF Fernanda Ramírez (age 28) Chile – Universidad de Chile
- MF Francisca Lara (age 30) France – Le Havre
- MF Yanara Aedo (age 27) Spain – Rayo Vallecano
- MF Karen Araya (age 30) Chile – Santiago Morning
- MF Yessenia López (age 30) Chile – Universidad de Chile
- MF Francisca Mardones (age 32) Chile – Santiago Morning
- MF Nayadet López (age 26) Unattached
- MF Yastin Jiménez (age 20) Chile – Colo-Colo
- FW Daniela Zamora (age 30) Sweden – Djurgårdens
- FW María José Urrutia (age 27) Chile – Colo-Colo
- FW Fernanda Pinilla (age 27) Chile – Universidad de Chile
- FW Rosario Balmaceda (age 22) Chile – Santiago Morning
- FW Javiera Grez (age 19) Chile Colo-Colo
- FW Yenny Acuña (age 21) Chile Santiago Morning
Squad selected to represent Chile in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics women’s football competition.
Katlyn Stevens of Santiago Morning told Chile Today that she is “extremely happy for the Chilean National Team players and staff for their historic accomplishment of playing in the Tokyo Olympics. They are not only inspiring all of the young girls and boys across the country, but also proving day in and day out that women’s soccer in Chile is something to be taken seriously. The commitment of every single female footballer, member of technical staff and supporter of women’s soccer in Chile has resulted in this incredible opportunity for La Roja to be able to represent the country in the Olympic Games for the first time ever.“
1st match – Chile vs Great Britain in Sapporo on 21st July at 03:30 hrs. Matches are being streamed live on DirectTV.
John is a volcanologist, sports fan, radio broadcaster, and accomplished musician. Born and raised in Britain, he has travelled extensively for his research on volcanoes. Whilst living in London, UK, John performed in the punk bands ‘And Now We’re Even’ and ‘Filthy Militia’ recording six studio albums and two EP’S over this time. He currently lives in Santiago, Chile where he works as a university professor in rock mechanics.