The Germans ran out 3-2 winners in their opening encounter against Australia, but they did make life difficult for themselves in what should have been a much more comfortable triumph. The Socceroos' two goals were extremely preventable from a German perspective, and Joachim Low may be a little concerned that his side were unable to convert their general dominance into a healthier margin of victory. The main thing was that they got the job done, though, and Germany know that another win this week would almost certainly be enough to see them through to the knockout stage of the competition. They will not find things easy against Chile - particularly as Low has essentially selected a second-string team - but Germany have the quality to beat anyone in the tournament on their day.
Chile also secured a successful result last time out, when they beat African champions Cameroon by two goals to nil. Juan Antonio Pizzi's men left it late before seeing off their dogged opponents, with both of their goals coming in the final nine minutes, but there was no doubt that the South Americans were deserved victors. Chile played their usual brand of high-octane, full-throttle football, featuring hard running and heavy pressing, but supporters may question whether fatigue will play its part in their exploits in Russia - after all, this is the fourth successive summer in which they have competed at an international tournament.
Low is unlikely to make wholesale changes to his line-up for this encounter at the Kazan Arena, although there may be one or two switches against Chile. For a start, it would not he hugely surprising if goalkeeper Bernd Leno made way following his error-strewn display on Monday, unless the Germans' long-serving manager could be too wary of the detrimental impact such a move would have on his confidence; RB Leipzig goal-getter Timo Werner, meanwhile, is battling with Sandro Wagner for the sole centre-forward spot.
Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez will return to Chile’s starting XI after regaining full fitness, while Pizzi may prefer the more cautious Francisco Silva to Charles Aranguiz - who had a difficult club campaign in the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen - in the centre of the park. Pizzi's predecessor Jorge Samapaoli used to regularly switch between three-man and four-man backlines during his time in charge of La Roja, but the current boss will stick with the latter on Thursday evening.
Taking everything into account, it could be worth backing Chile to come out on top in this one. Goals will be guaranteed - over 2.5 to be scored in total looks like an obvious bet, while more than 3.5 offers a better potential return - but in terms of the result, Pizzi's charges may have a little too much for a relatively inexperienced German group. With that in mind, then, consider putting some money on a Chile victory over Germany.
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