Marcelo Bielsa has named Chile’s 30-man provisional World Cup squad.
The biggest surprise was the inclusion of Atalanta midfielder Jaime Valdes, who has played in Italy for a decade but has never featured under Bielsa.
Luis Marin and Charles Aranguiz were also surprise inclusions. Union Espanola’s Marin won the battle for the third goalkeeping spot over Universidad Catolica’s Cristopher Toselli.
Bielsa, whose team meet Mexico in a friendly in Mexico City on Sunday, must reduce his squad to 23 by 1st June for the finals starting on 11th June in South Africa where Chile face favourites Spain, Switzerland and Honduras in Group H.
Chile’s preliminary World Cup squad:
Goalkeepers: Claudio Bravo (Real Sociedad), Miguel Pinto (Universidad de Chile), Luis Marin (Union Espanola)
Defenders: Waldo Ponce (Universidad Catolica), Gonzalo Jara (West Bromwich Albion), Gary Medel (Boca Juniors), Mauricio Isla (Udinese), Pablo Contreras (PAOK Salonika), Ismael Fuentes (Universidad Catolica)
Midfielders: Marco Estrada, Manuel Iturra (both Universidad de Chile), Roberto Cereceda, Rodrigo Millar, Jose Fuenzalida (all Colo Colo), Arturo Vidal (Bayer Leverkusen), Carlos
Carmona (Reggina), Jorge Valdivia (Al Ain), Matias Fernandez (Sporting Lisbon), Jean Beausejour (Club America), Pedro Morales (Dinamo Zagreb), Gonzalo Fierro (Flamengo), Charles Aranguiz (Colo Colo), Jaime Valdes (Atalanta), Rodrigo Tello (Besiktas)
Forwards: Humberto Suazo (Real Zaragoza), Esteban Paredes (Colo Colo), Hector Mancilla (Toluca), Alexis Sanchez (Udinese), Fabian Orellana (Xerez), Mark Gonzalez (CSKA Moscow).
