Aside from the flattering comparison with the Hondurans, what makes this friendly even more entertaining is that Chile has played Panama a couple times during Bielsa's tenure: to help them consolidate through South American qualifying, and earlier this year following their qualification for the WC. Of course, given Chile's fortunes at the time, Bielsa was likely mindful of finishing 5th in CONMEBOL and the prospect of facing a CONCACAF opponent. Made sense.
Now, I suppose Bielsa views the Panamanian exercise not worth repeating. That's understandable. But he's hedging with this fixture versus us. I think he's referring to particular similarities rather than overall play per se, but since he's a very meticulous coach we better be prepared to hold up our end of the bargain. We could do no worse than start by reviewing footage of either of those games between Chile and Panama ... regardless of what Bielsa has in mind.
Incidentally, saw Panama play Honduras in the run-up to the Gold Cup ... and Panama eh no Honduras for sure either. The word 'vacant' comes to mind. Their attacking play was very one-dimensional, and uninspiring.
Anyway, I found the La Tercera article and Bielsa may also be looking at playing Mali orTogo, in addition to Mexico and the other teams mentioned. With no African team in Group H, we know what that's about. Fail to plan and yuh plan to fail.
