Chile have recorded their first World Cup win in close to half a century by defeating Honduras 1-0 in Nelspruit.
Group HHonduras: 0 Chile: 1 (Jean Beausejour 34')
Venue: Mbombela Stadium - Nelspruit Crowd: 32,600 Referee: Eddy Maillet (SEY) Yellow cards:HON - Wilson Palacios 33' CHI - Carlos Carmona 4', Matias Fernandez 19'
It was all Chile in the opening 15 or so minutes with players seemingly lining up to shoot on goal but Honduras fought back slightly to cause some problems of their own.
Just after the half-hour mark, Chile's dominance was rewarded when Mauricio Isla cut down the right side with an overlapping run before cutting it back for Jean Beausejour who managed to bundle it over the line to open the scoring.
That goal kicked Marcelo Bielsa's men even further into gear but they were unable to add to their first scoring play in the opening 45 minutes as Honduras endeavoured to get themselves back on level terms.
The Hondurans were beginning to give themselves a chance of getting back into the contest in the early stages of the second term with a tinkering of their formation although the Chileans continued to push forward and place their players in dangerous positions.
Chile's Alexis Sanchez had a great opportunity on the hour mark after cutting through the Honduran defence but he swivelled his shot wide of the mark and moments later, Arturo Vidal managed to guide his backpost header straight into the path of Waldo Ponce who only had to beat the keeper with a diving pointblank header of his own but Noel Valladares pulled off a spectacular reflex save to keep Honduras in the contest.
Chile were peppering the goals in the final 20 minutes but were unable to add to their first half tally but they won't mind as it was their first victory at the World Cup finals since1962 and first in 14 attempts.
Starting Line-Ups
HON Noel Valladares (gk), Osman Chavez, Maynor Figueroa, Ramon Nunez (Martinez 78'), Wilson Palacios, Carlos Pavon (Welcome 60'), Roger Espinoza, Edgar Alvarez, Amado Guevara (Thomas 64'), Emilio Izaguirre, Sergio Mendoza
Subs - Georgie Welcome (60'), Hendry Thomas (64'), Walter Martinez (78')
CHI Claudio Bravo (gk), Waldo Ponce, Mauricio Isla, Carlos Carmona, Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal (Contreras 81'), Jorge Valdivia (Gonzalez 87'), Matias Fernandez, Jean Beausejour, Gary Medel, Rodrigo Millar (Jara 52')
Subs - Gonzalo Jara (52'), Pablo Contreras (81'), Mark Gonzalez (87')
