- Arturo Vidal has announced he will retire from international football after the 2018 World Cup
- Chile could miss out on the World Cup as they sit in sixth place after outside the top four places
- The Bayern Munich midfielder has played 97 times for La Roja in a ten year international career
Midfielder Arturo Vidal has announced that he will retire from international football following the end of the 2018 World Cup if Chile do qualify for it.
La Roja suffered two successive defeats in their most recent outings, losing 3-0 against Paraguay and then 1-0 at Bolivia as they drop to sixth place on the CONMEBOL standings with just two games left to play.
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And Vidal took to Instagram following the disappointing results to confirm that he will bring to an end his international career after Chile's World Cup campaign.
Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal will retire from international football after the World Cup. Photo: A Bola
"Sorry Chile for these two losses!" the 30-year-old wrote. "We put everything in the field but we couldn't win.
"We will continue fighting!!! Two matches and the World Cup is what I have left, thanks for so much affection in all these years!!!"
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Chile are a point behind fifth placed Argentina and two off Peru who hold the last automatic qualification place in fourth.
It could be that the playoffs are the country's only chance of reaching next summer's World Cup in Russia.
Meanwhile, you can see NAIJ.com's video of the Super Eagles training ahead of the World Cup qualifiers;
ROSY CREST
Wednesday 6 September 2017