HOT CHILE RELISH NEXT CHALLENGE

TAKE a bunch of red-hot Chile peppers, stir in a simmering measure of brooding Argentine volatility, bring quickly to the boil and pour down the throats of the European aristocrats who strolled in here as the champions of world football.

Poor old Spain had no chance. They are going home choking on that fiery recipe.

Chile’s Argentinian manager Jorge Sampaoli refers to his players as ‘my courageous rebels.’

When they play with the irreverent passion which lit up the Maracana on Wednesday night, Chile can overthrow pretty well any established order.

They are without fear. As a football nation they have learned to live with defeat down the decades so now they are taking their triumphs one by one, celebrating each as if they have won the World Cup.

What do they have to lose? Nothing. Not when they have knocked out the World Cup holders with a team including at least one man who will be playing not in our Premier League next season but down in the Championship.

Defender Gary Medel, just relegated with Cardiff City, alongside Gonzalo Jara, whose oneyear contract with Nottingham Forest expired yesterday, shut out the multi-million pound talents of Diego Costa, David Silva and Fernando Torres.

But then rebels with a cause don’t tend to suffer from an inferiority complex. ‘We knew we could beat Spain,’ said Sampaoli. ‘They have been a great team for six years but we have always given them trouble by daring