Chile vs. Uruguay: International Friendly Schedule & Predictions - Los Charrúas Face Life Without Luis Suarez

By Edwin Molina Nov 18 2014, 07:00 AM EST

Uruguay will not be starting Luis Suarez in their upcoming friendly match against Chile Tuesday, having gained permission from head coach Oscar Tabarez as the team prepares for life without their prolific striker.

While Tabarez is not against having Suarez on the team -- Suarez being allowed to play in friendly matches and having scored in Thursday's game against Costa Rica -- "La Celeste" must begin to find ways to find offensive output as the team embarks on a journey without their prodigious scorer, who is serving his suspension for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup.

Suarez is eligible to play for his La Liga club Barcelona, but he is still banned for nine international matches, causing him to miss participation in the 2015 Copa America tournament set to start next June.

"Luis has been participating with the team because he will be reintegrated once his suspension has ends," said Tabarez. "But in Chile, he will not start."

For the latest sports news, follow @LatinPostSports on Twitter

Strikers Edinson Cavani of Ligue 1 club Paris St-Germain and Abel Hernandez of English Premier League (EPL) team Hull City have been called up in the hopes of giving the team more firepower with Suarez sitting out the 2015 Copa America tournament.

"We all know what Luis means to us, but we also know that we won't have him for the Copa America," said Uruguay captain Diego Godin. "It's good to look at alternatives for playing without him."

Chile, on the other hand, has been on a roll since their heartbreaking loss in a penalty shootout against Brazil in the World Cup Round of 16. "La Roja," who will host the 2015 Copa America, is unbeaten since their World Cup elimination, putting the hurt on Venezuela, defeating them 5-0 last Friday in their friendly played in front of the home crowd at Estadio CAP in the city of Talcahuano.

Alexis Sanchez is having a breakout year, not only becoming Chile's offensive leader, but having a breakout year with Arsenal currently sitting in third place on the EPL scorers table behind only Chelsea's Diego Costa and Manchester City's Sergio Aguero.

"He's already had a lot of decisive goals and he doesn't score when it's 4-0, he scores when it's 0-0," said Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger. "He finds the resources to get you a goal when it's 0-0, that's what is important. It's always very interesting when you look at the number of goals people score, how many times do they score at 0-0? They're the guys who can really make the difference."

Wenger compares Sanchez's innate ability to find the back of the net to Suarez, who led the EPL in scoring last season with 31 goals playing for Liverpool.

"There are similarities with Suarez a little bit, by going at you, by being where you do not expect him to be in the box, and by having that huge desire to be at the end of things," said Wenger.

Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli is using the match against Uruguay to get the team into the proper mindset that it takes to win the 2015 Copa America tournament, using their experience in Brazil as a building block.

"Uruguay will always be hard. It will be valuable, because it will be different, but very tough rivals," said Sampaoli. "What I want as a coach is to get Chile to return to play with the same selection who played at the World Cup. An aggressive, competitive Chile, who knows that in the Copa America we will face rivals who are not going to forgive mistakes."

Predictions

Hernandez and Cavani, who has scored six goals in Ligue 1 -- fourth in the French league scorers table, are solid scorers but replacing Suarez, who was playing at a level comparable with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo prior to the incident in Brazil, is a tough task for any coach. Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo has been lights-out having gone eight consecutive clean sheets in La Liga, 754 minutes without a goal playing for Barcelona until Ronaldo broke that streak in "El Clasico" against Real Madrid. Between Bravo's goalkeeping, Sanchez's scoring and Uruguay trying to find the right chemistry without their best player, Chile should continue to stay unbeaten.