Chile’s Martín Sigren: I told England’s players I’m coming for them

It rained in Santiago like it had not rained for 20 years. Chile were hosting the United States in the first leg of their World Cup qualification play-off. What unfolded that night last July, and over 80 crazy minutes during the second leg in Glendale, Arizona, was a remarkable tale of the underdogs having their day. The flight of Los Cóndores.

After a series of gripping plot-twists and cliffhangers, Chile won the tie 52-51 on aggregate to qualify for their first World Cup, landing in the same group as England and their South American neighbours Argentina. “They should make it into a film,” I say to Martín Sigren, the Chile captain who spent last season playing for Doncaster Knights in England’s second tier.