BLACKBURN ace Ben Brereton made his CHILE debut on Monday – against Lionel Messi’s Argentina.
The Stoke-born forward, 22, qualifies for the South American nation through his mother who was born there.
Brereton represented England at Under-20 level but has been on La Roja’s radar since the end of last year.
He produced his best season to date with seven goals and five assists for Rovers this term.
That saw him rewarded by being named in Martin Lasarte’s squad for their June World Cup qualifiers and then Copa America.
Then he got his first taste of senior international football when he replaced Eduardo Vargas on 77 minutes in their Copa clash with Argentina.
Brereton led the line as the central striker for the closing stages and put himself about with some surging runs to stretch the opposition defence late on.
Messi opened the scoring with a vintage free-kick before Vargas equalised, heading in the rebound when Arturo Vidal’s penalty was saved.
Brereton is part of the squad alongside former Manchester United flop Alexis Sanchez who has a staggering 46 goals in 138 games for his nation.
Well known stars Claudio Bravo, Arturo Vidal and Gary Medel are also part of the current set-up.
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The coastal nation sit seventh in the South American qualifying group for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Lasarte’s side are 12 points behind group leaders Brazil after another 1-1 draw with Argentina earlier in June.
But after two unused substitute appearances for that one and then against Bolivia, the former Nottingham Forest star followed in the footsteps of legends Ivan Zamarano and Marcelo Salas with his Copa America bow in Rio.
Chile – who won the tournament in 2015 and 2016 – also face Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay in the group stage.
Blackburn finished 15th in this season’s Championship.
The former Premier League winners beat Birmingham 5-2 on the final day.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
