Little Chileans wary of Uruguay’s big men

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile have been practising defending set pieces ahead of Wednesday’s Copa America quarter-final against Uruguay -- a match that pits the smallest squad in the tournament against some of the Copa's tallest players. The Chilean players are, on average, 1.76 metres tall. As at last year’s World Cup, they are the smallest side in the competition, and their centre backs Gonzalo Jara and Gary Medel stand just 1.78m and 1.72m respectively. By contrast the Uruguayans average 1.80m and have a few big target men in their ranks. At 1.96m, defender Sebastian Coates is one of the tallest players in the tournament while his fellow centre back Diego Godin is 1.86m. Uruguay’s leading striker Edinson Cavani stands 1.84m. “It’s Uruguay’s strongest point,” Chilean midfielder Charles Aranguiz said at the weekend when the quarter-final clash was confirmed. “They have big players who do very well from set pieces. “It’s no big secret that Uruguay can score a goal against you from a set piece. We’ll have to concentrate and be very determined when it comes to marking.” Marcelo Diaz, who at 1.66m is the smallest man in the Chilean squad, said they would keep the ball on the ground and concentrate on their own quick-fire passing game. “Our best chance of beating them is with the ball, playing our own football,” he said. "We’ve been working on how to unlock a defence that’s very tight and makes very few mistakes.” Uruguay and Chile are two of the longest-established teams in South American football, having helped launch the Copa America back in 1916. But while the Uruguayans have been champions a record 15 times, Chile have never won it. Of their 28 previous clashes at the Copa, Uruguay have won 18 and Chile six. For the third successive Copa, the Uruguayans are aiming to knock the hosts out of the competition in the quarter-finals. They beat Venezuela in the last eight in 2007 and Argentina in 2011. (Writing by Gideon Long; editing by Toby Davis)