English-born striker Brereton new hero for Chile in Copa America
Stoke-born striker Ben Brereton was Chile’s new hero after scoring the winning goal against Bolivia in his first international start on Friday in the Copa America. The 22-year-old was born to an English father and Chilean mother and got his first call up in May thanks to his recent performances for club Blackburn Rovers.
He made a late debut in Chile’s 1-1 draw with Argentina on Monday and the Chilean national side even tweeted a song about him. They were tweeting more chants on Friday after he finished off a counter attack 10 minutes into the match to give Chile a 1-0 win and take them to the top of Group A ahead of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.
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“And they say Ben, Ben, Ben. And he went Bam, Bam, Bam. And then Bum, Bum, Bum. And it’s a goal by Brereton,” read the chant, posted on social media.
Brereton, who ran himself into the ground before being removed after 83 minutes on a muggy night in central Brazil, switched international allegiances to Chile after appearing for England at under-19 and under-20 level.
He was part of the squad that won the European Under-19 championship in 2017, with the then Notts Forest striker scoring two goals in the tournament alongside players such as Mason Mount and Ryan Sessegnon.
