Coach Jorge Sampaoli revealed the plan to profit from the thin air at high altitude as he seeks to steer Chile to their third consecutive finals in Russia in 2018.
“It’s an idea doing the rounds looking to the future. The home matches will be decisive,” the Argentine told reporters.
“There are teams that have shown a drop in form at altitude, Brazil, Argentina and sometimes Uruguay,” he said ahead of Tuesday’s friendly against Bolivia in the Pacific coast city of Coquimbo.
The three top South American teams on the Atlantic side of the continent, who share nine World Cup titles between them, have struggled at altitude in the Andean capitals La Paz, Quito and Bogota.
The biggest defeat at altitude was suffered by Diego Maradona’s Argentina in a World Cup qualifier in 2009 in La Paz where they were crushed 6-1 by Bolivia.
Calama’s Municipal Stadium is being refurbished to comply with FIFA’s World Cup regulations as Chile prepare to host the 2015 Copa America before the qualifiers begin later in the year.
Calama is 1,250 km north of the capital Santiago and close to the border with Bolivia.
(Reporting by Felipe Iturrieta; Writing by Rex Gowar, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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