Marcelo Allende’s return to international is still in the freezer as he nears of two years of top form at Mamelodi Sundowns.
Allende had held hope that new Chilean coach Ricardo Gareca will take notice of his efforts at Sundowns after taking over in January from Eduardo Berrizzo.
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Berrizzo ignored Allende through his 18-month reign after taking over from Martin Lasarte, who gave the former Chile U20 captain his senior debut just over two years ago.
Gareca has also not taken notice of Allende, preferring to restrict his squad to players from clubs in Brazil, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Italy, Russia, Denmark, Mexico and Chile, with Inter Milan forward Alexis Sanchez the most notable name.
La Roja play Albania in Italy, before they travel to Marseille for a date with France on March 26.
Both matches are international friendlies.
Allende has been in top for a second season in a row at Sundowns, justifying the reported huge transfer that was paid to lure him to Chloorkop from South America.
A former Sundowns player – who is of South American descent – has told this website several times that he hopes Chile can now follow Allende at Sundowns instead of looking down on him as ‘a player in Africa’.
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The 24-year-old was last called up while still playing for Uruguayan club Montevideo City Torque.
Allende captained Chile at the 2019 South American U20 Championships and has one senior cap.
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