SANTIAGO, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chile's under-20 soccer squad traveled to Paraguay on Tuesday to take part in the sport's South American Championship, a competition that awards places for 2007's under-20 World Cup and for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

    "While these targets are very important, we are also going with the aim for winning the championship," Arturo Vidal, a defender who plays for Chilean league team Colo Colo, winner of both the Opening and Closing Tournaments, and a finalist in the Copa Sudamericana.

    Vidal is one of the team's leading players alongside Colo Colo's Alexis Sanchez, and Coquimbo Unido winger Carlos Carmona. The team is managed by Jose Sulantay.

    Sulantay said that Chile's strengths were its spirit and its fit, and experienced players. However, he warned that the team had played 10 friendlies not the typical 21 practice games; and that in many of these the team had been missing players because clubs had been unwilling to release their best players.

    Chile's first game will be on Sunday against Brazil in Pedro Juan Caballero. It will play Paraguay on Tuesday next week, Bolivia on Thursday and Peru on the 13th.

    Sulantay said that opening against Brazil would be tough, but he was sure that his players will play as equals with the Brazil counterparts.

    "Brazil is a big team in world football and will always be tough, but the team does not know our potential and we can take advantage of that," he said.