The Chilean miners have a message to their country’s World Cup team – we survived, you better win

Every year, football fans look forward to the memorable commercials aired during the Superbowl's frequent breaks.

Soccer, though, doesn't have many breaks. So its memorable TV ads tend to come every four years, before the World Cup.

This one from Chile could be the best I've seen, ever.

It's from a Chilean bank, which sponsors Chile's national soccer team in this year's tournament, which starts on June 12 in Brazil.

The ad is in Spanish, but you don't need a translation to feel its raw emotion.

It starts with a line-up of men, arm in arm up on a barren hill. They look like a team, and you might even think they’re the Chilean national team.

But when their leader speaks, you realize he's not a soccer player. He's Mario Sepulveda, one of "los 33."

That's what Chileans call the 33 miners who were trapped underground in Copiapo, Chile, for nearly 70 days back in 2010.

On screen, Sepulveda delivers an impassioned speech, urging fans to support Chile's World Cup team.

Now, you should know that the odds are stacked against Chile at the tournament in June. It's in a so-called Group of Death, along with reigning world champions Spain, last tournament's runner-ups the Netherlands and Australia. Only two teams advance.

But what does Sepulveda say to those impossible odds?

"We're not scared of the Group of Death," he says in the ad. "We don't care about death at all, because we already beat death once before!"

Sepulveda also promises to take actual dirt from the area around the mine where the 33 were trapped, and transport it to Brazil to spread over the national team's training field. 

"To give the team hope and courage," Sepulveda proclaims.

The ad is pretty inspiring, even for a non-Chilean.

But I wonder how the Chilean players feel about it. I mean, this ad basically says to the team, if the miners won their battle against death, the least you can do is win this World Cup thing.

Goes nicely with the ad's tag line: "Nothing is impossible for a Chilean."

Spain and the Netherlands? You've been warned.

Every year, football fans look forward to the memorable commercials aired during the Superbowl's frequent breaks.

Soccer, though, doesn't have many breaks. So its memorable TV ads tend to come every four years, before the World Cup.

This one from Chile could be the best I've seen, ever.

It's from a Chilean bank, which sponsors Chile's national soccer team in this year's tournament, which starts on June 12 in Brazil.

The ad is in Spanish, but you don't need a translation to feel its raw emotion.

It starts with a line-up of men, arm in arm up on a barren hill. They look like a team, and you might even think they’re the Chilean national team.

But when their leader speaks, you realize he's not a soccer player. He's Mario Sepulveda, one of "los 33."

That's what Chileans call the 33 miners who were trapped underground in Copiapo, Chile, for nearly 70 days back in 2010.

On screen, Sepulveda delivers an impassioned speech, urging fans to support Chile's World Cup team.

Now, you should know that the odds are stacked against Chile at the tournament in June. It's in a so-called Group of Death, along with reigning world champions Spain, last tournament's runner-ups the Netherlands and Australia. Only two teams advance.

But what does Sepulveda say to those impossible odds?

"We're not scared of the Group of Death," he says in the ad. "We don't care about death at all, because we already beat death once before!"

Sepulveda also promises to take actual dirt from the area around the mine where the 33 were trapped, and transport it to Brazil to spread over the national team's training field. 

"To give the team hope and courage," Sepulveda proclaims.

The ad is pretty inspiring, even for a non-Chilean.

But I wonder how the Chilean players feel about it. I mean, this ad basically says to the team, if the miners won their battle against death, the least you can do is win this World Cup thing.

Goes nicely with the ad's tag line: "Nothing is impossible for a Chilean."

Spain and the Netherlands? You've been warned.