Roy Hodgson revealed his relief at qualifying automatically for next year’s World Cup, rather than having to face a two-legged play-off later this month.
The England boss guided his side to Brazil by topping Group H ahead of Ukraine and Montenegro and will use the upcoming international dates to test his side with friendlies against Chile and Germany.
Hodgson’s charges only secured their World Cup place on the final day when they defeated Poland 2-0 at Wembley.
And the 66-year-old is delighted he can begin preparing his squad for next summer’s showpiece, rather than having to worry about the play-offs.
Hodgson explained: "That was brought home to me at Arsenal against Liverpool and I sat next to Didier Deschamps, who I've known for quite a long time.
"I remember thinking at the time that I don't relish his situation having to play Ukraine twice and having to beat them to qualify. I went home thinking 'thank goodness we did it by finishing first in the group'.
"Now we get two attractive fixtures. Chile finished third in the South American group and Germany are one of the best teams in the world, so to have a chance to play them at Wembley was a great opportunity for us in terms of our preparation."
Chile, England’s opponents on Friday 15 November, qualified for Brazil by finishing third in their World Cup group behind Argentina and Colombia.
After Messi & Co., Jorge Sampaoli’s charges were the highest scorers in the 16-match campaign, finding the back of the net 29 times and winning a host of admirers for their adventurous approach – and Hodgson is predicting a difficult encounter against a side who have never lost on English soil.
He added: "They are a very good team and will offer a major surprise to people who don't know a lot about them or South American football.
"Germany won't surprise anyone in the same way as Spain, Italy or France don’t, because we see their players all the time.
"Whereas Chile is a South American side and we don't follow their qualifiers or their individuals to the same extent.
"But we've looked at them, we've studied them and have been unbelievable impressed by Chile, we think they are a very, very good side."
