new chilean coach marcelo bielsa called isla up at the age of 19 for his first full chile senior squad international cap in september 2007 in a friendly against switzerland versus his club-mate gökhan inler. he started as a center midfielder. this was his debut as a professional player, before making his first team debut on udinese. his strong performances earned another call-up in the next friendly against israel, where he came on as a second-half substitute. he played his first 2010 fifa world cup qualification match in march 2009 as a starter versus peru. isla made another start against uruguay where, in a scoreless draw, he was sent off after 33 minutes following two yellow cards. he was a starter in all of chile's four 2010 world cup games. he also played in 3 of 4 matches in the 2011 copa américa, and playing in 13 of 16 matches in the 2014 fifa world cup qualification.