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The Copa America got underway in Santiago, Chile in the Estadio Nacional Julio Martinez Pradanos as hosts Chile kick started their campaign against Ecuador. The much anticipated tournament was spectated by a sold out stadium of 47,000 and watched by millions around the world. Chile defeated Ecuador 2-0 thanks to goals from Arturo Vidal from the penalty spot and substitute Eduardo Vargas.
Jorge Sampaoli’s Chile side started the game brightly showing no signs of nervousness and got right into the game early on, coming close to opening the scoring inside two minutes as Jorge Valdivia found Alexis Sanchez who made space for himself between two defenders, but failed to convert as his effort went wide of the mark. Chile then tested the Ecuadorian goalkeeper Alexander Dominguez early on and forced him to rush off his line to clear the danger, warning signs for Ecuador as Chile continued to press with intent right from the get go. Sampaoli’s side impressed in the first half as they put together some positive strings of play, particularly down the wings with some nice combination play between Isla and Vidal which opened up the Ecuadorian defense on numerous occasions. Ecuador utilised Swansea’s Jefferson Montero down the left hand side to counter attack and he was a threat throughout. The first warning was in the 19th minute as Montero broke down the wing, but his cross evaded striker Enner Valencia and the chance went begging. Claudio Bravo had to be on his toes to prevent Enner Valencia’s curling effort after some reckless defending on the edge of the Chile area, the first sign of nervousness from La Roja. Chile continued to press throughout the first half, however, Ecuador was growing into the game and becoming more of a threat on the counter attack through speedy winger Montero, who was finding spaces down the flanks due to Chile’s 3-5-2 system they employ, forcing Claudio Bravo to stay alert in the Chile goal. Once again, Mauricio Isla was a threat down the right hand side; combining with Alexis Sanchez in the 39th minute with some lovely sharp one two play sending Isla through on goal, but his effort was just shy of the target. Despite playing some good football and cutting through the Ecuador defence on numerous occasions, Chile had yet to find the back of the net as the half time whistle sounded.
Eduardo Vargas was substituted on at half time, replacing wide man Jean Beausejour, a move made by Sampaoli to stretch the resistant Ecuadorian defense in order to enable Jorge Valdivia to expose the defense to allow Alexis and Vargas to find space and hopefully find the back of the net, a plan which worked out well, eventually. Alexis Sanchez came close to scoring a superb individual goal however, he found himself surrounded in yellow shirts and eventually attempted to win a penalty, but the referee thought otherwise. Ecuador’s defense had grown into the game at the beginning of the second half after a nervous first half, towering defender Frickson Erazo alongside Gabriel Achilier were preventing Alexis from creating space for himself and frustrating the Chilean attack. Also, Ecuador continued to look dangerous on the counter as Jefferson Montero once again found space down the left hand side and found Enner Valencia in space in the penalty area, but the West Ham striker failed to convert the best chance of the game for Ecuador at that point, a huge chance blown to take the lead. However, eventually Chile got the breakthrough they were looking for as Arturo Vidal was pulled down just inside the penalty area from Miler Bolanos in the 65th minute, a soft foul to give away in a spell were Ecuador looked most comfortable and dangerous on the counter through Montero. Arturo Vidal stepped up and dispatched the penalty perfectly, powerfully placing the ball into the top corner, scoring the first goal of the Copa America 2015. Ecuador came extremely close to equalizing in the 81st minute as a Walter Ayovi lofted pass found Enner Valencia 8 yards out but he failed to direct header on target as the ball rebounded off the crossbar and over, again Valencia squandering a glorious chance for Ecuador to equalize and spoil the party for Chile. Moments later, Chile cemented the victory, Alexis Sanchez pounced on a misplaced back pass by substitute Renato Ibarra and played through Eduardo Vargas who converted and cemented all three points for Chile on a night of celebration for La Roja. The night however, ended on a slightly sour note for the hosts as attacking midfielder Matias Fernandez was dismissed for a second bookable offence after a mistimed challenge in the 93nd minute, resulting in him being suspended for the Mexico game.
For Chile, this performance and result was a statement of intent that they are here to win their first ever Copa America, and what better place to do so than in their home country. Chile’s attack will surely strike fear into any opponents in the competition as the pace and tenacity of Alexis Sanchez and Eduardo Vargas will make defenders weary and Palmeiras attacking midfielder Jorge Valdivia tonight demonstrated his ability to create and find space in between the lines, teams will have to look out for him in this tournament. As for Ecuador, after gradually growing into the game and showing signs of a solid defence, they were undone by two individual mistakes which resulted in two goals which ultimately cost them the game, coach Gustavo Quinteros will have to address this before their next game against Bolivia, all be it against the weakest team of the group. Due to Ecuador’s struggles to handle Valdivia in the attacking midfielder role, Quinteros will have to analyse that position closely as the game against Mexico will be vital for them if they will want to quality automatically from the group stages, and Mexico will likely be utilizing ‘Tecatito’ Corona in this position who is arguable Mexico’s most dangerous player at the time, therefore if they are unable to stifle the young Mexican they may be in trouble. However, there were some slight positives for Ecuador after the performance against Chile, the attacking threat of Jefferson Montero will likely cause problems for teams in the competition.
