Chile have won their first ever Copa America on home soil as their experienced goalkeeper proved his experience and became the hero saving that penalty from Banega after Higuain missed his by blasting the ball over the bar.
A sad way for Argentina to end their wondeful tournament but a cherished win for Chile.
- CHI 0 – 0 ARG (4-1)
CHI 4: Sanchez calmly scores sending Romero the wrong way.
ARG 3: Banega misses. Bravo saves on his left. Nervous penalty.
CHI 3: Aranguiz scores low into the left corner of the keeper. Terrific kick!
- CHI 2-1 ARG (Penalties)
ARG 2: Higuain blasts it over. Argentina goes behing now.
CHI 2: Vidal scores. Romero got hands to it but the power of the ball put it in.
ARG 1: Messi scores to the keeper left.
CHI 1: Fernandez scores into the roof of the net. Wonderful kick!
Penalties Kicks to begin now. The hosts to go first!
FT Extra Time: Neither side could find a goal in the 120 minutes of game play and the result will now be decided on penalties. Nervous moment for the teams as well as the supporters.
29′ – A late challenge by Aranguiz on Messi and it’s Argentina’s free kick. That could easily have been another yellow for Aranguiz!
26′ – Free Kick to Chile! Fernandez goes for goal and is punched away by Romero.
25′ – Lavezzi goes down in Chile’s penalty area and appeals for penalty but the referee doesn’t give one. It was just a little arm by Silva on Lavezzi’s shoulder. Not a penalty for sure!
24′ – CHANCE! Vidal with much space does well to pass the ball to Aranguiz and Aranguiz blows up the ball. Tough spot but Aranguiz should have done better!
23′ – Sanchez caught by Otamendi as he superbly runs with the ball but the referee doesn’t give the free kick for it. Unbelievable!
20′ – Good movement by Henriquez as he later gets the ball back only to be called offside.
19′ – Some lovely footwork by Sanchez as he gets the better of Banega.
The second period of the extra time kicks off.
ET Half Time: Both teams still searching for a goal. Some nervous moments for both the teams as both went attacking but none gets the desired finish. And it remains goalless. 15 more minutes of play before penalties.
15+1′ – CLOSE! Mascherano’s deadly error allowing Sanchez to run with the ball but Zabaleta came across narrowing the angle for Sanchez and Sanchez’ strike goes just over the bar.
15′ – Messi’s free kick goes near Lavezzi but Medel puts it out and it’s Argentina’s corner.
14′ – Bad defending by Isla as he jumped on Lavezzi and it’s a free kick for Argentina.
8′ – Good passing between Diaz and Henriques after dispossessing Messi but Diaz’ strike goes way over the bar.
SUB: Angelo Henriquez comes on.
The extra time game has kicked off.
Full Time: A breathless game. Super exciting and stupendously intriguing. Some real good work by both teams in the midfield but none could yield and the game goes into extra time.
90+2′ – CHANCE! Messi with a good ball to Lavezzi who passes off to Higuain on the far post whose unable to reach the ball and keep it in.
2 minutes of stoppage time added.
89′ – Messi’s free kick goes straight in the hands of Bravo.
88′ – Messi fouled and it’s a late free kick for Argentina.
86′ – Aranguiz booked for his blatant foul on Banega.
85′ – Messi with a good ball over the top to Lavezzi who was offside and hence, his shot wasn’t counted.
83′ – CLOSE! A wonderful volley by Alexis Sanchez but just wide.
81′ – SUB: Ever Banega on in place for Pastore.
80′ – Good play by Argentina. Pastore makes the wrong choice at the end and the ball is cleared.
78′ – A good spell for Chile but the agony for the hosts goes on.
74′ – SUB: Valdivia off. Matias Fernandez in.
74′ – SUB: Aguero off. Gonzalo Higuain on.
74′ – Vidal is back on the pitch. Big relief for Chile!
73′ – Isla passes the ball to Vargas who was well covered by Demichelis and his shot didn’t have any power. Easily collected by Romero.
71′ – Vidal taken out of the field as he’s hurt. Bad news for Chile!
66′ – CHANCE! Sanchez does well with the ball against Otamendi on the right to pass the ball to Vidal whose shot is blocked by Zabaleta that falls for Valdivia but it was a tough spot for him to make anything of the ball.
65′ – Free Kick to Argentina as Messi was fouled. Messi takes it and it hits Vidal in the ball. Corner to Argentina.
59′ – Good pass by Lavezzi to Aguero who couldn’t keep the ball because of Medel’s good defending.
58′ – Corner for Argentina. Rojo jumps the highest and heads the ball just wide.
56′ – Aranguiz takes the free kick and it’s a poor one.
56′ – Mascherano booked for handball. Mascherano moved his body towards the ball.
55′ – Rojo booked for his poor challenge on Isla.
51′ – Lovely work by Vidal to pass off to Valdivia who couldn’t put the ball back in the centre and it’s a corner for Chile.
46′ – Otamendi sleeps for a while as Vidal goes for a pass that is saved by Romero. Excellent beginning to the second half!
The second half kicks off.
- CHI 0-0 ARG
Half Time: A superbly active first half. Chile started better but Argentina started controlling the game later. Some good chances for both sides and some good work by both the keepers to keep the scoresheet clean. And the wait for the first goal of the final goes on.
45+2′ – CHANCE! Superb work by Pastore on the right to pass the ball to Lavezzi who takes the shot but a good save by Bravo.
45+1′ – Good passing between the Chileans. A good pass by Vidal to Sanchez who twists along with the ball confused if he should pass or take the strike himself. He finally takes the strike but doesn’t have enough power and easily collected by Romero.
45′ – Otamendi fouls Valdivia. He’s constantly being fouled by the Argentinian defence.
43′ – Valdivia brought down by Biglia as his challenge was very late. Aranguiz takes the free kick to the near post and Sanchez takes it but the ball is cleared.
42′ – Free Kick for Chile as Messi fouled. Diaz took it. Sanchez collected the ball but the whistle went out. Strange because it wasn’t an offside.
41′ – Clever ball by Valdivia towards Isla on the right but a little too heavy and Isla could only run to keep the ball in.
Chile seem to be on back foot at the moment. Argentina is beginning to take control of the ball now. Chile need to calm down and collectively make the game for themselves.
37′ – Good corner taken to the far post where Aguero was free to test Bravo but he chose to pass and the ball was cleared in the end.
35′ – Messi takes the kick and its put away by Medel. First corner of the game goes to Argentina.
34′ – Free Kick for Argentina as Lavezzi is pulled back by Vidal.
34′ – Medel booked for his clear boot on Messi.
33′ – Excellent work by Sanchez to get past Demichelis and a good move by Chile but it didn’t reap. As the Argentinian defence closed in right at the end and somehow saved the ball.
32′ – Good work by Sanchez as he keeps the ball in play. Valdivia puts the cross but goes over the Chilean.
30′ – The side of Otamendi’s boot catches Vargas in the face. Accidentally!
29′ – SUB: Angel Di Maria off as he seems to have a troubled hamstring. Lavezzi on.
26′ – Di Maria seems to have pulled a muscle or so while that run past defenders.
24′ – Free kick to Chile on the right but punched cleared by Romero.
23′ – Wonderful defence by Silva as he blocks Messi’s ball and gives a superb through pass to Vargas who’s front but has no support and goes for strike that goes over the bar. Good defending by Mascherano because Otamendi was beaten.
20′ – Stupendous Stop! Excellent ball by Messi to the near post right ahead of Aguero who heads it and a wonderful instinctive save by Bravo.
19′ – Good movement between the Argentinians as Medel does good defending but Zabaleta is caught on the right of the box by Beausejour. Free Kick!
15′ – Excellent defending by Medel as he came between the ball by Messi and Aguero. It could have been deadly for Chile otherwise.
11′ – CHANCE! Ball in by Sanchez that’s cleared by Demichelis but goes straight to Vidal who strikes it but a good save by Romero.
10′ – As Chile again wins the ball from Argentina in Argentina’s half, Vargas takes the ball and goes for a strike that goes a little wide.
8′ – Awful defending by Otamendi. Good passing between the Chileans but the final pass towards Vidal was very bad and that blew their chance to score.
6′ – Pastore wins a great ball from Alexis Sanchez and passes off to Messi who almost finds Aguero. The ball was collected by Bravo at the end.
5′ – Messi passes off to Di Maria towards his left but Di Maria flashes the ball over the bar.
3′ – Valdivia with a good pass to Isla on the right but he couldn’t get the ball through.
2′ – Isla with a cross for Vargas who was in the middle but the cross was too close to Romero and he easily collected it.
The game kicks off.
It’s finally the day of the result of a very interesting Copa America Chile 2015 where the final battle happens to be between the hosts and the favourites of the tournament. The world waits to see if the home crowd can lift Chile as much to facilitate their first ever Copa America title or Argentina, being the favourites from the very beginning, will end their 22-year drought and win the Copa America title under the magical spell of Lionel Messi.
CHILE Starting XI: Claudio Bravo, Francisco Silva, Mauricio Isla, Gary Medel, Jean Beausejour, Charles Aranguiz, Marcelo Diaz, Jorge Valdivia, Arturo Vidal, Alexis Sanchez, Eduardo Vargas.
ARGENTINA Starting XI: Sergio Romero, Nicolas Otamendi, Martin Demichelis, Pablo Zabaleta, Marcos Rojo, Angel Di Maria, Javier Pastore, Javier Mascherano, Lucas Biglia, Sergio Aguero, Lionel Messi.
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