Vargas stunner sends Chile through to Copa América final after victory over Peru
SANTIAGO, Chile --
For Chile, there was progress to the final, its first since 1987, and it is now just one win from ending a 99-year drought in the Copa América after this 2-1 victory over Peru.
But what should have been a night of celebration for the host was, despite Eduardo Vargas’s stunning second, soured by the manner of its victory and the way it seemed to benefit from every borderline refereeing decision.
Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal was fortunate not to be sent off in the fifth minute, Peru defender Carlos Zambrano was harshly sent off in the 20th minute and then the Vargas goal that gave Chile the lead was just offside.
None of it was blatant. None of it justified the wild conspiracy theories that subsequently flooded social media (Vargas had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside early in the second half). But it was not an entirely satisfactory way to go through and that added to the growing sense of disillusionment about this side.
Chile, after all, is a team whose management has chosen to overlook the drunk-driving charges facing Vidal and then beat Uruguay after Edinson Cavani had been sent off for flicking out a hand when Gonzalo Jara poked a finger between his buttocks. A team that had had a reputation as romantics has become arch-exponents of expediency, the closeness of the prize perhaps encouraging a moral pragmatism.
The controversy began within the first five minutes as Vidal, having tangled with Zambrano, raised a hand and shoved the Peruvian defender in the face. He mystifyingly escaping any colour of card: it should have been at least a yellow, probably a red. Zambrano, who perhaps should have been booked for his part in that incident, was shown a yellow card a minute later for questioning why Alexis Sanchez hadn’t been booked for what he saw as simulation. It was impossible not to wonder whether the Venezuela referee Jose Argote would have made the same decisions had the game been played in Lima rather than Santiago.
Those questions grew a lot stronger after 20 minutes as Zambrano followed through into Aranguiz after he cleared the ball, his studs catching the midfielder in the lower back. Perhaps he was reckless, but the straight red Argote showed seemed harsh – certainly Vidal’s earlier offense was more obvious. Zambrano, in other words, was lucky to escape sanction in an incident that should have seen Vidal booked, was yellow-carded harshly and then got a red for what might have been a yellow. Some kind of justice, but no kind of refereeing.
Peru had been the better side to that point, defending well and countering with menace. Jefferson Farfan headed against the post and Carlos Lobaton had a shot from outside the box deflected just wide. After the red, though, the momentum of the game understandably tipped in Chile’s favour.
It took an extraordinary block from Luis Advincula to block a Vargas shot as Mauricio Isla’s center reached him six yards out, but the Queens Park Rangers forward did put Chile ahead four minutes before half-time. Sanchez, who had looked Chile’s calmest, most incisive forward, sent in an inswinging ball from the left. Aranguiz ran beyond the defensive line and, although he missed the cross (perhaps deliberately), he distracted the goalkeeper Pedro Gallese. The ball bounced back off the post for Vargas, who had been a fraction offside as Sanchez bent the initial ball toward goal, to bundle it over the line.
But Peru still posed a threat, largely though the forward surges of Advincula and the combinations of Guerrero and Farfan, who had twice directed presentable chances at Claudio Bravo. Their diligence produced an equalizer when, with an hour gone, Medel turned a Farfan cross into his own net.
Chile has developed a reputation on the continent for faltering under pressure, but it passed this test of character spectacularly. Vargas surged forwards four minutes later to strike a shot that flicked the heel of the left-back Juan Manuel Vargas and flew into the top corner from 25 yards. It was his fourth goal of the tournament, making him the leading scorer.
Chile kept pouring men forward -- that side of its idealism has not diminished -- and Sanchez and Vidal both fired over form promising positions. The result of the endeavor ensured Peru was never entirely out of it, but the home side had done enough. Controversy may have overshadowed the game, but it is Chile that is in the final nevertheless.
