By Habeeb Akinfegbe
The special edition of the Copa America titled Copa America centenario has come to the final match and incidentally it is going to be a rematch of the last regular tournament hosted by Chile in 2015. In the first semi final, Argentina were ruthless against the hosts as they won 4-0, two goals shy of the six they put past Paraguay at the same stage in 2015 although Paraguay put one back. Their fellow finalists Chile defeated Colombia with two early goals, better than their 2-1 against Peru in 2015.
The 2015 Copa América was the 44th edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America, and took place in Chile between 11 June and 4 July 2015. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body.
Twelve teams competed, the ten members of CONMEBOL and two guests from CONCACAF – Mexico and Jamaica, the latter of which competed in the Copa América for the first time. Uruguay were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Chile in the quarter-finals. Chile won their first title by defeating Argentina in the final on a penalty shootout after a goalless draw. As winners, they qualified for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia.
The 2015 Copa América Final was the final match was held on 4 July 2015 in Santiago's Estadio Nacional, and contested by hosts Chile, and Argentina, a final which will come up again in the Centenario. This edition was the seventh hosted by Chile. The match marked the third time Chile had reached a final. They had never won the competition; their last finals appearance was in 1987, when they were defeated by Uruguay. Meanwhile, Argentina reached its fifth final in Chilean territory. Their previous finals appearance was in 2007, when they were defeated by Brazil, while their last championship (including worldwide tournaments) was won in 1993. Including the editions from 1916 to 1967, when the Campeonato Sudamericano had a round-robin tournament format without a final match; it was the fifth appearance of Chile, and the twenty-seventh of Argentina, in the top two.
Both sides had opportunities to open the scoring, and Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo made a close-range save from Sergio Agüero, who had been set up by Lionel Messi. However, soon afterwards, Argentina made the first substitution due to a hamstring injury, with Ángel Di María making way for Ezequiel Lavezzi. Chile finished the first half with three yellow cards, while Argentina had none.
Chile began the second half with attacking momentum, and the first Argentine yellow card went to Javier Mascherano for deliberate handball. With 15 minutes remaining, both teams made substitutions, with Argentina switching their centre-forward from Agüero to Gonzalo Higuaín, and Chile making an alteration in midfield, replacing Jorge Valdivia with Matías Fernández. Minutes later, Arturo Vidal went down in the penalty area, but no foul was called. With nine minutes remaining of regulation time, Argentina made their final substitution, Javier Pastore was replaced by Éver Banega; soon after his entrance into the game, Banega was fouled by Charles Aránguiz, who was booked. Argentina then had their best chance of the game with only seconds remaining in regular time. Argentina staged a counterattack after Chile lost the ball. Messi dribbled past two Chilean defenders before passing the ball to Lavezzi near the penalty area, Lavezzi then passed the ball to Higuaín, who charged down the right side with a tight angle to shoot. His shot was inches wide of the inside of the post, however, and instead the ball hit the outside of the net. After regulation time, the game remained goalless.
Early into extra time, Chile made their second substitution, replacing Eduardo Vargas with Ángelo Henríquez. In the final minutes of extra time, Chile had a corner, which was cleared by Lucas Biglia
and Higuaín. During the second period of extra time, Chile had their
best chance to take the lead, after a goal throw from Claudio Bravo
failed to be properly cleared away by Mascherano, leaving Alexis Sánchez
to run down the pitch and shoot, only for his shot to go over the
crossbar. Later on, Messi was fouled, giving a free kick to Argentina,
which Gary Medel cleared three times from the Chilean penalty area to take the game into a penalty shootout.
Matías Fernández took the first penalty, dispatching it past Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Romero, and Messi netted Argentina's first attempt to keep the scores level after the first round. Second was Vidal, who scored, despite Romero making contact with his shot. Higuaín then missed, with an attempt which went too high. Aránguíz scored from a powerful attempt and then Bravo saved Banega's shot. Alexis Sánchez scored the winning penalty, a Panenka-style finish (the Panenka is a technique used in penalty kick-taking in which the player, instead of kicking the ball toward the left or right corner of the goal, gives a subtle touch underneath the ball, causing it to rise and fall within the centre of the goal thus deceiving the goalkeeper. It was created by Czech player Antonín Panenka, who presented this technique to the world in the 1976 UEFA European Championship finals, when he beat German goalkeeper Sepp Maier and gave the title to the Czechoslovakian national team. After its sensational debut in the tournament, the Panenka kick has been used on rare occasions and mostly by highly respected players who can deal with the consequences of missing a penalty kick that way. This style of penalty kick is also called Il cucchiaio ("the spoon"), in the Italian speaking world).
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The 2015 Copa América was the 44th edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America, and took place in Chile between 11 June and 4 July 2015. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body.
Twelve teams competed, the ten members of CONMEBOL and two guests from CONCACAF – Mexico and Jamaica, the latter of which competed in the Copa América for the first time. Uruguay were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Chile in the quarter-finals. Chile won their first title by defeating Argentina in the final on a penalty shootout after a goalless draw. As winners, they qualified for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia.The 2015 Copa América Final was the final match was held on 4 July 2015 in Santiago's Estadio Nacional, and contested by hosts Chile, and Argentina, a final which will come up again in the Centenario. This edition was the seventh hosted by Chile. The match marked the third time Chile had reached a final. They had never won the competition; their last finals appearance was in 1987, when they were defeated by Uruguay. Meanwhile, Argentina reached its fifth final in Chilean territory. Their previous finals appearance was in 2007, when they were defeated by Brazil, while their last championship (including worldwide tournaments) was won in 1993. Including the editions from 1916 to 1967, when the Campeonato Sudamericano had a round-robin tournament format without a final match; it was the fifth appearance of Chile, and the twenty-seventh of Argentina, in the top two.
Route to the 2015 Final
| Chile | Round | Argentina | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Result | First stage | Opponent | Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Ecuador |
2–0 | Match 1 |  Paraguay |
2–2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Mexico |
3–3 | Match 2 |  Uruguay |
1–0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Bolivia |
5–0 | Match 3 |  Jamaica |
1–0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Final standing |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opponent | Result | Final stages | Opponent | Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Uruguay |
1–0 | Quarterfinals |  Colombia |
0–0 (p: 5–4) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Peru |
2–1 | Semifinals | Paraguay |
6–1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Both sides had opportunities to open the scoring, and Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo made a close-range save from Sergio Agüero, who had been set up by Lionel Messi. However, soon afterwards, Argentina made the first substitution due to a hamstring injury, with Ángel Di María making way for Ezequiel Lavezzi. Chile finished the first half with three yellow cards, while Argentina had none.
Chile began the second half with attacking momentum, and the first Argentine yellow card went to Javier Mascherano for deliberate handball. With 15 minutes remaining, both teams made substitutions, with Argentina switching their centre-forward from Agüero to Gonzalo Higuaín, and Chile making an alteration in midfield, replacing Jorge Valdivia with Matías Fernández. Minutes later, Arturo Vidal went down in the penalty area, but no foul was called. With nine minutes remaining of regulation time, Argentina made their final substitution, Javier Pastore was replaced by Éver Banega; soon after his entrance into the game, Banega was fouled by Charles Aránguiz, who was booked. Argentina then had their best chance of the game with only seconds remaining in regular time. Argentina staged a counterattack after Chile lost the ball. Messi dribbled past two Chilean defenders before passing the ball to Lavezzi near the penalty area, Lavezzi then passed the ball to Higuaín, who charged down the right side with a tight angle to shoot. His shot was inches wide of the inside of the post, however, and instead the ball hit the outside of the net. After regulation time, the game remained goalless.
Early into extra time, Chile made their second substitution, replacing Eduardo Vargas with Ángelo Henríquez. In the final minutes of extra time, Chile had a corner, which was cleared by Lucas Biglia
and Higuaín. During the second period of extra time, Chile had their
best chance to take the lead, after a goal throw from Claudio Bravo
failed to be properly cleared away by Mascherano, leaving Alexis Sánchez
to run down the pitch and shoot, only for his shot to go over the
crossbar. Later on, Messi was fouled, giving a free kick to Argentina,
which Gary Medel cleared three times from the Chilean penalty area to take the game into a penalty shootout.Matías Fernández took the first penalty, dispatching it past Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Romero, and Messi netted Argentina's first attempt to keep the scores level after the first round. Second was Vidal, who scored, despite Romero making contact with his shot. Higuaín then missed, with an attempt which went too high. Aránguíz scored from a powerful attempt and then Bravo saved Banega's shot. Alexis Sánchez scored the winning penalty, a Panenka-style finish (the Panenka is a technique used in penalty kick-taking in which the player, instead of kicking the ball toward the left or right corner of the goal, gives a subtle touch underneath the ball, causing it to rise and fall within the centre of the goal thus deceiving the goalkeeper. It was created by Czech player Antonín Panenka, who presented this technique to the world in the 1976 UEFA European Championship finals, when he beat German goalkeeper Sepp Maier and gave the title to the Czechoslovakian national team. After its sensational debut in the tournament, the Panenka kick has been used on rare occasions and mostly by highly respected players who can deal with the consequences of missing a penalty kick that way. This style of penalty kick is also called Il cucchiaio ("the spoon"), in the Italian speaking world).
FOLLOW US ON
Twitter: @bizarre_comms
Facebook: Bizarre Communications
Email: bizarrecommunications@gmail.com
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