Host nation Chile will face Argentina in Copa America’s final at National Stadium in Santiago on Saturday. Two unbeaten teams left in the tournament will clash for the title with both sides looking to end their long title droughts.
The final round of this year’s Copa America will see two teams coming off different momentums from their semifinal matches. Chile had to work hard to dispatch a 10-man Peru with a 2-1 victory, while Argentina did not need any of Lionel Messi’s offensive prowess to score six goals in their win against Paraguay.
Chile has not won a title in 99 years, but the team has the best players of this generation. Coach Jorge Sampaoli’s team will need more than what they produced against Peru to break a hundred-year title curse and delight the home crowd. Chile controlled the early moments of the match against Peru, but suffered a scare when Peruvian Gary Medel scored late in the first half to force an early 1-1 draw. Eduardo Vargas scored his second goal early in the second period to put Chile ahead for good. However, the match was too close to call with Peru threatening a draw in as many occasions including Claudio Pizzaro’s near-post header in the final 15 minutes.
The host team had played Peru and will go against Argentina without key defender Gonzalo Jara, who was banned for the rest of the tournament after an attempt to shove his finger in Edinson Cavani’s backside in their quarterfinal match. Chile will need all the support they can get against Argentina, who scored a whipping six goals against Paraguay in their semifinal match. Messi did not get in the score sheet, but helped Albiceleste with his superb play-making abilities.
Coach Tata Martino’s squad has a lot of options to attack a Chilean team minus top defender Jara. Argentina displayed their potential of being the favorite to win this year’s Copa after crushing Paraguay with five players on the scoreboard led by Angel Di Maria who scored two goals. However, the threat is not just in Argentina’s offence. The way they circulated the ball with speed and skill along with very crisps passes makes them the team to beat.
Chile had a productive journey towards the final round scoring a total of 13 points while allowing 4 goals in five games. However, Argentina, who looks to end a 22-year title-drought, was also impressive in the tournament with 10 points and only allowing three goals from opponents. Arturo Vidal and Eduardo Vargas will need to play their game in another level if they want to win against Argentina’s combination of Messi, Di Maria, and Sergio Aguero.