Arturo Vidal and Eduardo Vargas were on target as Chile
opened the Copa America on home soil in fine style with a 2-0 victory over
Ecuador at a raucous Estadio Nacional in Santiago.
La Roja have never won South America's premier national
tournament, finishing runners-up on four occasions, but Vidal's 67th-minute
penalty and Vargas' late strike on the counter-break helped the hosts make a
perfect start in Group A in this year's competition opener.
The occasion was soured slightly when substitute Matias
Fernandez was sent off in added-on time but it did not affect the result, with
Chile dominating from start to finish with Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez
leading from the forefront for the winners.
Sanchez swathed through the Ecuador defence and skewed an
early shot wide before his attempted lob was well read by Ecuador goalkeeper
Alexander Dominguez.
The visitors, for whom West Ham forward Enner Valencia,
Watford defender Juan Carlos Paredes and Swansea winger Jefferson Montero all
started, were being increasingly penned into their own half by a rampant Chile
side, roared on by their own fans.
Montero looked threatening in a rare foray forward but he
lacked support, although Ecuador were managing to maintain resolute in defence
as they sought to spoil their hosts' party inside the capital city stadium.
Right-back Mauricio Isla, who along with Vargas was
relegated with Queens Park Rangers in the recently concluded Premier League
season, combined with Sanchez in a sweeping free-flowing attack before shooting
narrowly wide as Chile continued to pour forward.
Valencia had been a virtual by-stander for the opening 45
minutes but the Ecuador forward was in the thick of the action at the beginning
of the second half, shooting wide following Montero's cutback to him in the
area.
It acted as something of a wake-up call to Chile, with Vidal
missing the target from just outside the area and Vargas forcing a near-post
stoppage from Dominguez.
Jorge Sampaoli's men were gifted an opportunity to break the
deadlock midway through the second half when Ecuador defender Miller Bolanos
cynically pulled back Vidal in the box in an attempt to prevent the Juventus
enforcer from shooting.
Vidal himself stepped up to take the spot-kick and he made
no mistake, firing into the top right-hand corner, leaving Dominguez with no
chance despite guessing the right way.
It was no less than Chile deserved, but they were almost
pegged back when Valencia rose highest to plant a header against the bar, with
Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo well beaten.
It was an unfortunate, yet costly, miss as Chile struck soon
afterwards to all but wrap up the three points and a successful start to their
Copa campaign.
Fidel Martinez's poor pass was pounced upon by the excellent
Sanchez, who carried the ball up field for second-half substitute Vargas to
curl across Dominguez with six minutes remaining.
Chile finished the match with 10 men though when Fernandez
collected his second yellow card in the third minute of added-time for a poor
challenge on Paredes, but it mattered little in the raucous Chilean capital.
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