Chile defeat Argentina in Copa America Finals

Chile defeat Argentina in Copa America Finals

Chile defeat Argentina 4 – 1 on penalties to win their maiden Copa America. Alexis Sanchez accurately scored the winning penalty after Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain fired one over the bar.

Messi failed to make an impact during the finals as his teammates did little to create space for the Barcelona man. Chile did well to close down the little Argentine as soon as he received the ball in a dangerous place.

Gonzalo Higuain who was once criticised for failing to convert a crucial chance in the World Cup final, managed to become the centre of attention for achieving a similar feat on Saturday. He managed to miss another key chance, which would have ensured a late-win for Argentina. He not only failed to finish an Ezequiel Lavezzi's cross at the back post, the Napoli forward also missed the penalty in shootout, which gave the host country a lead as well as a mental advantage over Argentina.

Matias Fernandez and Lionel Messi scored the first penalty for their respective countries. Where Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal scored the second for Chile, Higuain failed to score as his effort went wide off the mark. Charles Aranguiz then scored the third and made it 3 – 1 in Chile’s favour. Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo dove in time to save Ever Banega’s effort. Sanchez then scored the final penalty by chipping it down the middle and winning the shootout and the match for his country.

"This is a dream come true, this team deserves something like this. We left our life on the field. Chilean people needed this joy and we managed to give it to them. We'll fight a lot in the next World Cup. This generation of players deserved this." Vidal said.