Final thoughts: A historically bad night for Mexico is brought to a merciful close by the referee, who elects not to prolong the game into stoppage time.
Mexico, particularly their midfielders, appeared to give up after Chile scored first in the second half, and they duly conceded four more to a rampant Chile side who dominated them in every key area. When Patrick Vieira’s New York City FC team lost 7-0 to New York Red Bulls recently he claimed that it was “better to lose one match 7-0 than seven matches 1-0”, but the former Red Bulls manager Juan Carlos Osorio will know all too well that his previously unbeaten record as Mexico coach will count for nothing amid the inevitable inquests that will now come.
For Chile, they’ve sent a message to a Colombia team yet to find anything like the gears Chile found tonight, though Vidal’s suspension and injury worries over Diaz and possibly Puch may have taken a little gloss off the evening. But their Copa America has ignited — reports of the reigning champions’ demise have apparently been greatly exaggerated.
Thanks for joining me tonight, and for your tweets and emails. Sorry I couldn’t use them all. Good night!
Final score: Mexico 0-7 Chile
Final thoughts in a minute.
90 mins: We might not be done yet. Mexico’s players just want to leave. Many of their fans already have.
GOAL! Mexico 0-7 Chile (PUCH!)
Alexi Sanchez surges forward into the box and checks back into a crowd of four Mexican defenders. The chance looks to have gone, but the ball breaks to Puch, bursting into the box to clip the ball past Ochoa and it’s 7-0!
88 mins: Mexico corner. Can they at least get a consolation goal? No. They can concede one though...
86 mins: Ochoa does well to save a low shot to his right from Silva. He’s had a rough night. Some of the goals were hardly his fault, but “Some of the goals were hardly his fault” is not exactly the pull quote you use for the back of your autobiography...
That was a decent stop though, with the ball bouncing awkwardly just in front of him.
84 mins: The secondary runs of Chilean midfielders have been devastating to Mexico tonight — especially once the game slipped out of reach and the Mexican midfielders stopped bothering trying to match them.
More worrying injury news for Chile though, as Puch stretches awkwardly, goes down and is now being treated on the sidelines.
82 mins: Chile toying with Mexico in their own half at the moment — before finally sending the ball forward for Vargas near the byline on the left. He casually rolls it back into the path of Vidal, who’s racing into the box at just too fast a clip to control his shot, which flies over.
80 mins: Justin Kavanagh writes:
“That Vargas goal reminded me of one by Johan Cruyff against Argenttina at the ‘74 World Cup. Now hopefully someone from Mexico can emulate Maradona in ’86, because I think that’s the only way that Mexico will score tonight.”
Did you mean the first Vargas goal, Justin? Or the second? Or the third? Or the fourth?
I’d say there’s a slight lull now, but Chile don’t really do “lulls”. They’ve just stopped scoring for a minute.
78 mins: Chicharito’s shot is blocked just wide, but Mexico have neither the ideas or the urgency to make anything of the resulting corner and now we go back to wondering how many Chile might score tonight.
GOAL! Mexico 0-6 Chile (VARGAS!)
...Gonzalez’ attempt at a narrow angle shot ends up squirming across the face of goal but with two defenders and Ochoa in front of him Vargas refuses to let the chance die as he slides in at the far post. He’s first to his feet on the rebound, first to position himself, and he shoots high into the net from a difficult angle for his fourth goal of the night!
74 mins: Chile looking for more as Puch sprints into the right side of the box before whipping the ball back to Vargas on the edge of the box. His curling shot goes just past the post, but he was under no pressure...and...wait for it...
72 mins: Mexico have used all their subs, so new dad Rafa Marquez will not see the field tonight. Sure he’s glad to be missing quality dad time for this.
Mexico working dutifully, if not effectively, to try and at least get on the scoresheet, but every time an attack breaks down, red shirts are bursting forward.
Final Chile sub now, as Gonzalez comes on for Beausejour, who was on a yellow, and will now be safely available for the semi-final.
70 mins: Vargas forces a corner out of nothing off Layun when it looked like Puch’s cutback to noone had been mopped up. Chile still pressing, at 5-0 and in the 70th minute.
68 mins: Wonder if Chicharito will speak to the media tonight? More to the point perhaps, I wonder of Osorio will — despite his winning record he’s not convinced many national team critics and this is a pretty damning mark against his tinkering reign.
Mexico fans streaming away from the stadium now.
66 mins: Mexico actually put together a short sequence of largely unthreatening corners, all of which are headed clear. Guardado stops a break from one of these headers with a scything looking tackle. He’s another player who picked up a booking and the referee seems to give him the benefit of the doubt. Staying on the field is punishment enough.
Speaking of which, Manuel, one of our e-mailers is back:
“Forgot to mention that I myself am Mexican so watching this is heartbreaking... and as I type this we concede a third goal. Right I’m not watching anymore gonna stick on a romantic comedy and cry myself to sleep.”
I think he made the right decision.
64 mins: A frustrated Layun gets a yellow card for a foul. Noone else on the Mexico team is getting much of anything.
62 mins: Mexico have not lost a game under Osorio before tonight. Fair to say they probably have now.
Chicharito has a half-chance at one end before normal Chile service is resumed, and Chicharito’s next significant action is to be brought over by the referee to the corner of the crowd where disgruntled fans are now raining bottles down on the field. The Mexican striker is being asked to calm them.
60 mins: It should be six. Another Chilean attack finds Vidal free on the left of the box to greet a cross, but he drives his shot into the ground and the ball loops over rather than into the open net.
Medel comes off for Roco now and Mexico make their last substitution as Osorio decides it’s time for another defender and brings Reyes on for Corona. That should fix it.
GOAL! Mexico 0-5 Chile (VARGAS HAT-TRICK!)
Wow. Another battering run from Beausejour and Ochoa’s palmed block only succeeds in setting up that man Vargas on the edge of the six yard box again, and he pokes the ball high into the net for his hat-trick!
56 mins: Didn’t really get much of a chance to tell you about those subs, not that it matters much right now, but basically Pena andJimenez are on for Mexico, with Duenas and Lozano (well) out (of it).
Slight setback for Chile now as Diaz is coming off injured to be replaced by Silva. With Vidal already missing for the semi, Chile won;t want to lose another key midfielder.
GOAL! Mexico 0-4 Chile (VARGAS!)
Another forced interception, and suddenly Vargas is racing free in the final third and into the box. Ochoa runs out to try and narrow the angle and Vargas just sliderules the ball under him for his second goal of the night. This is getting brutal.
52 mins: Mexico did come back from 2-0 in the 2011 Gold Cup final, as the Fox commentators just pointed out. But 3-0? Against this Chile team?
Actually, make that 4-0...
GOAL! Mexico 0-3 Chile (SANCHEZ!)
That wasn’t in the Mexican plan. Five Chilean players mob the Mexican backline and Vidal steals the ball and wriggles onto the left of the box, before squaring it simply for the late run of Sanchez — and he in turn has little more to do than compose himself near the spot and sweep the ball home for 3-0. Surely game over.
48 mins: Mexico start with a degree of urgency, which is understandable, but Chile, too, are still swarming everywhere with their familiar manic pressing.
Second half starts
Couple of substitutions which I’ll update you on in a minute, but almost instantly there’s an incident as Vidal, already on a yellow obviously, makes a hard tackle that has the referee pausing to have a little think. No second yellow though.
Orlando: MLS returned after a two week break today, and in Orlando the teams marked the victims of the Pulse mass shooting by taking the field to “All you need is love” and pausing the game after the 49th minute for a moments silence in honor of the 49 victims.
You may also have noticed US captain Michael Bradley wearing a rainbow captain’s armband in the Ecuador game the other night. It wasn’t officially sanctioned, but US Soccer have said they’ll “gladly” pay any automatic fine arising from his attire.
More from the whole of Chile:
Matthew Ford is back, and he reckons that “Vidal is saving himself for the final”
If that happens, he could be facing a reunion with Argentina, who will play USA in the other semi-final on Tuesday night, and who of course opened the tournament with a 2-1 win over Vidal and Chile.
Mexico = England?
Manuel del Valle reckons so:
“Mexico are the England of CONCACAF. They are hyped to go far or win every tournament that they compete in but they ALWAYS end up bottling it.”
Half-time thoughts:
Chile just played a perfect half of football — attacking with speed, chasing down the ball ferociously when out of possession, and transitioning back into their defensive shape way faster than Mexico could think to attack. They set out from the opening whistle to force the Mexican full backs to defend and never relinquished their ability to set the agenda for the rest of the half. They got the lead, then just as Mexico were thinking about getting in to regroup at half-time they stepped up the pressure again and scored what should be the killer goal just before the half.
Where do Mexico go from here? Home by the looks of it. The brief moments where they committed men forward and threatened were nearly always offset by the danger that opened them up to at the other end. They don’t have any choice but to take more risks, but that could likely just mean they take more punishment.
The only blemish on the Chile performance is Vidal picking up a suspension for the next game. Not insignificant. But Mexico would take that kind of setback in exchange for a semi-final right now...
Half-time: Mexico 0-2 Chile
Half-time thoughts in a minute. Might want to skip them if you’re a Mexico fan...
GOAL! Mexico 0-2 Chile (VARGAS!)
What a time to score. Chile just overwhelming Mexico at the back again. Flowing Chile move down the left has Mexican defenders scrambling to cover as the ball is switched to Puch on the edge of the box. He makes the wrong decision to cut inside and shoot rather than feed the two men in space on his right, but Mexico just can’t get it clear.
And then, the simplest of finishes from a lovely set up. It’s a beautifully timed poked pass from the byline that Vargas meets in space on the edge of the six yard box to redirect into the net. 2-0
42 mins: Chicharito spins brilliantly to try and keep a move going though he’s a long way from goal and actually the move breaks down anyway and Chile briefly lay siege to the Mexico box.
A few shots, ricochets, and last ditch headers and tackles later and Mexico force Chile back up the field, but both teams look like ending the first half like they started it, with Chile clearly on top.
40 mins: Half-time approaches and it’s still 1-0 and still frenetic. Looking forward to icing my typing finger at the break.
38 mins: CHILE HAVE A GOAL DISALLOWED FOR OFFSIDE. It’s end to end at the moment and Sanchez looks to have doubled the lead as he sweeps home a low cross at the back post, but the flag is up immediately and it’s the correct decision.
And now another key moment: Vidal flattens Duenas and instantly takes to the ground himself, and stays there — evidently hoping to outlast the referee’s patience in holding his yellow card. Eventually he gets to his feet reluctantly, is booked and will miss the semi-final if Chile get there. That could be good news for Colombia.
36 mins: Mexico trying to force their way into attack but there’s a kind of lunging, desperate quality to their actions in the final third at the moment — though of course just as I type that Corona forces his way brilliantly to the byline and along it to send a tempting looking ball across the six yard box. But evidently none of his team mates thought he was ever going to get that far.
34 mins: Vidal makes a firm tackle in his own half then sees Sanchez racing forward and sends a route one ball forward. Ochoa’s out of his box to boot it clear and it’s just as well he was, as there was no flag there.
Now Puch makes another firm tackle, this one on the halfway line, but this one’s called as a foul.
32 mins: Chile having to work a little harder all over the field now as Mexico belatedly remember their agenda for the evening. Always a danger for either team as they commit men forward though Diaz just hit a long, wide shot from midfield for Chile, that was always more optimistic than dangerous.
30 mins: Back at the other end and a knockdown falls nicely for Sanchez on the edge of the box. He has space for the shot but rather scuffs it onto the ground and it doesn’t trouble Ochoa.
Mexico go up to the other end and now Layun is beginning to get forward on the overlap to keep Chile honest. He gets into the box, but goes tumbling under (legal) pressure from a backtracking Puch.
28 mins: Mexico look to be scaling back their ambitions to just getting some sustained possession, but now they step forward trying to force something. First Herrera’s deep cross is headed clear at the back post for a Mexican throw, then another floating cross from Layun drifts harmlessly out for a goal kick. But they’d committed men forward at least and were occupying the Chile defense in dealing with those crosses.
26 mins: Half-chance for Chicharito as a poor header by Beausejour is leaves his team mates in trouble and the Mexican striker pounces on the loose ball outside the box. He charges forward but is already being forced wide in the box by the time he starts to think about a shot. A scrambling Vidal gets back, covers and forces the ball clear before there was ever any real danger.
24 mins: Not getting much time to draw breath and look at emails, but one of you has just sent me a blank message from their “4G LTE device”, as the signature informs me. It may be Mexican coach Juan Carlos Osorio, experimenting with new technology as he attempts to move beyond his infamous notebook.
Mexico earn their first corner of the match and squander it just as quickly — they’re really struggling to find a convincing foothold in this game.
22 mins: Chile swarming forward again and Fuenzalida is caught out trying to surge into the box and for once Chile have men out of position and Mexico can try to get forward. They do, but rather diffidently, by the standards the Chileans have set, and the team in red have time to recover and ease their way through the intended Mexican attack.
20 mins: Mexico just have to hope that they can take advantage of the moments when Chile have to drop the temp, or else try to be a little more composed in their build up play so that they’re not playing hopeful balls at Chicharito from way too deep. They’re trying to do that now, with limited success, though at least they held the ball for a moment.
18 mins: You can’t say it wasn’t coming — Chile have just been relentless in this first part of the game, beating Mexico at their own preferred style and ensuring that any overloads on the field are being created by them. It was just such a scenario that had Mexico’s defense pulled all over fighting fires when Puch was left alone to score.
GOAL: Mexico 0-1 Chile (PUCH!)
Still 0-0 after quarter of an hour, and a couple of signs that Mexico are finally settling. Still having to deal with the cheerfully bonkers workrate of the Chilean forwards who are hurtling full tilt at Mexican defenders every time they get the ball, though.
But now Ochoa can only parry a fierce Sanchez shot into the path of Puch, in space on the left of the box, and he guides a follow up shot into the net for the opening goal!
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14 mins: Layun finally makes his first effective foray forward and creates an overlap for a cross in the general direction of Chicharito. It’s cut out, but only as far as Duenas, but his follow up shot is poor. Still, that’s slightly more encouraging and proactive for Mexico.
12 mins: Decent chance for Chile as Puch charges forward down the right channel and almost gets clear of the last defender to just about be one-on-one with Ochoa. The Mexican keeper gets out to send the ball looping and spinning off him to safety, though it could easily have looped into the empty net. All Chile right now. That said, they do nothing with the first corner of the game.
10 mins: Daniel Stauss writes: “Tim Hill straight-up called the final score of ARG/VEN earlier... Are you up to the challenge?”
Yes. It was 4-1 to Argentina. What’s more, I’ll predict they play the USA in the semi-finals.
Oh...this game? Um...oh look, here come Chile. Fuenzelida gets down the right and scoops a cross into the Mexico box, but it’s headed clear. Mexico’s full backs thoroughly pinned back by their Chilean counterparts.
What were we talking about?
8 mins: Chicharito goes up for a long ball but he’s always being optimistic hoping to out-jump a center back on the edge of the box and Chile pump the ball back the other way.
Chile having the better of the earlier exchanges while Chicharito is looking a little isolated in the early running.
6 mins: Vidal spots a man free wide right and tries to thread a diagonal ball into space but he’s overhit it. First glimpse of his playmaking vision though.
Beausejour gets forward well again, and he’s working Aguilar early. He looks to have won a corner, but the referee calls it as a goal kick. Chile trying to pin Aguilar and Layun back in their own halves early.
4 mins: No time on the ball for either team. Whoever doesn’t have the ball wants it.
2 mins: Half a chance for Chicharito to pick up a long ball on the break but Bravo’s swiftly out of his box to intercept and mop up before the danger can build.
Chile come forward down the left with Beausejour, who’s clattered firmly to the ground as he tries to race for the byline to get a cross in.
Kick off
We’re off, I think. Quite a dramatic stadium shadow across half the field so it’s a little hard to pick out players in one half.
Both teams starting with familiar pressing styles, so don’t get too comfortable. this could be intense...
Nearly off:
Coins tossed, hands shaken, pendants swapped.
The stadium is mostly a sea of green with a small pocket of red hidden discreetly. It looks like one of those colorblindness tests they gave you at school.
Huddles, gossip, light jogging. We’re about to do this...
Another email:
Matthew Ford wants the world to know that “The whole of Chile is waiting for Alexis and co to kick it up a gear.”
And also that he’s “reading from the UK *yawn*”
Presumably this is while blearily operating the “whole of Chile” live monitor in his bedroom.
Stay awake, Matthew! Someone has to press “stop” on the epic Chilean national anthem, currently in its first movement and waiting for the Radiohead alternative tunings to kick in...oh, it just hit the 90 second mark and the Copa organizers have snipped it.
The players are still singing though. The mascots in front of the players look stoic.
Key player
Chicharito will have a lot of eyes on him, and obviously Vidal is the expected to make a difference for Chile, but just to shift the obvious focus a little, I’m expecting that in a tight game Miguel Layún might make the difference if he’s able to get forward down the wing and start overloading the Mexican pressure.
Team’s starting to walk out of tunnel now, to huge cheers from the sold-out crowd.
Oh, what an atmosphere...
With around 20 minutes to go before kick off, some emails. Some palpable emails....This one’s from “Sam de Texas”:
“so tonight I’m going to be watching on Unimas, reading MBM here, and working on a tiny netbook writing the next Great (Mexican) American novel. I predict a Mexico win, much crowd noise, and another round of will-they-manage-to-edit-p**o out of sound. Recall the adage: poor Mexico, so far from god, so close to the US! In this case, though, Mexico just pushed the US border north into Houston and now are playing a home game.
Let the vivas begin!”
Just to pick a little detail out from Sam’s solo fiesta, perhaps it’s worth reading Luis Miguel Echegaray’s article on the controversial chant that’s been giving sound editors fits, and why maybe now might be a good time to retire it for good.
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Mexico
Chicharito could reach a personal milestone tonight — he’s a goal shy of equalling Jared Borgetti’s all-time Mexican goalscoring record.
But don’t expect Chicharito to be talking about how it feels to be so close to such a symbolic mark, unless of course you want to hear about a whole lot of other feelings as well. The striker isn’t talking to any press on this trip, other than his girlfriend, Lucia Villalon, who is writing a blog for the Bundesliga website about her travels following the Mexican team.
Chicharito has let it be known (presumably moments after being asked why he’s so quiet) that he has no fondness for the intense scrutiny and heated partisan rhetoric of the Mexican press — an issue his former coach solved by punching them, of course.
So now he’s not talking to them. Which should help.
Chile
Mexico might be the team who seem to enjoy home advantage everywhere they go in the US, but Chile are doing their best cover most of the country during this tournament. They’ve played five games across the country in the last 17 days, taking in San Diego, Santa Clara, then switched coasts to Foxboro, MA, then Philadelphia. And now they’re back through three timezones to return to Santa Clara again.
They’re insisting that fatigue won’t affect them, though from the swashbuckling tournament opener against Argentina onwards, they’ve done everything they can to tire themselves out. Will they have the legs for another three games?
Team News
Mexico: Ochoa; Aguilar, Araújo, Moreno, Layún; Guardado, Dueñas, Héctor Herrera; Lozano, Chicharito, Corona
Chile: Bravo, Fuenzalida, Medel, Jara, Beausejour; Aránguiz, Diaz, Vidal; Puch, Sánchez, Vargas
Casual viewers of Mexico will remember Ochoa from the World Cup, and presume that his presence as starting goalkeeper is an obvious choice, but Ochoa has been in and out of favor since the tournament and hasn’t tended to be picked for the really big games, and even though he’s had starts at this Copa, it’s a slight eyebrow-raiser to see him get the nod tonight.
Chile in a pretty familiar line up though there’s obviously no place for the suspended Mauricio Isla in defense. And incidentally, of the players starting tonight Héctor Herrera of Mexico, and Arturo Vidal and Jean Beausejour of Chile would all be suspended for the semi-final were they to pick up a yellow card tonight.
Both teams lining up as notional 4-3-3’s though expect 3-4-3 formations to make an appearance for one or both of these sides depending on the ebb and flow of the game.
Playing for penalties
Look, obviously neither of these sides will be playing for penalties, but if they were to, they’d be starting early — we had the first penalty shootout last night in New Jersey in the Colombia vs Peru game and the fact that there was no extra-time after 90 minutes definitely impacted the flow of that game. Peru were playing to disrupt the rhythm of the game from the kick-off, perhaps in hopes of emulating their smash and grab win at the same stage in the 2011 Copa — while Colombia at times looked a little rushed in the second half as they tried to settle the game in normal time.
I was at the game at MetLife Stadium and it was fascinating to sense the atmosphere of the crowd trying to react to a knockout game in the unfamiliar format — it was a little reminiscent of trying to adjust to watching extra-times in the Golden Goal era, when players and fans alike were dimly aware that everything from substitutions to sending players forward for set pieces were going to unfold in a slightly unfamiliar manner.
As I said, we’re not going to start this game with either of these sides looking to hang on, but if we were to get a red card, the feel of the game could change dramatically.
Preamble
Well, this should be fun. The reigning Copa America champions, Chile, and a confident Mexico team who have been advancing through the tournament ominously.
Ominously, but hardly quietly — the USA may be the official hosts but if you were to just look at the crowds, the viewing figures (or indeed any Soccer United Marketing business plan), you’d be in no doubt that this is in effect a home tournament for Mexico too. And they’ve played in the kind of manner that suggests they’re perfectly at home, with all their big names showing up to continue an unbeaten run that now stretches to 22 games.
As for Chile, well they’ve been patchy since winning the Copa in such a thrilling manner last year, and have not entered the tournament in anything like scintillating form — in fact they lost to Mexico 1-0 in a warm-up game. But they’ve done what they had to in the group stages and are coming off a 4-2 victory over Panama.
Chile like to go forward, Mexico like to go forward; neither does well trying to defend for sustained periods. It’s a sellout crowd in Santa Clara and James Rodriguez and Colombia await in the semi-final. This should be a cracker...
Graham will be here shortly. In the meantime, read how Colombia qualified for the semi-finals:
David Ospina dived to his left, and Peru’s Miguel Trauco sent his penalty kick down the middle, a yard above the ground. The 27-year-old Colombian goalkeeper kicked out his trailing right leg, and saved it with his feet. Colombiahad the advantage in the shootout.
About two minutes later, Christian Cueva stood over the ball, looked skyward, exhaled deeply and skied La Blanquirroja’s final attempt over the crossbar.
With a 4-2 penalty-kicks victory after a 0-0 tie Friday night, Colombia reached the Copa America semi-finals for the first time since 2004.
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