When Chile saw an opening, it pounced.
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However, Claudio Bravo was in fine form and it stayed 2-0 at the break. When the rain stopped, it finished the job.
This summer’s Copa America Centenario is a special one-off edition of the tournament commemorating its 100th anniversary. Will Leonardo. sorry, Lionel help his team win in 2017? “They are winners. Before we play a tournament, they are convinced they are going to win”, Chile coach Juan Antonio Pizzi said.
Chile doubled their lead soon after when star striker Alexis Sanchez received a long goal kick and deftly out-foxed a defender on the edge of the penalty area before firing in a shot at the near post.
The championship game is scheduled for Sunday at MetLife Stadium, in East Rutherford, N.J.
The Argentinians have dominated the tournament so far and topped the Chileans to win Group D with a flawless 3-0 record, taking the first meeting 2-1 without Lionel Messi. After losing to penalties against Argentina in the quarterfinals past year, this is a very tough result for Colombia. Chile hopes to win back-to-back Copa America titles and become the first team to do so since Brazil in 2004-07.
James Rodriguez and Colombia got off to a slow start and their push for a comeback was hampered by a strong line of thunderstorms that delayed the start of the second half by more than two hours, drenching the pitch and making it hard for players to stay on their feet at Soldier Field. As their favourite team meets Chile in the finals of the tournament for the second consecutive time, the Malappuram fans are in a frenzy. “This is one of the keys to their win”. The defending champions lost another midfielder in the first half when Pedro Pablo Hernandez departed with a knee injury following a collision near midfield.
Klinsmann, though, feels his men can produce the required performance at the University of Phoenix Stadium on Saturday night when they will aim to put things right against Colombia, who recorded a 2-0 win over the US in the opening match at Santa Clara.
Each nation picked up right where they left off.
After losing 2-0 to Colombia, USA went on to beat Costa Rica and Paraguay as they topped Group A, before edging Ecuador in the quarter-finals.
Former Chelsea midfielder Cuadrado misdirected a header across his own goal straight to Charles Aranguiz and the Leverkusen midfielder had the straightforward task of sidefooting past David Ospina.
However that did not stop Chile from accomplishing their goal.
“We’ve been spectacular from Day 1”, he said after the semifinals, “and we deserved this”.
The Argentina and Barcelona superstar scorer took the Argentina Football Association to task after its flight from Houston was delayed on Thursday.
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Segura is now with the national team at the Copa America Centenario.
