At the Gillette Stadium here late Saturday, Argentina showed ample glimpses of their awesome firepower by overpowering 2011 Copa America finalists Venezuela 4-1 in the quarter-finals.
Advertisement
El Tri defeated Chile 1-0 in a friendly earlier this month, but midfielder Hector Herrera has warned his teammates that that counts for little. Vargas struck again in the 57′ and 74′ minute, earning him an fantastic four goals on the night. Alexis will be the key for Pizzi and company in this quarterfinal versus Mexico, as his ability to stretch a defense may prove to be the X-factor in the effectiveness of runs at goal by Vargas, Vidal, and whichever other Chileans decide to push up on the attack.
But despite the overwhelmingly pro-Mexico crowd, Chile were quicker to settle, with Puch opening the scoring on 16 minutes when he steered in a rebound from Marcelo Diaz’s shot after Guillermo Ochoa could only parry away. Chile surely does not want to be known as a one-time champion, while Mexico would like to redeem its poor showings of the last two Copa Americas, their only two since joining in 1993 that the team did not advance past the group stage.
Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio said sorry to Mexico fans on Saturday after El Tri’s heaviest loss ever in an official tournament.
The victor of Mexico vs. Chile will get Colombia in the semifinals.
After Vargas found the net for the final time on this extraordinary display of shot-making, the star forward was swarmed yet again by a Chile team that left no question it has plans to follow up the country’s first Copa win a year ago with another special run.
Chile comfortably through Group D with narrow wins over Bolivia and Panama after losing 2-1 to Argentina in a repeat of last year’s final at Levi’s. Chile has scored 7 while Mexico 6. And a sold-out stadium of 70,547 that began the night like a Mexico home game quickly emptied of El Tri fanaticos as the clock wound down.
Sanchez found Vargas in the 44th minute to send Chile into halftime with a nice cushion, then Sanchez scored in the 49th minute off a pass from Arturo Vidal. The ball was chipped over Ochoa for Puch at the far post.
Advertisement
This team is expected to suffer against the heavy teams and it will be interesting to see how they will perform against Mexico in Quarterfinal match. He also managed to beat his tally from last year’s edition of the tournament where he won the top scorer title with five goals. Looking to lead the line this weekend secure a place for his nation in the semi finals is Javier Hernandez.
