Copa America 2015 – losers final – Peru beat Paraguay 2-0

Copa America 2015 – losers final – Peru beat Paraguay 2-0

 

• ·       Peru beat Paraguay 2-0 to claim third place at the Copa America in Chile
• ·       Andre Carrillo broke the deadlock three minutes after half-time
• ·       Paolo Guerrero double the advantage in the closing minutes
• ·       Peru finish in third for the second consecutive Copa America tournament
• ·       Guerrero is the tournament's joint top goal scorer with four

                                                  

Los Incas struck twice after half-time to seal a third-place Copa America finish for the second consecutive edition of the tournament

Peru ended their 2015 Copa America campaign on a high, overcoming Paraguay 2-0 in the third-place match in Concepcion on Friday.

Andre Carrillo and Paolo Guerrero were the heroes for Peru, who also finished third four years ago, with their second-half goals proving the difference at Estadio Municipal Alcaldesa Ester Roa Rebolledo.

After their semi-final exit to hosts Chile and dour opening half, Carrillo volleyed beyond Justo Villar in the 48th minute.

And Guerrero netted late on as Peru claimed consecutive third-place finishes at the premier South American tournament.

There were changes to both teams, with Peru pair Christian Ramos and Yordy Reyna starting in place of Jefferson Farfan, who did not pass a late fitness test, and Carlos Zambrano (suspended) after the 2-1 defeat to Chile.

Paraguay counted the cost of their 6-1 drubbing at the hands of Argentina, with Derlis Gonzalez (thigh), Roque Santa Cruz (hamstring), Bruno Valdez (thigh), Nelson Valdez (thigh), Edgar Benitez, Richard Ortiz and Ivan Piris dropping out for Lucas Barrios, Raul Bobadilla, Oscar Romero, Osvaldo Martinez, Nestor Ortigoza, Miguel Samudio and Marcos Caceres.

Chances were at a premium in the first half, with both teams failing to create anything clear-cut during the opening 45 minutes.

Reyna and Romero were limited to long-range efforts for Peru and Paraguay respectively as the half ended all-square.

The match came to life in the 48th minute, when Carrillo volleyed past Paraguay goalkeeper Villar from outside the area.

A corner kick deflected up in the air and Carrillo got his outstretched boot to the ball, leaving Villar with no chance.

It was the Sporting Lisbon forward's first international goal since August 2012.

Peru had Carlos Ascues to thank after the hour-mark, with his last-ditch challenge enough to deny Edgar Benitez and Paraguay an equaliser.

Benitez was picked out by Romero at the back post with the goal at his mercy in the 66th minute, but Ascues was on hand to deny the Paraguay striker a clear goalscoring opportunity as the ball hit the bottom of the post and rolled away to safety.

Victory was sealed for Peru in the 89th minute as Guerrero side-footed through Villar's legs after a cross from Joel Sanchez.

Copa America 2015 – final – Chile beat Argentina 0-0 (4-1)

Copa America 2015 – final – Chile beat Argentina 0-0 (4-1)

• ·         Copa America final goes to penalties after goalless draw
• ·         Both sides have chances, but neither can take the lead in normal time
• ·         Gonzalo Higuain misses from close range with last kick of the game 
• ·         Alexis Sanchez scores winning penalty after Gonzalo Higuain and Ever Banega missed from the spot 
• ·         Angel di Maria taken off inside half an hour with hamstring injury 
• ·         Chile win their first ever major international competition  

After 99 years, it came down to Alexis Sánchez against Sergio Romero from 12 yards. The Arsenal forward attempted a Panenka, scuffed it badly, and scored anyway as the goalkeeper dived to his left. Misses from Gonzalo Higuaín and Éver Banega in the shootout proved decisive and, finally, Chile, one of the four participants at the inaugural Copa América, had a first international trophy. For Argentina the drought goes on: 22 years since their last trophy and an increasing sense that this gifted generation of players will remain unfulfilled.

Where better to achieve that first win than at home, asked Claudio Bravo on Friday; this wasn’t just about doing it in front of local fans. Few stadiums in the world have such symbolic value as Santiago’s Estadio Nacional in being representative of their nation. Behind the goal at one end a block is left perpetually empty, the benches still as they were in 1973 when the stadium was used as a prison camp after the coup through which Augusto Pinochet seized power. It was here that November that Chile kicked off against no opposition in a notorious World Cup qualifying play-off after the USSR refused to take to the field in a stadium in which leftists had been murdered a matter of weeks earlier. Above it is the legendUn pueblo sin memoria es un pueblo sin futuro – a people without a memory is a people without a future.

The atmosphere before kick-off was extraordinary, small dashes of Albiceleste breaking a great sweep of red, each of the home fans waving the national flags they’d been given as they came in. And beyond the stands, visible through the haze of dust and pollution for the first time in the tournament, loomed the rocky bulk of the Andes, an appropriately grand backdrop to the biggest game in Chile’s history.

Some, it seems, got carried away in their nationalist fervor, with Lionel Messi’s family having to be moved into a television cabin at half-time after being abused and having objects thrown at them in the stands. There were further reports that his elder brother, Rodrigo, was punched.

Chile had looked anxious in the semi-final against Peru, as though snatching at the prize as it came within touching distance, but here they started with a fury. Any thought that Jorge Sampaoli might compromise on his pressing principles and opt for something more conservative rapidly disappeared and for a time Argentina were unsettled. Had Arturo Vidal made better contact with a volley as Sanchez’s half-blocked cross dropped to him, the hosts might have had an early lead, but his mis-hit effort was scrambled away by the goalkeeper Romero.

The one change Sampaoli did make was to push the midfielder Marcelo Díaz extremely deep, almost as a third centre-back, which freed Gary Medel to leave the back-line and pursue Messi at times when he dropped deep. Predictably, he was booked before half-time, having caught Messi in the midriff with a swinging boot. The plan worked; this was a triumph for the coach, who was born just 35 miles from Messi’s home in Rosario. Messi had his quietest game of the tournament – his 63 touches in normal time were his fewest of this Copa América.

One of the reasons Argentina were so cowed was due to Chile’s aggression, which clearly outraged their coaching staff. This tournament has seen Chile chart a course from romance via the decision not to suspend Vidal over his arrest on drink-driving charges and Gonzalo Jara’s digital provocation of Edinson Cavani, to the pragmatic decision to try to kick Argentina off their stride. By half-time, all three central defenders had been booked and a game that had begun brightly had degenerated into something far scrappier.

By the second half, this felt far more like the Argentina of the World Cup than the side which had eviscerated Paraguay so thrillingly in the semi-final. They were defensively more secure than they had been, but lacked the fluidity and fluency of movement that characterized them even in the quarter-final against Colombia. Messi, in particular, was diminished; a frustrated and often isolated figure on the right, shirt untucked, shoulders slouched.

As Argentina became increasingly frustrated, Chile had their chances – a Vidal effort that was charged down, a Sánchez volley that flashed across the face of goal – but the last clear opportunity of normal time fell to Argentina. Messi, at last finding space, broke and laid in Ezequiel Lavezzi, but his low cross was too far in front of the other substitute, Higuaín, who could only screw the ball into the side netting.

Had he scored that chance, and had he scored the chance in the Maracana in the World Cup final last year, this generation might be have gone down as one of the greatest. As it was, though, it was Chile who celebrated, the national anthem proudly sung as flares saluted the victory.