Photo Credit: Reuters
A feisty goalless draw with 10-man Chile in Orlando was enough to see Canada into the quarter-finals in their first ever Copa América, becoming the first debutants to reach the knockout stages in over 20 years. However, Chile - winners of this competition in 2015 and 2016 - bow out at the first hurdle without even scoring a goal.
Needing a win to stand a chance of progressing, it was Chile who first threatened a goal when Victor Davila went on a one-man mission to open the scoring, first volleying wide from Gabriel Suazo’s cross and then whistling one past the post just a minute later. Despite a lack of goalmouth action, the Chilean fans, who made up the majority of the crowd at Inter&Co Stadium, were creating a raucous atmosphere.
However, their mood soured in the 27th minute when Suazo - already on a booking - tripped Richie Laryea just outside the box and duly received his marching orders. Having played 35 minutes against 10 men against Peru on Tuesday, Jesse Marsch’s men now had another numerical advantage and almost made the most of it.
A sumptuous ball over the top from Alphonso Davies sent Jonathan David through, and the Lille forward dinked it over the onrushing Gabriel Arias only for his effort to drift wide. Arias, in for the injured Claudio Bravo, then made a brave stop from Stephen Eustaquio as things started to reach boiling point just before the break.
Argentina’s early second half goal against Peru gave Canada some breathing space, knowing that a draw would be enough unless La Blanquirroja turned things around in Miami. However, Chile were still pushing for their all-important goal, and came close when Igor Lichnovsky’s free header at a corner was denied by Maxime Crepeau just after the break. Liam Millar wasted no time in getting up to speed in this dogged encounter as he was booked less than a minute after coming off the bench.
Goal scoring opportunities were at a premium however, as the two sides became bogged down in a midfield battle, with the atmosphere continuing to crackle. A heavily deflected Alexis Sanchez effort almost caught out Crepeau, while substitute Tajon Buchanan had Les Rouges’ first real second half effort which was batted away by Arias in the closing stages, before Tani Oluwaseyi had a stoppage time finish chalked off for offside.
A quiet second half suited Canada though, as the stalemate saw Marsch’s men through to a probable quarter-final tie against Venezuela and gave extra cause to celebrate ahead of Canada Day on Monday. Chile, meanwhile, face an inquest into their disastrous performances that saw them eliminated at the group stage for the first time since 2004.
