Chile advanced to the final of the FIFA Confederations Cup courtesy of a 3-0 penalty shootout win over Portugal in the semi-final of the tournament. In a drab encounter where chances were few and far between, it was the South American nation that prevailed courtesy of their goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, who saved all of the 3 spot-kicks he faced, while La Roja converted each of their first 3.
Juan Antonio Pizzi’s side had a legitimate penalty call denied in the extra-time, while Chile also hit the woodwork twice in succession in the dying stages of the game. Arturo Vidal, Charles Aranguiz and Alexis Sanchez successfully converted their kicks, while Bravo saved from Ricardo Quaresma, Joao Moutinho and Nani.
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Chile will face the winner of tonight’s second semi-final between Germany and Mexico. Here are the 5 talking points from the game:
#1 Redemption for Claudio Bravo
Claudio Bravo has received a lot of flak ever since his move to Manchester City last summer. The former Barcelona shot-stopper had a nightmarish start to life in the Premier League as he was guilty of conceding one too many goals, which should have been saved easily.
Pep Guardiola even loaned Joe Hart to Torino to show his faith in the Chilean shot-stopper but it was not to be as the 34-year-old struggled with the pace of the English league. However, last night he was imperious, at least in the penalty shootout, as he stopped all three of the penalties by the Portuguese. He guessed all of them right and was able to successfully distract Nani for the critical final penalty.
If yesterday was anything, it was redemption for Bravo, who made as many saves in the shootout as he did in the whole of last season for Manchester City in the league. His focus now will be to help his team win their 3rd consecutive international trophy on the bounce before he goes back to England and battles with Ederson for the first-choice spot under Guardiola.
#2 It was a mistake to not start Ricardo Quaresma as Andre Gomes is just not cut out for top level
Portugal benched arguably their second-best player of the tournament, Ricardo Quaresma, for the all-important semi-final in favour of Barcelona midfielder Andres Gomes. The move backfired as the Seleccao struggled in the creative department in the absence of Quaresma while Gomes proved once again why he is not cut out for top level football.
With his bag of tricks and skills, Quaresma acted as the provider for Portugal so far in the tournament. However, in his absence striker Andre Silva and Cristiano Ronaldo struggled to have the desired impact as they were bereft of any kind of service. Neither Silva nor Ronaldo are known for their creative streak and are essentially finishers, however, with Quaresma missing and being stuck with Gomes, they struggled to break the Chilean back line.
#3 Chile are classic giant killers and penalty specialists
Chile have been on a roll in recent years, winning back-to-back Copa America titles while reaching the final of the FIFA Confederations Cup. La Roja have been on a giant-killing run during these three tournaments while have proved the mettle as being penalty specialists.
They beat Argentina in the final of the 2015 Copa America courtesy of penalties, before repeating this feat in the final of the 2016 Copa America Centenario, breaking Argentine hearts once again. This time around they have managed to knock out Portugal – one of the favourites to win the trophy – and once again it is penalties that has helped them do it.
Germany or Mexico, whoever La Roja face in the final will be wary of the fact to stop the game from going into penalties, for there is very little chances that anyone can beat this Chilean side on penalties.
#4 VAR has a long way to go
VAR or Video Assistant Referee made its much-maligned debut at the FIFA Confederations Cup and we have seen enough evidence of the pros and cons of the technology as we reach the fag end of the tournament. However, VAR has a long way to go before it is widely accepted by football bodies across the world.
Last night, in the dying minutes of extra-time, Francisco Silva was brought down inside the box by Jose Fonte after the Chilean had expertly brought the ball under control in the area and had created room for himself. However, the referee didn’t see it is a penalty and awarded a goal kick.
The referee, Alireza Faghani, had the option to utilize VAR but he chose not to and had Chile been knocked out of the tournament, there would have been a massive uproar, for it was a legitimate shout by La Roja for a penalty and a VAR review would have seen them awarded a penalty.
The technology is a welcome change to reduce the number of errors made by referees during the game but there are many chinks to be ironed out before it is ready for full-blown implementation.
#5 Cristiano Ronaldo should have gone first in the penalty shootout
It is not the first time that Cristiano Ronaldo had opted to save himself for the all-important 5th spot kick in a penalty shootout. In fact, it was the second time he had done that and coincidentally, on both occasions, his team lost the shootout before he could even step up to dispatch the spot-kick.
In the semi-fiinal of the 2012 Euros, Portugal and Spain were tied at 0-0 after extra-time and penalties were on the cards. The 4-time Ballon d’Or winner opted to take the 5th spot kick, however, misses from Joao Moutinho and Bruno Alves ensured that the Seleccao were knocked out even before Ronaldo could step up. A similar scenario repeated last night.
In the other penalty shootout that Portugal have had to face during the last few years i.e. in the quarter-finals of UEFA Euro 2016 against Poland, it was Cristiano Ronaldo who took the first penalty for his side and successfully converted, thereby giving his side the confidence boost to prevail in the shootout.
The 32-year-old should have done the same last night, at least that is what should be expected from one of the best players in the world – to step up and provide the boost for his side rather than sitting idle and waiting for the opportunity to arrive to make the headlines.
IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE:
#1 The referee is only informed about the names of the penalty takers, and not in which order they will be taking the penalties. The perfect example for this was seen in the UEFA Euro 2012 semi-final between Portugal and Spain, when Bruno Alves was making his way to take the 3rd penalty but was replaced by Nani halfway through it. Nani converted his penalty but Alves who took the 4th penalty missed and Portugal crashed out of the tournament.
Here is the video proof of it:
