FIFA Confederations Cup 2017: Chile 2-0 Cameroon, 5 Talking Points

5. The Gulf in individual ‘class’ and ‘star quality’ showed up in the end

Gary Medel plays for Internazionale Milan, Arturo Vidal plays for Bayern Munich, Alexis Sanchez plays for Arsenal and is wanted by Bayern Munich. Christian Bassagog plays for Henan Jianye F.C., Vincent Aboubakar plays for Besiktas, Benjamin Moukandjo plays for Besiktas... and none of these guys are particularly wanted by any club of note.

Sure the Cameroonians are wonderful footballers and Broos has fostered a great team spirit amongst them, but toe-to-toe, man-to-man, they paled in comparison to their opponents. In the first half, they were completely overwhelmed, with their strategy of sitting deep and holding the Chileans only failing because of some lackadaisical final-third-passing on the South American’s part (and VAR). While they were able to hold their own when they attacked in the second half, the introduction of Sanchez really tipped the scales.

As good a team as they were, they simply had no answer when the two best (and most pedigreed) players on the pitch took it on to their hands to force a result (the Sanchez-Vidal combination for the opener, in case you are wondering)