Argentina lost to Chile in the Penalty Shootout after a goalless 120 minutes in the Final of Copa America Centenario. Chile won 4-2 after Leo Messi and Bigila missed their spot-kick for Argentina while Vidal had his penalty saved.The match was marred with controversy regarding some decision made by referee Heber Roberto Lopes, which included a red card for each side.
The match started in a rather lackluster manner with both sides afraid to take too many risk, and the first half was a rather timid affair except for the red cards and a sitter miss by Higuain . In the 19th minute of the Higuain latches on to a sloppy Gary Medel back pass and was one on one with the keeper but he shot just wide of the post, making it his 3rd crucial miss in 3 major finals in three consecutive finals. The only other actions worth noticing in the first half came in the 23rd minute of the game as Marcelo Diaz was shown his 2nd yellow of the match due to a tackle on Messi , in 43rd minute Marcus Rojo was shown a direct red card,which we must admit was rather harsh on Rojo.
If the first half was all about tackales and booking the second half was all about missed chance, Higuain and aguero(who came as a sub for Higuain) missed a lot of good chances through out the half, a lot of Leo Messi dazling runs and one touches were wasted due to poor finishing by the strikers. Chile also had their fair share of misses , the biggest coming in the last minute of normal time Chile’s Jean Beausejour gave good cross to Alexis Sanchez who h has a tap in to win it.But Ramiro Funes Mori, dives in front and blocks in stunning fashion.
The extra time was also largely eventless except a 99th minute stunner save by the Chilean Captain Claudio ,Mori swinged over a cross and Aguero headed the ball goalwards brilliantly, but was denied a goal by an acrobatic save from Bravo. Messi Got a freekick 25 yards from goal in the central area, but as the whole world waited with heavy breath to see some Messi magic, he shot the freekick straight at the wall.
And lastly it was down to Penalty shootouts, Vidal was the first one to take the penalty and he had his shot saved brilliantly by Romero, Next up was Messi to give Argentina the advantage but he hit his shot well wide of the goal, Next Castillo converted the penalty for chile,while maschesrano too scored his penalty, Aranguiz and aguero too converted their penalty,Jean Beausejour then converted his penalty to give chile a 3-2 lead, and Bigla had his penalty saved by bravo , And then it was on Silva to take the winning penalty and he made no mistake as he cooly slotted the ball in the back of the net to give chile their 2nd consecutive Copa America Triumph.
Meanwhile this was the third consecutive final that the Leo Messi had lost in three years , and this will probably trigger a debate on whether he belongs to the same league as of Maradona and Pele , and can he be considered the greatest ever to grace the football pitch.
