There is a famous saying in Chile: “There is no evil that lasts 100 years.”
On Saturday, Chile have the chance to end the country’s 99-year wait for a trophy after overcoming Peru 2-1 in a tightly-contested Copa America semifinal Monday.
Since the tournament’s inception in 1916, Chile, Venezuela and Ecuador are the only three South American countries not to have won the Copa America.
“To get to the final really is a dream come true,” Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli told reporters.
“The anxiety played against us a bit and we ended up suffering. We were more disorganized in our distribution on the pitch… but I’m happy with the win.
“Of all the games in the Copa America, this one was the most complicated. We need to rediscover the performances of our previous matches and in the final we will have to be extremely competitive.
“We prepared for this, we tried to have a squad that made us dream and we had to amalgamate a lot of things.
“We wanted to take Chile to the final and we achieved that dream. Now another dream starts, winning the Copa America.”
Chile were made to work hard for the win, despite Peru playing more than 70 minutes with 10 men after defender Carlos Zambrano was sent off for planting his studs into Charles Aranguiz’s back.
Arguably the match was always going to be a feisty affair given the historical and political rivalry between the two countries, largely stemming from the War of the Pacific, with territorial disputes still ongoing.
The semifinal was also in keeping with a tournament that has seen 107 yellow cards brandished and seven reds handed out over the 32 games so far — that’s 3.5 cards per game.
It took just three minutes for tensions to flare as Arturo Vidal and Zambrano clashed on the byline — the latter appearing to move his head in Juventus midfielder’s direction and the Chilean retaliating by grabbing his face.
Both avoided yellow cards for the incident but Zambrano was booked just moments later for continued dissent towards the referee, before receiving his marches orders for his challenge on Aranguiz.
Chile took the lead after the largely anonymous Alexis Sanchez brought down a cross-field ball from Vidal, cut inside from the left and floated a ball into the middle of the box.
Aranguiz dummied the cross which hit the post, before Eduardo Vargas poked the ball home with Peru’s defenders watching on helplessly as it trickled agonizingly over the line.
Chile’s numerical advantage allowed the Copa America hosts to dominate possession, while Peru looked for the breakthrough on the counter — and that was indeed how their equalizer came.
Peru’s quarterfinal hat-trick hero Paolo Guerrero played in Luis Advincula down the right and his teasing cross into the box was turned into his own net by Gary Medel.
But Peru were level for just four minutes as the ever-impressive Vargas fired in a stunning, dipping shot that left goalkeeper Pedro Gallese clawing at thin air.
“I am happy with my performance, but happier knowing that we will be playing in the final of the Copa America,” said two-goal hero Vargas.
Chile’s Barcelona star goalkeeper Claudio Bravo has kept a joint tournament high three clean sheets and praised Peru for their efforts.
“It wasn’t easy, Peru played a great game,” he said after the match. “Perhaps it is a good thing that we suffered these scares.
“But now all that remains is to celebrate this step to the final.”
Argentina and Paraguay play in the second semifinal Tuesday to determine who will play Chile in the final and who will contest the third place play-off with Peru.
