While favorites Argentina and Brazil struggle for form, Chile and Peru are awakening from years of slumber at the Copa America after moving to the brink of the quarter-finals on Friday.
Peru won the last of their two South American championships in 1975 in the halycon days of the gifted Teofilo Cubillas, who would go on to prove a star turn at the 1978 World Cup.
Chile, meanwhile, have been bridesmaids at four finals, but never the continental bride.
That may change if promising starlet Alexis Sanchez has his way.
The Barcelona target scored to land a precious 1-1 draw with fancied Uruguay and leave the Chileans with four points — surely enough in practice to start looking forward to the last eight, while Friday’s rivals have work to do after a second straight draw.
Peru are joint top of Group C with the Chileans, having earned four points of their own after Paolo Guerrero’s second goal of the tournament saw off inexperienced Mexico 1-0 in Mendoza.
With both joint leaders having held Uruguay and defeated the Mexicans, regular special guests at the South American event, Peru and Chile can look forward to a Pacific “clasico” on Tuesday with the pressure largely off.
A draw will send both sides through, while Uruguay will likely have to beat Mexico to ensure their own passage.
A third straight draw would leave Diego Forlans’ Charruas, like Argentina chasing a record 15th title, perched on the precipice.
Sanchez, who plays for Italy’s Udinese, came to the event trying hard to put aside reports of interest in his talents from European champions Barcelona.
However, his instinctive finish just after the hour mark to level Alvaro Pereira’s opener eight minutes into a lively second half served to underline the talent of the 22-year-old from Tocopillo.
Chile coach Claudio Borghi is emerging as the would-be purist at the championships as his side have turned in some of the most entertaining soccer compared with the sterile fare of the hosts and Brazil, who yesterday were scheduled to meet Paraguay and were looking to improve on a shock draw with Venezuela.
“I prefer to draw playing in this fashion than to win playing badly,” Borghi said after seeing the Chileans end their encounter all-square.
Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez saluted Sanchez’s finishing skills.
“The goal came following a -defensive mistake of ours, but Sanchez, who is a great player, took advantage,” Tabarez said.
Argentina coach Sergio Batista, meanwhile, told reporters his team would come good after draws with Bolivia and Colombia.
Fans have started to get on the team’s back with Lionel Messi in particular failing to shine and Batista told Fox Sports he recognized that “people have the same expectations of us as we do. We know we have to turn things around.”
Batista said that Messi, well below his Barcelona form, would come good.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two