Mark Gonzalez knows Chile are still in a precarious position despite winning their first two group matches, so he’s not giving himself too much time to dwell on his match-winning goal against Switzerland.
Gonzalez scored with a header in the 75th minute to breach a resolute Swiss defense.
“Without doubt it’s the best thing that’s happened in my career,” Gonzalez said yesterday, describing his goal the previous night.
Chile need a draw against Spain to top Group H, but can still be eliminated if they lose to the Spanish and Switzerland beat Honduras.
After dominating Honduras and 10-man Switzerland, Chile’s main worry is the lack of goals that have materialized despite the glut of chances created.
“We’ve had two difficult games, two games where we probably had the chance to win by more than one goal,” Gonzalez said.
That inability to convert chances into goals could yet return to sting the Chile team if goal difference becomes a factor.
Finishing atop the group is also important. The winner of Group H plays the runner-up in Group G _ which should mean they avoids Brazil in the Round of 16.
“As a squad, our mind is focused on going through and finishing top of the group,” Gonzalez said. “It’s going to be a different game [against Spain] where they are going to come out to attack.”
Swiss defender Stephane Grichting launched a scathing attack on the referee for Monday’s game.
Khalil Al Ghamdi of Saudi Arabia, dished out nine yellow cards as well as a red to Swiss midfielder Volan Behrami.
Grichting said: “At 11 against 11 we would have had a different match. The problem was that we came up against a referee that week in week out is officiating in the first or second division.”
“But here he is at an international level and so he isn’t up to the standard. And we saw that throughout the entire game,” he said.
Behrami was red carded on the half hour mark, leaving the Swiss having to defend stoically until their backline finally relented in the 75th minute.
Grichting added: “The match turned on the sending off.”
“He [Al Ghamdi] didn’t just make one or two or three errors, he got it wrong the whole game. And for the red card it was clear there was nothing, at the very worst it was a yellow card, but that would have been harsh,” he said.
“So to hand out a red is completely stupid on his part in a World Cup match,” Grichting said.
Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfeld blamed Vidal for Behrami’s red card.
The Chilean fell to the ground after a tussle with Behrami with Al Ghamdi promptly giving the Swiss his marching orders.
Hitzfeld though was incensed with the behavior of Vidal.
“I was angry about the red card, of course I was angry,” he said. “I was only two meters away when Vidal fell down with a lot of drama.”
“It wasn’t a red card, it wasn’t even a yellow card. It was unfair of Vidal to roll around on the ground asking for the red card,” he said.
Hitzfeld said of Al Ghamdi: “I’m not going to comment on the referee. All I would say is that some people whistle on the pitch, others should whistle at the beach.”
Group H
Table after two games
Team | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
Chile | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
Spain | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Honduras | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
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