Chile sent nine-man Uruguay crashing out of the Copa America on Wednesday, winning a bruising quarter-final 1-0 as controversy over lurid provocation tactics rocked the tournament.
An 81st-minute strike from Juventus defender Mauricio Isla settled a pulsating encounter at Santiago’s Estadio Nacional as holders Uruguay saw striker Edinson Cavani and defender Jorge Fucile sent off.
Fucile’s dismissal for a second yellow card in the closing minutes triggered a mass confrontation involving players and officials from both sides, with even Uruguay’s veteran coach Oscar Tabarez coming onto the pitch, but the post-match commotion focused around the dismissal of Cavani, who flicked a hand into the face of Chile defender Gonzalo Jara after a clash midway through the second half.
Photo: AFP
Camera footage of the moments leading up to the flashpoint appeared to show Jara attempting to insert his finger into Cavani’s anus, prompting the Uruguay player’s reaction.
Tabarez later defended the actions of the Paris Saint-Germain striker, arguing he had been provoked.
“For the expulsion of Cavani, you can see what happened and what the challenge was. I refer you to the television and photos of it, it is all there,” said Tabarez, as images of Jara’s actions swiftly went viral on social media. “I can see that the referee has not seen it, but the linesman had to be able to see it from his position.”
Photo: AP
It was not the first time Jara had been involved in controversy involving a Uruguay player. In 2013, Luis Suarez punched the defender after the Chile defender reportedly grabbed the Uruguay striker’s genitals during a FIFA World Cup qualifier.
Tabarez said the dismissal of Cavani, when the match was at 0-0, turned the tide against his team.
“We had the game under control, but when we were left with 10 men it became a little more difficult because it limited our opportunities to attack,” Tabarez said.
It was a miserable end to the tournament for Cavani, who had been booked in the first half for aggressively confronting an assistant referee after a tackle involving Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal.
On Monday, Cavani’s father was arrested in Uruguay after his involvement in a fatal traffic accident which left a 19-year-old motorcyclist dead.
Uruguay reacted to Cavani’s dismissal doggedly and had appeared to be on their way to taking the game to a penalty shoot-out with a superb defensive performance led by centerhalf Diego Godin, but as the match entered the final 10 minutes, Chile pounced on Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera’s failure to clear a cross.
Chile playmaker Jorge Valdivia slipped a pass to Isla, who drilled in a low finish to spark wild celebrations.
It got worse for Uruguay a few minutes from fulltime when Fucile clattered into Chile star Alexis Sanchez.
Uruguay protested that Fucile had played the ball, but there was no denying that his trailing leg followed through on the Arsenal player.
Play was interrupted for several minutes as Uruguay’s players and officials protested, but the red card stood.
Sanchez later revealed an unnamed Uruguay player had said sorry to him for the rough treatment he had been given.
“They like to fight, argue, go forward all out; one player told me in the first half: ‘Move you wimp’ — but then later he said to me: ‘I am sorry,’” Sanchez said, without identifying the opponent in question. “He said to me: ‘That’ll do, I kicked the shit out of you,’ and I said: ‘Alright, but you could have caused an injury and that’s not what football’s about.’”
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
RSS