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After a thrilling 90 minutes that was the best advertisement of the FIFA Confederations Cup till date, Chile emerged victorious over Cameroon by a scoreline of 2-0, Arturo Vidal and Eduardo Vargas scoring the only goals of the match in the 81st and 91st minute respectively.
In a truly end-to-end match that could realistically have ended in either team’s favour, there was a little bit of everything: wrongly disallowed goals, correctly disallowed ones (for Cameroon and Chile), superb attacking play from both sides, smart defending, excellent goalkeeping and some A-grade forward play.
Here are the main talking points from what was a solidly fun, entertaining, match for the neutral:
1. Eduardo Vargas is something else when he dons the Chile Jersey
Here’s what Eduardo Vargas’ club record says – 270 appearances across all competitions for Cobreloa, Universidad de Chile, Napoli, Gremio, Valencia, QPR, 1899 Hoffenheim and Tigres... 65 goals. Look at that record (0.24 goals a game or a goal every four matches) and you’d nod your head wisely and say... ah! typical journeyman striker, decent but nothing special. If you’d ever seen him in action playing for any of those myriad clubs, you’d still have the same opinion.. “meh! typical journeyman striker” and you’d be right for playing at club level that’s all he is.
And then he puts on the Chile Jersey. When playing for his nation, the striker has a quite incredible record of 35 goals in 73 games (0.48 goals a game, or a goal every two matches): that’s just two behind the nation’s HIGHEST ever goalscorers Alexis Sanchez and the great Marcelo Salas.
At the highest level, against the toughest defenders in the world, Eduardo Vargas suddenly transforms when he dons the Chilean jersey... now if that wasn’t something special, I don’t know what is.
2. Video Assistant Refereeing is here to stay, and that’s a good thing
In the previous game, Pepe had a goal ruled out thanks to VAR but in this game, the newest technology in football took centre stage. In the first half, VAR ruled out an Eduardo Vagas goal because the man was an inch or two offside – ruining a wonderfully weird Chilean celebration and making Arturo Vidal (the one who provided the inch-perfect pass to Vargas) absolutely lose his head. In the second half, VAR allowed a wrongly disallowed goal to stand – the beneficiary of the decision? Eduardo Vargas (as one online commenter pointed out – it’s all in his name – VARgas)
Both decisions were spot on; despite Vidal’s wild protestations, Vargas was offside when he ran onto his through ball (however narrowly) while in the second instance while it looked to the naked eye that Alexis Sanchez might have been offside in the build-up to the goal, VAR conclusively proved it wasn’t.
If the worst thing about VAR is that it ruins a perfectly good celebration/ makes players wait a bit before they celebrate (Vargas showcased both these on the two occasions) then it’s a small price to pay to ensure a fair result... there will always be resistance to change (however good), but FIFA and the footballing world should persist with this technology that eases such a heavy burden off the shoulders of the poor referees.
3. Cameroon show glimpses of their exciting potential
Christian Bassagog, Vincent Aboubakar, and Benjamin Moukandjo all showed glimpses of their rare, athletic, footballing abilities and they showed remarkable mental strength to gain confidence as the game wore on (they were exceptional in the second half after getting hammered in the first). Hugo Broos will focus on these two major positives in what was at the end a disappointing result.
When they shed their conservative approach in the second half, they almost made Chile pay for all those first-half misses and showcased some fantastic, speedy, wing play – standing toe-to-toe with their far more illustrious opponents and proving that the nickname The Indomitable Lions is not a vestigial remanent of a far more glorious past.
The Cameroonians, though, still have a lot to work on – consistency in approach and a certain level-headedness when in possession of the goal wouldn’t go amiss. They’ll need to improve rapidly now if they are to have any hopes of making the semifinals, but the surprise winners of the Africa Cup of Nations certainly showed they have the potential to do so!
P.S. The inclusion of members who so stupidly rebuffed Broos’ requests to join the national team back in January for the AFCON would definitely have solidified the team and provided them with the professional experience they so sorely seemed to lack (Joel Matip, for example), it is brilliant that Broos doesn’t go to them. They don’t deserve to be in this team that is driven by teamwork and indefatigable spirit more than anything else and no one should wish it be any other way.
4. Chile move up a gear when Alexis Sanchez takes the field
Chile dominated Cameroon for vast periods of the game without making any real inroads (excepting Vargas’ disallowed goal) – they had bucket loads of attacks meet untimely deaths on the wall of Cameroonian defenders massed in front of their penalty box, and the ones that did get through were met by an inspired Fabrice Ondoa. While Edson Puch and Jose Fuenzalida are more than capable footballers who played rather well on the day, neither are Alexis Sanchez. And it showed. After Cameroon weathered the first half storm, the Chilean machine seemed to switch off a touch as they allowed the African champions to get on top of them.
When the Arsenal superstar turned up late in the second half, the match which by then had shifted in Cameroon’s favour abruptly shifted back Chile’s. The Champions of South America cranked it up a notch or three with their best player on the pitch and it was Sanchez himself who provided the breakthrough with a sublime cross (that was thumped in by a very motivated Arturo Vidal).
As good a team as Chile are (as a unit, they are brilliant) it is still that dash of individual quality that truly decides matches and Alexis Sanchez proved that quite decisively on the day.
5. The Gulf in individual ‘class’ and ‘star quality’ showed up in the end
Gary Medel plays for Internazionale Milan, Arturo Vidal plays for Bayern Munich, Alexis Sanchez plays for Arsenal and is wanted by Bayern Munich. Christian Bassagog plays for Henan Jianye F.C., Vincent Aboubakar plays for Besiktas, Benjamin Moukandjo plays for Besiktas... and none of these guys are particularly wanted by any club of note.
Sure the Cameroonians are wonderful footballers and Broos has fostered a great team spirit amongst them, but toe-to-toe, man-to-man, they paled in comparison to their opponents. In the first half, they were completely overwhelmed, with their strategy of sitting deep and holding the Chileans only failing because of some lackadaisical final-third-passing on the South American’s part (and VAR). While they were able to hold their own when they attacked in the second half, the introduction of Sanchez really tipped the scales.
As good a team as they were, they simply had no answer when the two best (and most pedigreed) players on the pitch took it on to their hands to force a result (the Sanchez-Vidal combination for the opener, in case you are wondering)
