Chile’s mission to successfully defend its Copa America crown continues. La Roja ran title contenders Mexico right out of the pitch during the quarterfinals to set up a semifinal matchup with South American rivals Colombia. Los Cafeteros needed penalties to get past Peru, but their chances of reaching the final will be buoyed by the absence of one of Chile’s top stars. Get a full breakdown of this second Copa America semifinal below.
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Of the four semifinalists, Chile’s 7-0 evisceration of Mexico was far and away the most impressive performance. They made a Mexico team that had gone an incredible 22 games unbeaten – and had won nine of 10 games under new manager Juan Carlos Osorio – look like amateurs.
Eduardo Vargas, co-top scorer in last year’s Copa America triumph, is back up to the top of this year’s goalscoring leaderboard with six goals in his last two games, four coming against Mexico. Alexis Sanchez, meanwhile, has three in his last two.
Meanwhile, Chile’s trademark pressing game was in full force against Mexico. La Roja completely threw Mexico off its game, as El Tri were unable to keep possession of the ball.
However, Chile manager Juan Antonio Pizzi will have some adjustments to make now that star midfielder Arturo Vidal will be suspended for the semifinal after picking up his second yellow card of the tournament. Vidal’s relentless running from midfield is a crucial factor in Chile’s pressing, and will be sorely missed.
But even without Vidal, there’s still enough speed and quality in this Chile side to exploit the deficiencies in Colombia’s shaky defense. With the form Vargas and Sanchez are in at the moment, they won’t need too many chances to convert in front of goal.
Betting on Colombia
If Chile’s performance was the most impressive, then Colombia had the least impressive showing in the quarterfinals. They were held goalless for the first time in the tournament by a resilient Peru, and needed penalties to go through.
After winning their first two matches – against the U.S. and Paraguay – Los Cafeteros have now failed to win their last two. They also lost their final group game 3-2 to Costa Rica.
But despite their recent struggles, the Colombians remain very dangerous going forward. The James Rodriguez-Juan Cuadrado-Carlos Bacca triumvirate is one of the few that can rival Chile’s own terrific trio of Arturo Vidal, Alexis Sanchez and Eduardo Vargas. And with Vidal suspended, Colombia should have the slight edge in attacking talent.
Chile will be more attacking than the overly cautious and defensive Peruvians, which should give the Colombian stars more spaces to exploit. Chile’s goalkeeper, Claudio Bravo, has not been at his best in the tournament, so the Cafeteros will have a decent opportunity to get on the scoresheet.
Colombia has scored at least once in its last eight meetings with Chile, which have generally been high-scoring affairs. Those matchups have averaged over 3.5 goals per game.
Colombia is no stranger to Chile’s fast-paced, heavy-pressing game, which it has handled well in recent meetings. Los Cafeteros are undefeated in their last three meetings with Chile, with a 3-1 win and two draws. That press should be less suffocating with the absence of Chile’s Arturo Vidal, which should only benefit Colombia’s chances of keeping possession better.
Writer’s Prediction
Chile (+138) overcomes Vidal’s absence as Vargas and Sanchez power them to a 2-1 win over Colombia.
