Chile vs. Argentina: Winners and Losers from Copa America 2015 Final
The 2015 Copa America final was played out in Santiago on Saturday night, with Chile and Argentina drawing 0-0 after 90 minutes. It was still scoreless after extra time, and Chile eventually triumphed on penalties 4-1 to lift the trophy for the first time in its history.
While the first half was intense, exciting, fast-paced and furious, the second was merely aggressive and lacking in creativity. Neither team fashioned enough quality moments to win the game, although Argentina's Gonzalo Higuain could have scored from two yards out with the last kick. Extra time was a non-event, with Higuain then missing again, this time from 12 yards out.
Here are all our winners and losers from the final.
Winner: Chile Left-Back Jean Beausejour
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For several international tournaments now, the likes of Chile's Mauricio Isla and Gary Medel have won acclaim and, to some extent, bemusement for their high standard of performances and consistency, even though they can rarely hold down a place at club level for an extended period of time.
Whatever it is about pulling on the red shirt of Chile, it inspires a number of players—especially defensive players—to punch above their weight. For this final, add Jean Beausejour to the list. The former Wigan Athletic and Birmingham City wing-back was drafted into the side on the left of Chile's four-man defence to come directly up against Leo Messi, and the Chilean came out largely on top.
Now at Colo-Colo, Beausejour once more rose above his usual performance levels to aggressively close down, accurately tackle and generally frustrate Messi—and Pablo Zabaleta on the rare occasions the right-back forayed forward.
Beausejour was far from the only player to excel for Chile in their own half of the pitch, but with Eugenio Mena and Miiko Albornoz starting three of the last four games between them, the left-back did well to come in and have such a positive impact against a difficult opponent.
Loser: Argentina Left-Back Marcos Rojo
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There were a number of disappointments in Argentina's blue and white, but while some simply had average or quiet matches, left-back Marcos Rojo was actually poor and had a negative impact on his team.
The defender was caught out several times with balls just over or behind him, and he failed to stop Mauricio Isla getting into the area on his blind side a number of times. He was also one of a number of players lucky not to see red cards shown their way, after a series of late or silly tackles.
Rojo didn't contribute at all in an attacking sense and was kept pinned back as Chile continually targeted his side.
Winner: Chile Manager Jorge Sampaoli
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His Chile team might not have had as many star individual names as Argentina's did, but Jorge Sampaoli sent his team out with a clear plan and vision of how they could triumph in the game.
Chile were the more adventurous, attack-minded and determined team out of possession. Even though they couldn't find a way past Argentina to score in 120 minutes, there is little doubt that they were better overall and certainly deserved the title more than their rivals.
A first-ever Copa America trophy is just reward for Sampaoli and how he has evolved this Chile team. He got it spot-on in the final—in direct contrast to Tata Martino, who got so much wrong for Argentina.
Loser: Argentina's Attack
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Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria and Sergio Aguero started up front for Argentina—a phenomenal trio, the envy of many clubs individually, let alone one nation collectively.
However, despite a frantic start to the game where attacking football looked to be the real winner, none of the three managed any kind of impact on the match whatsoever. Di Maria's injury ended his game after half an hour, while Aguero barely had sight of the goal or touched the ball in the penalty area before being subbed for Gonzalo Higuain—who missed the clearest chance of the match in the final seconds of the 90 minutes.
As for Messi, the world's best player had an anonymous game. He was kicked to bits for an hour, and whether because Argentina were poor on the ball or because he couldn't get himself in the game, Messi was a bystander for much of the game. He was even unable to spark anything from set pieces.
Higuain then summed up Argentina's attack by spanking the worst penalty of the shootout miles over the bar.
