With goals from Fuenzalida and Sanchez, the southern team reached six points and advanced to the quarterfinals of CONMEBOL Copa America Brazil 2019.
The Chilean national team classified on Friday 21 June to the quarterfinals of CONMEBOL Copa América 2019, after defeating Ecuador 2-1 at the Arena Fonte Nova stadium in Salvador, on the second date of Group C.
With the result, La Roja, current two-time champion of the tournament, reached 6 points and will face with the confidence of the classification to the always difficult Uruguay in the last day of the group phase.
The First was by José Pedro Fuenzalida who opened the scoring for the Chileans, after rescuing a rebound in the area and finishing crossed to beat goalkeeper Alexander Dominguez.
The match became intense with many interruptions due to the strong play of both teams. And in that game it seemed more comfortable Ecuador that reached the tie of the match, after a quick play in which the Chilean goalkeeper Gabriel Arias committed foul in the area. Enner Valencia converted that penalty into the 1-1.
Another early blow from Chile
As soon as the second half had begun, Chile was confident with players like Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal and Mauricio Isla. Reinaldo Rueda's team began to dominate the match and quickly, in the sixth minute of the second half, after a corner charge, the 'Wonder Boy' Alexis Sanchez was left alone and with a cross shot he defeated Dominguez again.
Ecuador could not again disturb the Chilean defense, despite the entries of players such as Antonio Valencia, Carlos Gárces and Ayrton Preciado, who along with their teammates tried until the final minute. And, thanks to the strong game during the match, Gabriel Achilier old red card after a foul on Arturo Vidal.
Now with six points and a place, Chile will face with more tranquility the last day, in which against Uruguay the leader of Group C will be defined. For their part, Ecuador, last in the Group, will face a lively Japan after a 2-2 tie against Uruguay in the matchday.
Statistics
- Ecuador is the opposition Chile defeated the most in CONMEBOL Copa América, with 13 wins in 15 matches; they failed to beat them alone in 1957 (2-2) and 1997 (1-2).
- Chile have a seven-game unbeaten record in CONMEBOL Copa América (6V 1E); it is their longest run in the competition since 1945 (5V 2E).
- Ecuador have 13 matches without victories in CONMEBOL Copa América against South American teams (3E 10D); their last win was 4-0 over Venezuela in 2001.
- In the first half between Ecuador and Chile there were 26 fouls, the most in a first half of the last three editions of CONMEBOL Copa América.
- Two of the three red cards in the first two rounds of CONMEBOL Copa América 2019 went to players from Ecuador (José Quintero vs Uruguay and Gabriel Achilier vs Chile) - the other was Luis Del Pino Mago, from Venezuela, against Peru.
- Against Ecuador, Alexis Sanchez played his 126th match against Chile and became the 10th South American player with the most games with his team in history, beating Brazil's Roberto Carlos and Uruguay's Maximiliano Pereira (125 each). He is also South America's 10th all-time leading scorer (43 goals).
- Jose Pedro Fuenzalida scored his third goal in CONMEBOL Copa América, in his eighth game in the competition; in his remaining 43 games with Chile he scored just two goals.
- Enner Valencia scored his 29th goal in his 50th game with Ecuador; the striker participated in seven of the last 12 goals of the Tri in Copa América (5 goals, 2 assists).
