World Cup 2014 results, Chile vs Australia: Chile squeaks by Socceroos 3-1
By Mike Dyce
After watching Spain get dismantled by the Netherlands on Friday in World Cup action, Chile came into the game looking for a win over Australia to try and secure the second place in the Group B table. They had an easier draw in their first match up facing off with Australia.
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A goal scoring bonanza was expected in this game from a Chilean offense led by stars like Barcelona’s Alexis Sanchez and Juventus’ Arturo Vidal.
Chile needed all of 12 minutes to get on the board with a goal from Barcelona’s Alexis Sanchez.
It wasn’t the prettiest goal, and the ball bounced around a bit before landing with Sanchez. But once he got the ball he tucked it in between the keeper and post to give Chile an early lead.
Within the next two minutes, Jorge Valdivia gave Chile an insurance goal, and this one was a lot prettier. Sanchez passed the ball across the face of the goal just outside the box. Valdivia struck the ball brilliantly and it tucked in just below the cross bar.
Chile had a comfortable lead and didn’t need to continue to press up the pitch quite as much as they did early in the first half and could take their time. The Socceroos weren’t backing down though, and took advantage of a Chile defense that got a bit comfortable. Coming down the wing, Ivan Franjic sent in a cross from just inside the touchline on the far side of the pitch.
The ball sailed high and Australian forward Tim Cahill was able to get up between two Chilean defenders and get a head on it. Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was cutting with the ball to the back post and Cahill put the header back across the front of the goal to the opposite post.
Bravo couldn’t fight his momentum to change directions and get back to the ball to stop it from going in.
After that the dynamics changed considerably from the first 15 minutes of the game. Australia got several more chances and the 2-1 score line held till late in the second half.
It looked like Tim Cahill had tied up the game but the goal was disallowed. As the minutes ticked off Australia was desperate for an equalizer to steal a point in the Group B table.
Instead Chile’s Jean Beauséjour added an insurance goal to make the score line look a bit more respectable in stoppage time. Much like the Brazil game, but Chile collected the points they needed to stay in second place and have a 6 goal differential between them and Spain, their main competition for that second seed in Group B.
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