By Joiner Martinez
Canada tied 0-0 against Chile in the last match of Group A of the Copa América and took second place, advancing to the quarterfinals.
The win was the only result that could leave Chile in the hunt for a place in the quarterfinals, as Argentina beat Peru 2-0 in the other match in the group, leaving them with no chance.
Chile made two changes with respect to the defeat against the Albiceleste, with the addition of Gabriel Arias in the goal for Claudio Bravo, Marcelino Núñez for Erick Pulgar in the midfield and Guillermo Maripán for Paulo Díaz at the back.
The initial stage was marked by a couple of controversial decisions by referee Wilmar Roldán. The first happened after four minutes, when Rodrigo Echeverría fell inside his own area, as a result of a clear elbow from a Canadian, but neither the judge nor the VAR perceived it as such.
Later, in the 11th minute, defender Gabriel Suazo was correctly cautioned for a strong challenge, however, a quarter of an hour later he would be sent off for a second yellow card, in a questionable decision by the Colombian referee.
Due to the expulsion, Thomas Galdames came on for Darío Osorio before half an hour was up, with the idea of restructuring the defense due to the departure of the Toulouse winger.
Goalkeeper Gabriel Arias was key in a play before the break, where he twice repelled an imminent goal attempt by the American attackers. And so they went into halftime, with no goals on either side.
In the second half, Sergio Santín, technical assistant who replaced the suspended coach Ricardo Gareca, sent two changes to the field: Marcos Bolados for Eduardo Vargas in the attack and Erick Pulgar for Núñez in the middle zone.
La Roja, having played with one less player for almost an hour, felt the strain and their chances were limited to a few crosses into the area, or long balls from Alexis Sánchez looking for Víctor Dávila and Bolados in more advanced positions.
As a last glimmer of hope, Santín sent on Ben Brereton with 15 minutes remaining, but neither his efforts nor those of his teammates were enough to beat the goal defended by Maxime Crepeau.
In this way, Chile finished third with two points in group A, behind Argentina, leader with an ideal score of 9 points, and Canada, which reached 4 points. Peru, for its part, was bottom with only one draw and two defeats, also closing its participation in the Copa América 2024.
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