There is less and less left until a new edition of the Copa América begins, which will take place in the United States in 2024 and in which the Chilean National Team, led by Ricardo Gareca, will debut on June 21 against Peru.
For the same reason, thanks to the good level shown by the “everyone’s team” After the arrival of the “Tigre”, there are many fans who put in their chips and are excited about repeating what was achieved in 2015 in our country and in 2016 in Gringolandia itself, where those led by La Roja made history after becoming two-time champions in the contest
Of course, days before the new continental dream begins, several episodes that occurred in obtaining the title came to mind after Alexis Sánchez’s goal, against Argentina, at the National Stadium, which became the first in the history of Chilean football at the national team level.
For example, it was difficult to forget what happened to Arturo Vidal, who on June 16 of that year, one day after the second game of the group stage against Mexico, took advantage of a moment of freedom to go out and clear his head. For that, he decided to go to the Monticello casino with family and a group of friends. Until then, nothing out of the ordinary.
However, When he was returning, he was involved in a serious traffic accident in his Ferrari, which could even have fatal consequences. According to reports at the time, King was driving drunk at the time of impact, which is why the episode became a national issue.
“Hello, today I had a traffic accident. It was not my fault. “I’m fine, my family is fine and thank you for everything.”, said the flyer to reassure the fans and lower the profile of what had happened minutes before. This, despite the fact that he had even been detained by police officers, although hours later he was released.
In fact, in those days the country was divided between those who asked for the guillotine for the player who at that time was playing for Juventus in Italy. Even, several pointed out that they should quickly remove him from the concentrationbeyond what it meant to lose a footballer of his quality for the rest of the tournament.
For their part, many others opted to keep him on the squad and “forgive him” despite his act of indiscipline, an issue that finally occurred. In fact, after that controversy La Roja, Vidal apologized through tears at a press conference and the story ended with a happy endingbecause days later the national team turned around after beating Lionel Messi’s Argentina on penalties, in the very final that was played at the Ñuñoa Coliseum.
Yes indeed, Over the years, new antecedents of the “true” story have emerged regarding the “forgiveness” to the current figure of Colo Colo.who in 2015 was considered a world-class player and one of the best in his position, so much so that it was speculated that Real Madrid itself had its eyes on signing him, but that he would have later regretted it precisely due to his accident.
For example, a while ago it was Johnny Herrera, who was part of that team, who spoke and provided new information in relation to the crash, which his teammates found out about through social networks.
“Arturo was missing and we had to get to Juan Pinto Durán to eat at 9 p.m. We were sitting with Claudio (Bravo) and (Cristopher) Toselli, waiting for Arturo to arrive. There they tell me: ‘let’s catch him high’”, The former goalkeeper of the U told the program Todos Somos Técnicos, on TNT Sports.
“I didn’t catch Twitter and Claudio started checking it. There we realized that he had had an accident. A Ferrari came out and we realized what had happened. People asked for the punishments of hell, but the team was very supportive in making it happen,” the Samurai recalled.
That day, in addition to ruining his luxurious sports car, the close bond that King had with Don Sampa was also broken, who until that minute had him as his standard in the midfield. This, because according to the rumors that arose, Casildense was determined to expel him from the team for his irresponsibility.
However, Michelle Bachelet, then President of the Republic, would have called and asked that he not be removed to avoid leaving the broom on the squad and thus try to get, with Vidal included, the desired title. For the same, The ANFP lawyers had to guide him through the entire process of accompanying him to the healthcare center and later to the police unit where he waited for arrest control.. Later, after escaping a major legal sanction, he went to Juan Pinto Durán to join the team’s training sessions.
All the latter, despite Sampaoli’s desire to maintain his position of exiling him. Meanwhile, Sergio Jadue, president of the ANFP at that time, contacted La Moneda to determine the implications of what could happen with Vidal in legal terms. Of course, the message from the Government Palace was clear: “Sergio, I know that you are the president of the federation, that you are the one in charge, but do what you have to do for the good of the country,” They told the Calerano leader at that minute, who did not relent in his firm position of keeping Vidal on the squad.
In any case, given Sampaoli’s insistence on not loving the player anymore, Jadue played one last card, according to La Tercera a while ago.
“Now, bastard, we’re going to Pinto Durán to get Vidal out, but you’re going to kick him out,” He told the dolape, who did not want to carry that backpack and finally resigned himself. “Sampaoli didn’t want Vidal, he wanted to throw him out. But he did not want to appear as the one who was going to throw him out. He shit himself. “Sergio did not give him the support he was looking for”revealed a former Jadue advisor to the aforementioned media.
But that’s not all, because it also emerged that the president of the baseball organization himself made a striking request to Vidal before materializing the “sorry.” Specifically, he demanded that at the press point he would give he appear as affected as possible.
“Either you cry or you leave”he said to the wheel. “But I’m not an actor,” King told him back, who, genuinely or not, only he knows, was affected when facing the media, so much so that at several moments he had to wipe the tears from his eyes.
The squad squared off with Vidal
On the other hand, a couple of days ago, in an ESPN special, Jorge Valdivia also provided some unpublished details related to what happened with Vidal after the duel against the friends. In the first instance, he stated that Vidal had the support of his colleagues.
“Our only concern was Arturo. I don’t remember if he went with Desio or Seba, we told him ‘We must support him, don’t even think about removing him from the national team’, the Wizard remembered.
Of course, he also released a revelation that contradicts what was previously stated, and that has to do with the position of the coaching staff regarding the player’s continuity after his act of indiscipline.
“I don’t know (if they doubted its continuity). I would dare say no because Arturo and Sampaoli had a very good relationship, there was a lot of connection between them.”stressed the current sports commentator.
Furthermore, he maintained that “Beyond the importance he had on that team in terms of football or in the dressing room, I feel that Sampaoli understood that removing him from the national team could generate something negative for us that would mean that we would destabilize.”
Finally, Valdivia highlighted “the virtue of Sampaoli and the team that was in the selection to say ‘we stand together, shoulder to shoulder and go forward’.”
