This Friday was not only the debut of the Chilean team, but also the first official match in the Gareca era. For that reason and for the three friendly duels they played under the command of the Argentine, the excitement was total. But the truth is that in Texas the sensations were far from a celebration. There were no celebrations, but anger and lack of control.
The great example of that was Alexis Sánchez, who in a rough game, where he never found the spaces or the options, showed all his rage on the grass of the AT&T Stadium. He fought with rivals, teammates and the judges, leaving the court with yellow and the bitterness that the margin in the next two games will be minimal.
It all started with the loss of an incredible goal. It was 15 minutes into the first half when Gabriel Suazo began a great attack for La Roja. He went deeper with Víctor Dávila, who quickly delivered a cross to the former Inter Milan striker this year. Sánchez received it practically in the small area, but deflected over the goal.
It was the clearest play of the first half for the national team, who after that lost dynamism and depth. The truth is that the northerner tried on many occasions to lead the actions, but this Friday the offensive game was far from replicating what was shown in the last games.
After that lost action, came the irritation of La Roja’s historic scorer, who was far from showing his usual smile on the field. At 24′, for example, he had his first encounter with Judge Wilton Sampaio after an obvious unpaid infraction near the Peruvian area.
It was a face to face that was repeated during many sections of the meeting. Annoyed by the judge’s judgment, the complaints were constant, to the point that in the second half he received a warning. It was for asking for a yellow card after a foul by Paolo Guerrero on Claudio Bravo.
Minutes later, the one who suffered Sánchez’s anger was a teammate: Eduardo Vargas. The Atlético Mineiro player decided to give a pass to Mauricio Isla instead of partnering with Alexis, which once again unleashed his annoyance. He strongly rebuked him for the decision he made.
At the end of the first half, he was one of those who was most concerned about the health of Igor Lichnovsky, who had a clash of heads with defender Carlos Zambrano. Despite this, both players continued without major problems on the field.
In the second half, at 70′, when Brereton had replaced Edu Vargas, Alexis’ recriminations targeted the Villarreal man, in a play in which Ben decided to hurry up instead of continuing to play. The bad face of the Boy Wonder was felt again.
That tone did not change until the end of the match. Every time something didn’t work out for Gareca’s squad, Sánchez made his anger known. The context or the player did not matter, whenever the action did not convince him, the former Manchester United raised his voice.
Anger and challenges that changed nothing. Chile left Dallas scoreless and will now have to risk their lives against Argentina and Canada. The 10th will also have to change its image. Anger overshadowed his game on debut.
