Santiago: Leading Chile to the Copa America final was a dream come true for coach Jorge Sampaoli, who felt relief after the hosts overcame nerves to secure victory over 10-man Peru on Monday.
Eduardo Vargas scored a double to fire Chile to a 2-1 win at Santiago’s National Stadium over a gallant Peru, who had Carlos Zambrano dismissed early in the first half.
“It was our obligation to get Chile to the final, we knew it from the first moment,” Sampaoli told reporters.
“It’s an incredible dream and even more so as hosts.” Sampaoli said nerves had made the win more difficult than needed, even with Chile one man up for most of the match.
“Confusion complicated us in a game that we should have secured much earlier,” he added.
“Of all our Copa games this was the most difficult because we didn’t know how to define.” Peru coach Ricardo Gareca praised the hosts, saying Chile were “a firm candidate [to win the Copa], it was from the beginning and continues to be.”
Meanwhile, Chile defender Gonzalo Jara’s ban for provoking Edinson Cavani has been cut from three games to two, the governing body of South American football said.
“After hearing the appeal CONMEBOL decided to reduce the sanction... to two games,” the organisation explained in a statement. The player’s fine was also reduced from $7,500 (Dh27,525) to $5,000.
Jara received his ban for “unsporting behaviour” after he stuck his finger up Cavani’s backside in the quarter-final win over Uruguay last week.
Cavani responded to the provocation with the slightest of touches and Jara fell to the ground theatrically, prompting the referee to send the Uruguayan off.
Chile scored the only goal of the game soon after.
A second Uruguayan was shown a red card two minutes before the final whistle, leading to scuffles between players and officials from both sides.
CONMEBOL said it would decide after the tournament whether to sanction Uruguayan players for their part in the incidents.
