SANTIAGO, CHILE -- Eduardo Vargas and the host Chilean national team are headed to the Copa América 2015 final. And with ferocious fire they are.
Vargas scored a spectacular brace in the match to put his team up 2-1. He started with a 42nd minute goal off a brillian setup by Alexis Sánchez and Charles Aránguiz, and then his eye-popping go-ahead golazo in the 64th put Chile up for good. That second strike was an unexpected bullet from a long way out that easily qualifies to be the best goal of the whole competition.
Carlos Zambrano's physical and violent attitude and outlook was a real problem early for Los Incas. After being warned early with a yellow card in the 7th minute, Zambrano picked up a straight red card for a vicious, savage challenge on Charles Aránguiz in the 20th minute to drop Perú to 10 men and put Chile in the driver's seat. The sending off was a controversial one, but Zambrano made visible and over-the-top contact with Aránguiz, and deserved a red especially after being warned by the match official.
Throughout the duration of the match, La Roja showed supreme scalpel-like skill and distribution, pulling off immaculate sequences with relative ease. The chemistry on the field was clear, and the chances kept coming, as evident in the 16 total shots that Chile finished the match with.
The first big opporunity came for La Roja in the 28th minute, when Jorge Valdivia, Chile's star facilitator in the attacking midfield, struck a finesse shot that couldn't quite curve far enough inside to find it's way into the back of the net from the top left of the penalty area. Valdivia was a stud Monday night, and he continues to lead in total tournament assists.
In the 34th, Alexis Sánchez had a prime opportunity to put Chile in the lead, as Valdivia made a stunning pass to Alexis in front of the goal. Sánchez rapidly fired towards the net, but couldn't get enough height on his shot, and Peruvian keeper Pedro Gallese made an elite save to keep the match scoreless.
The mentality in those first 45 minutes for Perú seemed to be that they just had to hold out long enough to bring on penalties. But those hopes were shattered on a brilliant play by Chile in the 42nd. Alexis Sanchez sent through an absolutely stunning ball to the middle of the box in front of keeper Gallese, and Charles Aránguiz hopped over the ball and let it skip through to the post, off which it caromed to the feet of Eduardo Vargas. Vargas trickled in a shot past Gallese to put La Roja up 1-0.
But after half time, Perú came out ready to fight and equalize. Despite being down a man, Los Incas held most of the possession for the opening 15 minutes or so of half number two, and it finally paid off on a 60th minute breakaway. Luis Advíncula broke free on a wide run to the right side of the attacking pitch. Advíncula floated in a superb cross towards André Carrillo, and the ball was in a perfect path for Carrillo to knock in an equalizer. Gary Medel tried to prevent that, contacting the ball himself, but the ball ended up in the back of the net, as the trajectory and angle couldn't be reversed adequately to stop the ball from going over the line.
In the 49th minute, even before Perú had equalized, Eduardo Vargas superficially had his second goal of a match and had put Chile up by a double. But then an offsides was called, despite Edu clearly being onsides. Calls did go both ways, despite how hesitant Peruvians may be to admit it. Chile came out on top due to their superior form and talent.
La Roja turned up the attack they had been relaxed on from that point on. More chances began to open up as the match progressed, and in the 64th, Eduardo Vargas struck again for Chile.
Charles Aránguiz was forced into relinquishing the ball in the penalty by swarming Peruvian defenders. It seemed as if Perú were on the counterattack, but then La Roja took it back, and Edu Vargas sealed his place in the history of Copa América 2015. Vargas let go a screeching drive from way out beyond the box into the top left corner of the goal, and unstoppable one-in-a-million strike.
That put Chile up 2-1, and from there on, while each side had their chances, nothing compared or was able to break through to add to the result.
In the 70th, Aránguiz again had the ball with top-tier position in the box, but hesitated just enough to close up his opportunity at a strike on net, as Gallase closed in on him with rapid pace. Then, in the 79th minute, Jorge Valdivia and Arturo Vidal each had bottle-rockets shots just upwardly dodge the crossbar.
Chile had multiple further chances near the goal. But the end result was in fact a 2-1 result in La Roja's favor. The Chileans utterly bulldozed through Perú to the final, where on Saturday they will try to claim their first-ever Copa América crown in front of many thousands of home fans.
Chile recorded a higher total in nearly every statistical category, not just the ones shown in the graphic below. That possession gradient is just commanding, as was the whole performance for Jorge Sampaoli's men Monday night.
Perú were unfortunate to be a man down for most of this match, and maybe at full strength could have proved to be better competition. They'll have to wait for the World Cup Qualifiers to try again and prove their supremacy. Los Incas still do get the chance to participate in the Third Place Match on Friday night against the loser of Tuesday's Argentina-Paraguay contest.
Eduardo Vargas easily claimed Man of the Match honors with his superlative double, which could have ended up a hat trick had a goal not been called offsides in the 49th.
The crowd at Estadio Nacional in Santiago certainly was pleased to see their country fly through to the finale of this competition. Imagine how loud the final will be Saturday night, when Chile while host the victor of Argentina-Paraguay, the other semifinal match that will take place Tuesday at 7:30 PM ET, or 8:30 PM local time (UTC-3).
Note: Vargas passed Humberto Suazo on Chile's top goalscorers list, and is now tied for sixth on the list with Jorge Aravena.