Chile were thoroughly crushed in their CONMEBOL World Cup qualifier against Uruguay, falling 4-0 to the almost-flawless Luis Suarez. It was hardly unexpected, however, what with all the drama surrounding the roja camp in the last week. With Arturo Vidal and Jorge Valdivia missing in midfield and Gonzalo Jara out from defense, it was always going to be difficult for Chile, but the elimination of Alexis Sanchez, re-injured in training earlier in the week, left them without a creative forward spark as well. It's hard to say, however, if even a full strength Chile side could have brought down the fantastic play of Suarez, who scored at least a hat-trick -- although it likely would have stemmed the bleeding.
Uruguay Vs. Chile, CONMEBOL World Cup 2014 Qualifying: Full Time In The Luis Suarez Show
Suarez scored the first of his three, or possibly four, goals, in the dying minutes of the first half, his long-range shot settling perfectly in the back of the net. Just two minutes later, a shot by Edinson Cavani was cleared off the line with a header by the Chile defense, but the ensuing scramble resulted in the ball ending up in the back of the net. Whether it was the fault of Walter Ponce or the brilliance of Luis Suarez's forehead remains to be seen.
Chile's best chance came around the 65th minute, when Matias Campos put the ball in the back of the net, but the linesman put up his flag. Turns out that the ball had been flicked onward by another Chilean player, meaning that Campos was offside when he scored in his first international appearance. Poor guy.
It appeared that Chile were set to rally after that goal, but Suarez had different ideas. Again, the goal can be blamed on Ponce, with the defender failing to adequately mark the Uruguayan forward. Suarez leapt, his head connected, and Uruguay had three -- although it was still questionable as to whether Suarez had his hat-trick.
All doubts were put to rest, however, with the fourth and final goal of the night. Cavani fell upon Sebastián Abreu’s cross, but his first touch was less than perfect. Suarez came streaking forward, claiming the ball, but his resulting goal meant that he couldn’t be faulted for being greedy.
That makes seven points from three games for Uruguay, while Chile have but three, coming from a 4-2 win over Peru. La Roja certainly have a steep mountain to climb now.
We’ll have live coverage of this match and all of the other games in South America in our CONMEBOL World Cup 2014 Qualifying, Matchday 3 StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, visit SB Nation Soccer.
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