Monday, 21st June 2010
Chile Crack Swiss Vault
 
Chile vs Switzerland
in Port Elizabeth.
Both teams had three points from their first games.
From the same stadium where England's World Cup dream will be decided,
on Wednesday, Khalil Al Ghamdi was quick to put Humberto Suazo in his notebook; not for
scoring.
A double save by Diego Benaglio, in the 10th minute, kept Switzerland
in the game; the second Chile attempt going out for a corner.
The referee - Khalil Al Ghamdi, of Saudi Arabia - seemed to have his
whistle stuck, which in turn broke down the flow of play.
The players should have been more cautious because of how the referee
set out his stall so early but Switzerland's Valon Behrami paid the price for trying to
shake two players off his back; his case wasn't helped by the usual dose of over-acting by
Chile's Arturo Vidal after Jean Beausejour was left in Behrami's slipstream.
Reduced to ten men, Ottmar Hitzfeld waited eleven minutes before
sacrificing captain Alexander Frei, for Tranquillo Barnetta.
Half-time: 0:0
One decision that Khalil Al Ghamdi did get right was disallowing an
early Chile goal for offside; and Switzerland remained on course to beat Italy's record
for playing the most World Cup Finals minutes without conceding a goal.
Around the hour mark, the referee seemed to deal out cards like an
apprentice croupier.
In the 67th minute, Switzerland surpassed Italy's record by not
conceding a World Cup Finals goal since going out to Spain in USA 1994. Meanwhile, Switzerland's Roger Federer clawed
his way back from two sets down to beat the Colombian, Alejandro Falla at Wimbledon.
Chile finally cracked the Swiss vault in the 75th minute, when Diego
Benaglio rushed off his line and gave the two substitutes a chance to pull off the heist
together; Esteban Paredes crossing from the right, for Mark Gonzalez to head down and past
Stephan Lichtsteiner trying to cover the line.
Switzerland tried valiantly to get back on level terms but the
referee's watch was ticking against them. It didn't help that Eren Derdiyok could hardly
believe he was given a golden opportunity to score and fluffed his lines in the 90th
minute.
The final act in the game was when Khalil Al Ghamdi booked Chile's
Jorge Valdivia for trying to con a penalty, in the 92nd minute.
Final Score:
Chile 1 Switzerland 0
 Goalscorers:
1:0 Mark Gonzalez (75 mins)
Man of The Match:
Esteban Paredes - Did the work to draw out Diego Benaglio and then whipped the cross over
for Mark Gonzalez.
Teams
 Chile:
1 Claudio Bravo; 18 Gonzalo Jara, 3 Waldo Ponce, 17 Gary Medel; 8 Arturo Vidal, 14 Matias
Fernandez, 6 Carlos Carmona, 4 Mauricio Isla; 15 Jean Beausejour, 9 Humberto Suazo, 7
Alexis S�nchez.
 Switzerland:
1 Diego Benaglio; 17 Reto Ziegler, 13 St�phane Grichting, 5 Steve von Bergen, 2 Stephan
Lichtsteiner; 16 Gelson Fernandes, 6 Benjamin Huggel, 8 G�khan Inler, 11 Valon Behrami;
10 Blaise N'Kufo, 9 Alexander Frei.
Referee:
Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)
 Substitutions:
42 Mins (Switzerland) - 7 Tranquillo Barnetta on for 9 Alexander Frei
46 Mins (Chile) - 11 Mark Gonzalez on for 8 Arturo Vidal
46 Mins (Chile) - 10 Jorge Valdivia on for 9 Humberto Suazo
65 Mins (Chile) - 22 Esteban Paredes on for 14 Matias Fernandez
68 Mins (Switzerland) - 19 Eren Derdiyok on for 10 Blaise N'Kufo
77 Mins (Switzerland) - 18 Albert Bunjaku on for 16 Gelson Fernandes
 9 Yellow
Cards:
2 Mins - Humberto Suazo (Chile)
18 Mins - Blaise N'Kufo (Switzerland)
22 Mins - Carlos Carmona (Chile) - misses next game.
25 Mins - Waldo Ponce (Chile)
48 Mins - Tranquillo Barnetta (Switzerland)
60 Mins - G�khan Inler (Switzerland)
60 Mins - Matias Fernandez (Chile) - misses next game.
61 Mins - Gary Medel (Chile)
92 Mins - Jorge Valdivia (Chile)
 1 Red Card:
31 Mins - Valon Behrami (Switzerland)
Previous Encounters:
Chile beat Switzerland (3:1) in Santiago at Chile 1962,
but lost in their two friendly matches: (2:4) in Bern, 1960; and (1:2) in Vienna, 2007.
2010 World Cup Finals - Knockout Stage.
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