Chile, winner of the last two Copa Americas, is out of the World Cup after failing to qualify on Tuesday. The team lost 3-0 at Brazil as its fate was sealed with Peru drawing Colombia 1-1, but you won't believe why in the end the team missed out on going to the World Cup.
Earlier in qualifying, Bolivia played Chile and the Bolivians used an ineligible player in Paraguayan Nelson Cabrera. The match was a 1-1 draw, but because of the ineligible player, Chile was awarded a 3-0 victory and three points instead of one point from the draw. following an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport,
That's not where it ended.
Cabrera also played in a later match against Peru, which Bolivia won 1-0. But because of the ineligible player, all stemming from Chile's appeal, Peru was given the victory and three points instead of zero points.
Now it comes down to simple math. Chile, instead of getting one point against Bolivia, got three. Peru, instead of getting zero points, got three.
Had the appeal not be filed and accepted, the table would have looked like this.
- Brazil, 41 points
- Uruguay, 31 points
- Argentina, 28 points
- Colombia, 27 points
- Chile, 24 points
- Paraguay 24 points
- Peru, 23 points
And Chile would be in the World Cup playoff.
Instead, it ended like this.
- Brazil, 41 points
- Uruguay, 31 points
- Argentina, 28 points
- Colombia, 27 points
- Peru, 26 points
- Chile, 26 points (out on goal differential)
To make matters worse, Peru's late free-kick goal from Paolo Guerrero was an indirect free kick, meaning another player had to touch it before it went into the goal. He went near post, and it found the net. Had Colombia (and Arsenal) goalkeeper David Ospina simply not touched the ball, the goal would not have counted. Take a look:
Era tiro libre indirecto para Perú. Paolo Guerrero pateó al arco, la tocó Ospina y así valió el gol. Increíble.
— Federico Nogueira (@fedenogueira25) October 11, 2017
pic.twitter.com/PYQi2N0Cxu
And to make it even worse - after the Chile result was firmly in hand at 3-0, Peru and Colombia players were seen covering their mouths when talking, leading to speculation they came to a "gentleman's agreement" to settle on a draw to ensure both teams would move on, with Colombia qualifying directly and Peru going to a playoff. See for yourself:
Falcao avisa y convence a los jugadores peruanos de que ya está, de que el empate les sirve a los dos porque Chile pierde y queda afuera. Y tocan, tocan y tocan... ;-) ;-) ;-)
Posted by Manya HD on Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Now Peru still has a chance to make the cup, while Chile will be watching from home, with the appeal and some amazing circumstances costing them a spot in Russia in the end.
Sometimes snitches do get stitches.
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