• Goalkeeper denies Ricardo Quaresma, João Moutinho and Nani
In his pre-match press conference the Chile manager, Juan Antonio Pizzi, predicted “it is going to be a beautiful semi-final”. He was right. Breathtaking attack and staunch defence failed to separate Chile and Portugal over 120 minutes in Kazan before Claudio Bravo saved three penalties to send the South American champions into the Confederations Cup final.
This was a clash between ascendant football powers. Before 2015, neither Portugal nor Chile had won a major international competition. In the 18 months that followed, A Selecção das Quinas won the European Championship in Paris and La Roja twice won Conmebol’s Copa América. For both sides, Russia 2017 was their debut at this peculiar World Cup warm-up event and each manager has spoken of a desire to win the often-derided tournament.
Continue reading...from Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2t23OEW
