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FIFA World Cup 2010 match 15 - Group H Chile: Bravo, Ponce, Isla, Medel, Carmona, Vidal (Contreras 81), Valdivia (Gonzalez 87), Fernandez, Rodrigo Millar (Jara 52), Sanchez, Beausejour. Honduras: Valladares, Chavez, Figueroa, Izaguirre, Mendoza, Nunez (Martinez 78), Wilson Palacios, Espinoza, Alvarez, Guevara (Thomas 65), Pavon (Georgie Welcome 60). Chile came into this competition with a glowing reputation after qualifying in the South American section as runners up to Brazil and this game did nothing to damage the favourable reports. The only criticism that could be levelled at them was the failure to turn their consistently excellent approach play into a barrel full of goals. In the end one would suffice to give Chile a thoroughly well deserved victory. From the start Chile's play was impressive. They moved the ball forward quickly in a series of short passing movements and were prepared to throw men forward from all angles to support an attack. The first man to catch the eye was Alexis Sanchez on the right wing whose touch and first time lay offs were generally delightfully assured. Sanchez would also impress with his slippery dribbling skills as the game wore on in a performance that would place him somewhere near the Messi's of this world if he can produce the same consistently and against stronger opposition. While Chile would show themselves capable of attacking from all angles the dazzling right wing triangle of Sanchez, Fernandez and the overlapping full back Isla would be their most consistent source of danger. Chile were soon proving that the end product would never match the approach play, however, as Valdivia failed to play Beausejour in at the end of a slick move and Vidal wasted their first clear chance by heading over from a corner. Sandwiched between Espinoza saw a handy drive deflected wide as Honduras mounted an attack but they found themselves increasingly penned in their own half as the Chilean attacks began to come in waves. There were doubts about the referee's suitability to officiate on such an occasion, given his background in the Seychelles, and by the midway point of the first half his decision making was becoming increasingly bizarre. His performance reached its' nadir in a two minute spell when he somehow decided that Sanchez had not been fouled when poleaxed by the last defender before awarding Chile a free kick when the same player was tackled perfectly cleanly moments later. To compound matters he then waved a yellow card in Wilson Palacios's face even though he had been involved in neither incident. It was hard to see how Palacios would now manage to see out the remainder of the game given that he was commiting a foul every time the ball went anywhere near him but the ref may have sussed that he had boobed and decided against a second yellow for any of his further infringements. Returning to reality Chile took the lead their play had demanded on thirty four minutes. The goal stemmed from another fluent right wing move with Fernandez playing Isla to the byeline and when the full back squared across goal Beausejour got the last touch and was able to claim the goal. Even now Chile needed a stroke of fortune to supply the finishing touch as Espinoza had actually got to the centre first only for his attempted clearance to bounce back into the net off Beausejour. The play continued almost unabated towards the Honduras goal with defenders diving in to block dangerous efforts on numerous occasions and Valladares keeping out a series of long range efforts. Shortly before half time Bravo was called into action in the Chile goal but had no trouble turning Nunez's free kick over the bar. Half Time: Chile 1 Honduras 0 Shortly after half time the referee denied Honduras what would have been their only chance to get back into the game. Alvarez broke towards the Chile penalty area after a decent build up through the centre only to go down right on the edge of the area under a highly suspicious challenge. The ref basically had no idea what to do and turned to his linesman, way over on the other side of the pitch, despite being ideally placed himself to give a decision. The linesman was in no position to give anything and Chile duly got away with it. This was not a stonewall penalty, more of a judgement call, as the defender may just have got a touch on the ball before cleaning out Alvarez but it would have been nice to have had a ref who was perpared to back his own judgement. After this normal service was resumed as Sanchez continued to orchestrate some fine attacking play by the Chileans. Honduras deserve great credit for their manful efforts to keep their goal intact but Chile will also wonder how they failed to take advantage of the numerous chances they created. Figueroa covered himself in glory with a series of last ditch blocks and intercetions and Valladares made a remarkable save to keep out Ponce's stooping header from just three yards out after Vidal had headed a deep free kick back across goal. Sanchez shot narrowly wide at the end of a scything run and then laid on a wonderful chance for Isla in front of goal but the defender seemed to freeze and again a Honduran defender launched himself in to block. Honduras were unable to mount any pressure of their own with their only effort of note in the second half coming when substitute Georgie Welcome turned to send in a shot that missed the target by kilometres from the edge of the box. Chile continued to pour forward with their dominance illustrated by the fact that Mark Gonzalez, who came on for the last five minutes, ended up putting in four shots at goal. In keeping with his mates these were four bad shots and the game ended in one of the most one sided 1-0 wins ever. Chile have certainly whetted the appetite with this display and it will be interesting to see how far they can go in this tournament. Full Time: Chile 1 Honduras 0 Chile Ratings: Bravo 6, Ponce 7, Isla 8, Medel 6, Carmona 6, Vidal 7, Valdivia 7, Fernandez 8, Rodrigo Millar 6 (Jara 6), Sanchez 9, Beausejour 7. Honduras Ratings: Valladares 8, Chavez 6, Figueroa 8, Izaguirre 6, Mendoza 4, Nunez 5 (Martinez 3), Wilson Palacios 5, Espinoza 6, Alvarez 5, Guevara 3 (Thomas 4), Pavon 2 (Georgie Welcome 3). Referee: Eddy Maillet (Seychelles) 2 Good: Alexis Sanchez. Sounds like a character from Dynasty that you'd like to shag and a pretty tasty footballer on this evidence. Bad: FIFA's decision to award Beausejour the man of the match award. Do they always give it to the bloke who's scored? Ugly: I would imagine the Honduras dressing room was unpleasantly sweaty after they'd spent ninety minutes chasing shadows.
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