The final. Chile never won Copa America and very much wanted to get it at last. Uruguay had a chance to equalize the record of Argentina, if winning the title for 9th time. The stakes were high. But it the 1980s and South America… high stakes practically predetermined the match, which immediately followed the pattern of the whole championship. Little football was played, it was just vicious battle.
The peace ended right here – at the picture of captains and referees before the start. The great Brazilian Romualdo Arppi Filho officiated the final and he followed his motto “I always tell the players – you play, I judge’, and he was often criticized for that – this final was no exception.
There was no football at all – the great finalists went into kicking each other from the start of the game and never stopped. The Chileans were livelier at first and looked more dangerous. But they also displayed some naivety – they kicked the Uruguayans quite openly.
The Uruguayans were crafty – they perfected dirty play long time ago: it always looked a borderline, may be they really played for the ball, but missed it in the last moment and kicked Chilean shin instead. Nevertheless, Arppi Filho had to blow the whistle twice in a single minute.
Football was hardly played at all – if a player was brought down already and managed to try some pass in front of the net, a whole bucket of players was there fighting for it by every possible mean. Eventually, the Chileans got some chances to score in the first half, but missed the net. But it was largely ugly kicking opponents – the Uruguayans just equally kicked every Chilean in sight, Chileans focused on Francescoli. It was so blatant and provocative, that even Arppi Filho run out of options to stay blind – he had no chance, but to red card Eduardo Gomez in the 14th minute. What else he can do? Francescoli was kicked about 4 times in succession in less than a minute.
Yes, Arppi Filho had to be blamed: the ugliness was clear from start, but he only registered fouls and did not yellow-card anybody, nor he warned anybody. The brutality only escalated and the rather late expulsion of Gomez did not help – Francescoli was already greatly provoked, the Chileans saw that and continued to kick him at every moment he got the ball. And after another serial kicking Francescoli snapped in the 27th minute and tried to retaliate. However, what followed only added to the ill spirit of the game: Francescoli was red-carded for what seemed to be arguing with the referee. Now it looked like Uruguay was wrong by the official… he permitted the provocative hunt, expulsion of Gomez was done reluctantly, just because there was no other way at the moment, Francescoli was steadily kicked around after that without even a warning to the culprits, and at the end he – and not the guilty Chilean – was out of the game as if Arppi Filho wanted to restore equal numbers of both teams. Nothing was done to pacify the opponents and bring them back to playing some football – on the contrary, it looked rather as signal by the referee to continue the slaughter. And both teams did just that.
It was, however, familiar and may be even preferable set-up for Uruguay – and they did not miss their rare opportunity to score in the 56th minute. Bengoechea did not miss the chance. In the second half Uruguay looked a bit more dangerous than Chile.
The war continued to the end – and in the 88th minute the Uruguayan captain Perdomo and the Chilean Fernando Astengo were red-carded. Perhaps the picture shows the only difference between the teams: Perdomo still claims innocence and Astengo is somewhat resigned – caught in middle of the crime, guilty as charged. Both teams ended with 9 men on the pitch, but frankly the game should have been abandoned may be around the 35th minute. Then again… stopping the game would have been impossible: no matter how violent, it was the final of a ‘new’ Copa America, promoting it’s ‘modern’ formula and image. It was… lose-lose situation. So, the terrible thing finished on time and Uruguay won.
The warriors got the cup and the medals – Perdomo and Francescoli as well, no matter they have been red-carded.
Team Uruguay did its round of triumph, looking not happy, but exhausted.
Chile finished second. Forth time second, but once again they were unable to win. Given the poor quality of the final, it is hard to tell how good this vintage was – certainly, there was talent and promise for the future (Ivan Zamorano), but it was not a great squad. Yet, they eliminated Brazil and if anything, at least they did not look weaker than the final winners.
Champions! It depends how one looks at it – on one hand Uruguay defended its 1983 title and equalized Argentina at their own turf: now both countries were the most successful in South America with 9 titles each. Well, wait a minute… that was what some periodicals wrote in Europe at the time. In reality, Uruguay won its 13th title and no longer sharer the record with Argentina, which had won 12th times, lastly in 1959. Let stick to records as established now… Uruguay was number one team in South America and managed to eliminate 1986 World Champions on the way. It was also great to see much criticized and may be to a point improvised squad, led by temporary coach win. On the other hand… nothing so great. The whole championship was a disappointment. In terms of quality of the game, not only nothing new was showed, but it was particularly violent championship even by South American standards. Uruguay was no exception, ending the final with 9 men and red-carded were no others, but the prime stars of the team – ‘Prince’ Francescoli and captain Perdomo. Ugly was ‘old’ Uruguay at the 1986 World Cup and ugly was the new one in 1987. Yes, they were great fighters, very skilled in the art of killing opponents with borderline tackles, which were hard to really call deliberate. Yes, they possessed another great skill: to fight a war without losing their cool, preserving their tactical organization, but the plain fact was Uruguay fought a lot and played very little. It was so much in their blood, that young or old, experienced or not, the Uruguayans player were capable to prevail in such wars and use to their advantage whatever minimal opportunity availed. Thus, they scored and Chile did not – in the 1980s it was already clear that football became a matter of using single opportunity, scoring one goal by hook or crook, and victory was yours. Credit to coach Fleitas and the players for managing to be closely knit collective, to stay focused, to give their best to the very end, but the champions were not a great team. No exciting new name emerged and Franescoli did not shine as he did 4 years earlier. That is the more objective conclusion, but still it was great to see small country coming on top and at least at home it was a moment of triumph.