Santiago It took an Argentine, Jorge Sampaoli, to plot Chile's triumph in the Copa America final against his own country. Lionel Messi and Argentina's other "Fantasticos" lost their nerve in Santiago's Estadio Nacional as they sought their first major international title for 22 y
Santiago
It took an Argentine, Jorge Sampaoli, to plot Chile's triumph in the Copa America final against his own country.
Lionel Messi and Argentina's other "Fantasticos" lost their nerve in Santiago's Estadio Nacional as they sought their first major international title for 22 years.
Chile's coach Sampaoli stayed true to his live wire reputation, jumping up and down on the touchline urging stars Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal to attack so they could win their first South American championship.
"We had to play a great game against one of the world's best teams for the quality of players. We should have won in 90 minutes, but ended up getting justice in a shootout," Sampaoli told a press conference after Saturday's win in Sangtiago.
Since taking over, Sampaoli, 55, has transformed Chile's national side into true global competitors. As well as Saturday's South American title, Chile also reached the last 16 at last year's World Cup and were unlucky not to go further.
But when he arrived in December 2012, Chile had lost three World Cup qualifiers in a row and despite the presence of stars such as Sanchez seemed like a disorganized rabble.
"From the first game, Chile were playing to win the Copa America," Sampaoili said.
