Chile 2 - Ecuador 1

Photo by Claudio Santana

Chile needed a result at home in Santiago against Ecuador in order to qualify for Brasil 2014.  Ecuador needed only a draw themselves in order to qualify.  Christian Noboa had the first chance of the match of any note.  His hooking effort on a short-range free kick from just outside the Chilean box brought out a nice diving punch-away from Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.  Walter Ayovi was the next to break through the Chile backline, but Bravo tipped his rolling shot around the bar.  Bravo then had to punch away an Ayovi free kick at his near post.  Chile surprisingly were the first team to score.  Eugenio Mena flicked in a cross from the left side to Alexis Sanchez (pictured, red).  Sanchez somehow outleaped his much taller marker Frickson Erazo (pictured, blue) to power a header home at the near post.  Sanchez hit a dipping free kick soon thereafter that necessitated a leaping tip over the bar by Ecuador goalkeeper Alexander Dominguez.  1-0 soon became 2-0 for Chile.  On the resulting Marcelo Diaz corner, Sanchez won a header and flicked it onto the goalmouth, where a waiting Gary Medel added the finishing touch.  Chile led 2-0 at halftime.

Arturo Vidal nearly made it 3-0, but his header smacked the inside of the post and then rebounded into the grateful hands of Dominguez, who had not moved as the header had left him rooted to his spot.  Midway through the second half, Antonio Valencia led a breakaway for Ecuador.  Valencia's through ball to Felipe Caicedo was placed out of the reach of Bravo to make it a nervy 2-1 game.  After all the action prior to that point, the end of the match was a dud.  This suited both teams just fine.  Chile win 2-1 and qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.  Ecuador needed to wait until Uruguay's match with Argentina went final before popping the champagne, but their goal differential would all but assuredly send Ecuador through barring the most unthinkable barrage of goals by Uruguay late in their match against Argentina.  In an odd scene, both teams were celebrating on the field after the game in spite of the fact that one of them had just lost a match.

Goals
Chile
Alexis Sanchez 35
Gary Medel 38

Ecuador
Felipe Caicedo 66

Match Reports:
http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2013/10/15/4843120/chile-ecuador-2014-world-cup-qualifying-final-score-result
http://news.yahoo.com/soccer-chile-beat-2-1-ecuador-both-qualify-021324476--sow.html

Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Juwmj_Jsgk

Full Match Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmV6P820oHY (1st half)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_3988304439&feature=iv&src_vid=qmV6P820oHY&v=j2aHK1xMC14 (2nd half)