What Arsenal learned from Chile triumph

One of the biggest things that Arsenal fans learned from the Copa America final last night, when Chile took Argentina to extra time and then a penalty shoot out that they won, was how cool our striker Alexis Sanchez is under pressure.

Maybe to say we learned it is wrong, because the 26-year old has showed Arsenal fans that on numerous occasions. Maybe I should say we re-learned it, but the way Alexis kept his head in the cauldron of the national stadium in Santiago to score the winning spot kick with the cheekiest of panenka penalties was seriously impressive.

This was arguably the Arsenal star´s best game of the tournament and he nearly gave Chile a winning goal in extra time and that tells me that the burnout I was fearing from him was just a one or two game dip in intensity. We should not under estimate his performance under pressure either, because the great Lionel Messi and other big name players wilted under the spotlight of the final.

The second big thing we learned was, once again, something that I thought I knew already and that is that Arsene Wenger has got his valuation of Gonzalo Higuain spot on. If the Arsenal transfer rumours were right a few years ago then the thing that stopped the Gunners from signing the striker was the exorbitant price. And Napoli are apparently after about twice that amount for him this summer. Thanks, Napoli, but no thanks. Higuain was poor, missed a couple of good chances and failed from the spot and that should be enough to put our transfer links with him to bed once and for all.

Arturo Vidal was below par as well but at least he played well for most of the tournament and O personally would love to see Wenger sign up the `Warrior´. Oh and as a little bonus, it looks like the Man United record signing Angel Di Maria has done his hamstring. Has our luck on the injury front finally changed I wonder?

Anyway, big congratulations to the Arsenal striker and his team mates and hopefully he will come back to north London in a great mood and ready to add the Premier League trophy to his growing list of silverware.

Tags Alexis Higuain vidal

29 Comments

  1. We learned that its the desire and performance on the day that matters and one’s reputation.

    1. Great job Chile!!! Poor performance Argentina. Higuain was poor as always,can’t believe some of the fans still think he is the answer to our striking problems. Happy for Sanchez, he would have been devastated if they didn’t win in the final. Lovely penalty from Alexis. Very cheeky….

      1. I have learned that messi suckks once he plays for the national team. I have learned that higuain is not a world class striker not only because he missed a penalty(he also missed an important penalty for Napoli against Lazio which could have sent Napoli to champions league) but because he missed an empty goal.I have learned that Sanchez has a huge winning mentality. I have learned that Argentina can never win anything anymore

  2. A big final should
    not end 0-0 after
    120 minutes.
    The game is about scoring goals
    not 2 hours of dullsville.
    Fans deserve more.

    1. i recall you cheering for messi……. But wait!….. Did u really expect Loads of goals in a FinaLs btw two tough oppositions?…… Recall how boring it was barca vs Juve in the last champions league finals

  3. WOW! That was sanchez’s best game of the tournament?!
    How bad was he for the remaining game!! (I did not watch the full tournament)

    1. Are you serious? The underdogs won against an incredible team and that’s the comment you make?

  4. i think chile’s defence was impressive. Gary Mendel and Isla and others all played as a team and kept Messy and Aguero quite
    we learnt that underdogs can dig deep and win a game this is the strategy we should adapt in games towards stronger opponents

  5. WHAT I LEARNED
    (1) Sanchez is a Fighter and a winner
    (2) South america is a good shopping ground of budding Talents
    (3) Persistency and consistency pays off
    (4) We can win the League if we set our minds on it and get our priorities right (paid off for chiLe after almost a century)
    (5) It feeLs good to be a Gunner!

    Long Live the Arsenal

  6. We learned that what an awesome and world class player alexis sanchez is “no doubt”! Barcelona’s loss is our gain! ! He is a prized asset to arsenal! Coyg!

  7. we learnt that we don’t always need to have a field of stars but teamwork ,believe and determination wins game..on paper Argentina has far better players com paired to Chile but Chile even dominated the game.
    we should utilize our home ground and win 100% of home games.
    Higuin is not the striker we need.
    Sanchez is a fighter-played all games in full(90mins+) since the tournament began. no substitution–i think he is a player who had more mins on the pitch this year(playing full mins for arsenal)than any other player in the tournament including messi(was out injured at the begging of the year)

    1. Absolutely spot on! You dont need a team of stars but a system which works with players who know how do their job and play for each other…goodness me…i wish we could all finally understand this…It’s about the team and not the indiividuals…so hard to make the others understand. Everyone clamouring for so called “WC” stars…had enough of that.

  8. 1 – Don’t buy Higuain
    2 – Don’t buy Higuain
    3 – Congratulations Alexis, can you bring a centre back with you?

  9. What I learned is that Napoli is kicking themselves right now, cause no one’s going to pay that buy clause for Gonzalo

  10. The Gunners must learn from Chile Copa America final success and not to titles profigate, but stay strong throughout the entire course of their next season to succeed in whatever they set out to achieve. The Gunners must be resolute persistently and never give up the fight neither say die to win the fifthdrupled from day one that begins on the 2nd of August at Wembley when they host Chelsea to retain the Shield.

  11. Higuain vs Giroud. Hahahahaha. Instead of wasting that huge amount on him if we can’t get a better option, let’s try Theo/Sanchez there. Higuain is not a serious upgrade on Giroud. He misses as Giroud would miss and even Giroud’s penalty will not be that poor.

  12. Congrats Chile and congrats on our star Sanchez ! All your messi and Argentina fans can suck it !!! I will never support messi ! His cheating Barcelona team robbed us time after time in the champions league

  13. I think the world more than learn realized that Barcelona gets way too many friendly referees in their games (red v van pussy as an example ahem)

  14. Chile played position fotball had more position of the ball they were on target 18 times versus 8 times if we ever change manager i personaly would want Jorge Luis Sampaoli Moya
    I watched the whole tornament knowing Chile would win messi is only butter you go near him he tumbles on the floor the only match he played well was aganist paragway and then paragway lost aganist Peru
    The way Moya had the team defending was nice to see team spirits was high the hunger to make history was evident well done Chile

  15. The biggest lesson is for the “buy Aturo Vidal warriors” on justarsenal.com : he is everything but a defensive midfielder. He spent 90% of the game in the third half of the pitch and many times was the furthermost Chile player on the pitch. Verdict: he is a good player but can’t do what Coquelin does

    1. True enough but he is a massive upgrade on Ramsey that’s for sure …pity we didn’t bring him in a couple of seasons ago … Want to see a dominant DM this window still … News in Carvalho gone quiet so are we back in for schneiderlin or bender would take any of these

      1. By your argument we can also replace every Arsenal player because there’s someone better in the market.

        1. Or alternatively we can just stick with what we have adding the occasional low cost option from ligue un and wallow in 4th place junkiedom for another 10 years …. But it doesn’t have to be either … Just a quality DM attacking option and left back though first two are what really matters ….

  16. Arturo Vidal is the complete footballer. All those clamouring for Arturo, are absolutely right, he plays up the pitch because he can play there, and because Charles Aranguiz is the goto Defensive Midfielder for Chile, at Juve, Pirlo occupies the deepest position, plus the midfield is packed with Pogba and Marchisio, hence he doesnt need to do the Job of a defensive midfielder, and added to the fact that Juve completely dominate other Italian teams. He played as a defensive midfielder for leverkusen, he is an asset to any team he plays for, he is world class, he is a fighter, (El Guerrero). Funny enough his quoted asking price is completely affordable… SIGN HIM UP!!!!

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors