Chile Is The 2015 Copa America Champion: Chile Stuns Argentina To Win Copa América

You and I are fans of “La Roja”, Chile’s national football team. As fans, we have rarely shed tears of joy like we did on July 4, 2015, when Chile won the Copa América, its first international title. We have often shed tears of pain. Why? Chile has a long history of defeat. Losing is temporary, but hope is eternal. Hope is stronger than defeat. If you don’t give up, sooner or later, you will win, even if it takes a 100 years. Literally. Metaphorically. 100 years.

Chile has a 100-year history of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Four times we discovered a way to lose, usually after having played like world champions (1987 Copa América). That’s why we suffered, but we kept supporting La Roja, even when we knew our destiny.

We knew, deep in our hearts, we would lose again. It was our destiny. If there was a second place, it was ours...unless there was a third place. Then we would gladly give up second place in order to have third place.

Or, if we couldn’t find a way to lose, then judges, referees, linesmen, assistants or officials would ensure that what we hadn’t lost, on the playing field, would be ultimately lost, off the field. For example, Chile was not allowed to compete in the 1990 and 1994 World Cup. An entire country paid the unjust price for the misconduct of one person. In their prime, a generation of world class players was denied World Cup participation.

No matter what happened, Chile kept coming back for more. Of course, La Roja would then give us more suffering. Mind you, I’m talking about suffering of the soul. We keep a profound passion for football inside of us. The passion has been burning brightly since 1895, when the Football Federation of Chile (ANFP) was founded. In 1913, the ANFP joined FIFA.

Now you know why we play the beautiful game, win or lose. It was beautiful in 1955, 1956, 1987, and 1991. World Cup 1962 was as good as it got for most of us. We won third place in the world, the whole world. Four times in la Copa América, we won second place, but never first. Yes, winning second place, four times, is a great moral victory, but we were never champions.

Then Marcelo Bielsa came to Chile one day and taught us a new way to play. We attacked, we pressed the other team all over the field. Our confident, high-energy, aggressive, free-flowing, and fluid style made us winners. When Jorge Sampaoli became coach, he did things “the Bielsa way.” And we kept on winning. After 99 years of losing, Chile finally won “la Copa América.” We are champions, now, always, and forever...