Chile's national team beat Mexico 2-0 at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, United States, with second-half goals from Maximiliano Gutiérrez and Vicente Pizarro. The match closed the North American tour and was the only win for Nicolás Córdova's side in that series.
According to La Tercera, the defeat hit El Tri hard. Mexico ended the FIFA window without a win: it drew with Colombia and lost to the United States before falling to Chile. Rafael Márquez's record in his first four matches stands at two draws and two defeats.
The Mexican press reacted harshly. Sports daily Récord ran the headline "Chile exposes Mexico and closes a FIFA window to forget" and noted that "Chile's festival began in the second half."
Mediotiempo was even tougher. It wrote that Mexico lost "against one of the worst versions of the Chilean national team" and that the team "only had 30 good minutes and then fell apart," which La Roja took advantage of to score its two goals.
El Universal described it as an "unusual defeat against Chile, which was coming off losses to the United States and Canada." The newspaper said the diagnosis after four matches "is not positive" for Márquez and that Mexico faded as the game went on.
The mood in the Chilean dressing room was different. Córdova, who is coaching the national team on an interim basis, said it was "a very tight match" and that the plan relied on "very quick transitions" against an opponent that was going to push its lines forward and has good positional play.
"We competed for the full 90 minutes. This was the qualitative leap we needed to make," the coach said. He also said that at halftime he compared the match to a World Cup qualifier: away from home and in a stadium packed with fans.
Midfielder Felipe Loyola, who played all three matches of the tour, told ADN Radio that the squad felt it deserved to win. He highlighted the team's attitude even against Canada, a match in which Chile finished with nine players.
Loyola also spoke about his current situation at Pisa in Italy, where he is not getting the playing time he had hoped for. "Even though I'm not getting to play that much in Italy, I'm making the most of it (...) I know the rock always breaks," said the former Huachipato player. He added that he wants to stay in Europe and reach the top clubs.
The tour leaves Córdova with one win and two defeats. The sources do not specify when La Roja's next match will be.
