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Ecuador "could have hurt us more", says Chile coach Sampaoli

Xinhua, June 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

Chile's manager Jorge Sampaoli said he and his players valued the 2-0 win over Ecuador on Thursday night, however, he felt that if the opposition had been more on form they could have caused more damage to his team.

Despite the challenges, the win was justified, said Argentinian Sampaoli during an interview with Copa America 2015's official website after the opening match of the tournament in Santiago, Chile.

"We planned for a match similar to the one we played against them in Brazil (during the qualifiers) having attacking players like Valdivia and Vidal at the backs of (Ecuador's) quality footballers. The plan worked for the first 25 minutes of the match as the opposition became more defeated as they couldn't find the back of the net. This made them a little inaccurate and after they lost (goals) they didn't have enough fight left in them to overcome the loss," said Sampaoli to Copa America 2015's official website.

The coach also commented on Arturo Vidal's game saying that the Juventus midfielder felt a little under-prepared for the first match of the world's oldest international continental football contest after playing in the Champions League final in Europe less than a week ago.

"Arturo Vidal had a complicated journey. He felt under-prepared but he finished the match feeling essential. Vargas' goal gave him confidence and a different type of optimism that he didn't have in the run up to the match," said the Argentinian who joined the Chile squad in 2012.

"Ecuador in the first half (...) had situations that could have complicated things for us. In the second half they hit the crossbar and had a few other opportunities. In this situation, if Ecuador had been more alert, they could have hurt us a little more. But the result was just," concluded Sampaoli.

The match marked the first one in group A which also includes Mexico and Bolivia who will play each other on Friday at 20:30 local time (23:30 GMT) to conclude the first matches of the group. Endi