The last one

The game

This 2nd final was similar to the last week one because it was very intense, and both played like dancing in the rules borderline. Like Cruzeiro in La Plata, Estudiantes showed in Belo Horizonte that they could take control of the ball and start playing with the Brazilians nervousness. But, in contrast with what happened last Wednesday, Estudiantes could score twice after being 0-1 at the beginning of the 2nd half.

Experience

But during the 90 minutes we saw many fouls, protesting, tricking, and the every expected condiments for a final between Brazilians and Argentinians. From the 1st moment it was clear that Chandía, in his last one, was determined to use his experience and try to control things just by warning, letting the game flow and booking only when was essential. This attitude is OK but if by using them, things don´t get calm, the referee has to change his plans at least a bit. Chandía didn´t... the game didn´t escape from his control at all. There weren´t big controversies, but...

...

... but Chandía was a bit lenient. Again - like Larrionda last week - he should have used his yellow card three or four more times. Verón, who was beaten during the 1st final by an unpunished Cruzeiro player , now took revenge and hit another one, without any later sanction. There was an important skirmish during the 1st half where Chandía could have used his red - because there were agressions between both teams players - but he only showed a yellow each.

Congratulations

He didn´t influenced the result, this is important. He used his experience and refereed his way. This one was his style, it has always been like that. And this one was his last international one. Despite the errors, or debatable things, I´ll say well done Carlos. And I´ll congratulate Estudiantes de La Plata, my hometown team - although I´m not a fan - and of course, the new Champion of America.