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| Chile players celebrate winning the penalty shootout CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES |
Three great saves, three terrible Portugal penalties. Nani's was the worst. He did a little stutter run up, broadcast exactly where he was going to place it and Bravo dived to push it away to his left, out of the bottom corner.
Claudio Bravo the hero as he saves three penalties in shootout to enable Chile reach Confederations Cup final
Chile had Claudio Bravo to thank as he saved all three of Portugal's abysmal penalties in the shootout to send Juan Antonio Pizzi's men through to the final of the Confederations Cup.
Fernando Santos had brought on all three of those (Ricardo Quaresma, Joao Moutinho and Nani ) as substitutes with penalties in mind but they were so predictable and poor that Cristiano Ronaldo didn't even get a chance from the spot.
The Real Madrid striker trudged off down the tunnel while the Chileans celebrated and Portugal heads dropped; a different picture from the adulation enjoyed this time last summer when Santos and Ronaldo masterminded victory in France.
A tired Chile had had to withstand constant attacks from Portugal, who just couldn't quite find a way past Bravo or his defence over 120 minutes, with wasteful shooting, predictable crosses and fatigue resulting in a frustrating finish for the European champions.
Chile might have wrapped up the game even earlier, but were denied a last-minute extra-time goal when Arturo Vidal - the clear Man of the Match - smashed a shot across the goal and hit the post, with Martin Rodriguez stabbing the rebound onto the crossbar.
It wouldn't have been a 2017 Confederations Cup match without VAR controversy and the referee team duly delivered. Francisco Silva, a late substitute, was threaded-through on goal as Jose Fonte, the West Ham defender came across to block his path. The defender made contact, the forward fell to the floor, the referee waved play on.
Within seconds the replay on our TV screens showed a penalty should have been given. "Was it arrogance?" asked ITV pundit, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, as the post-match analysis tore into the officials' decision not to make use of that available technology. Thankfully, this time it didn't matter in the end.
Portugal had started the game well but a sub-par Andre Gomes (is there any other kind these days?) wasted multiple shots from distance and Ronaldo couldn't quite get on the end of crosses, nor find himself in space where it mattered. His strike partner, AC Milan's Andre Silva, wasn't quite at the top of his game either but caused problems when the ball was delivered from wide areas. A promising talent not quite realised.
Vidal snapped and snarled in midfield, Alexis Sanchez worked hard off the ball and the goalkeeper commanded his box. Over the 120 minutes, it felt like one moment of magic would decide this game, which was actually far more open than the scoreline suggested.
Both teams had chances. Portugal had more, Chile had better. As the clock counted down, you felt for all the world that one of those superstar forwards, the focus of the pre-match build-up, the stars of the Premier League and La Liga, would step up and take charge. Sanchez hit the post with a header, Ronaldo couldn't bring the rest up to his level.
Nothing worked and the game ground slowly to a halt... until the frantic last few moments when Chile hit the woodwork twice in succession.
VAR had made no difference, the celebrity soccer stars couldn't influence the result on the pitch and neither team could make the breakthrough. Penalties.
Chile won the toss, Vidal scored the first penalty. The pressure mounted on Portugal. Up stepped a nervous Quaresma to take on Bravo, the heavily criticised Man City cross-flapper. Quaresma struck his shot head height, left, and just like Nathan Redmond's similarly ill-placed shot in England U21s defeat to Germany the other night, the goalkeeper found it all too easy to stop. A well anticipated save.
Aranguiz scored. Moutinho walked to the spot, took his run up and put his penalty in almost exactly the same place as Quaresma. He watched Bravo deny a second goal.
Sanchez, peripheral for the most of the game was next but made no mistake, coolly slotting into the bottom corner. Nani had to score to keep Portugal in it. Bravo waited in position until he knew where the ball would go. He knew. Bottom right.
Portugal were out, Chile went through. Bravo may just have saved his season.
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