Everton v Everton causes stir in Chile

THE announcement of the Everton v Everton game on Wednesday 4th August has caused a huge wave of interest in Chile.

Chilean pride at ‘brotherhood match’

It will be the first time a Chilean club has visited Britain and the people of Vina del Mar are taking great pride in that.

Even the Mayor of Vina del Mar (second from right in the picture) is planning to come over to Liverpool. It seems that she and local business leaders in Vina del Mar want to also develop greater links with the city of Liverpool.

It’s also a boost to the Everton club as they, along with others in Chile, recover from the earthquake that rocked the country three months ago.

Chilean journalist Juan Pablo Salgado sent this report to members of the Ruleteros Society in Liverpool, which they have translated:

THE earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter Scale that hit Chile, the fifth largest ever recorded in world history, had a massive effect on all spheres of life. Cities were totally destroyed, giant waves washed away small fishing villages and an atmosphere of general panic became the norm for the Chilean people over a period of several days.

And football was no exception.

To begin with, the championship was suspended for several weeks. Then when the season resumed, it was with a big change. Normally there are two championships in one year, with a summer recess in between.

However, due to the disruption caused by the earthquake, the champions will emerge at the end of a single season – a rarity in Latin America in recent years.

The earthquake left several grounds badly damaged, among them Everton’s Sausalito Stadium in Viña del Mar – the second most used venue of the 1962 World Cup finals.

The Sausalito was so badly damaged that Everton had to play their home matches five miles away in Valparaíso at the home of arch-rivals, Wanderers. Owing to the poor condition of the playing surface, Everton found difficulty in playing their usual passing game and their form suffered.

It was not until May 2, after a 10-week enforced absence, that Nelson Acosta’s team were finally allowed back into their home ground.

But they could only use the ‘Cerro’ End and the Andes Stand, thus causing the capacity of the Sausalito to be reduced from 24,000 to less than 7,000. There were also problems with the dressing rooms, with several of the walls scarred with huge cracks, windows broken, and parts of the ceiling had fallen down.

The Sausalito stadium was not the worst hit. Some are still out of use owing to structural problems, and others such as Second Division Naval’s ground, have simply disappeared.

Everton’s first game back at the Sausalito on May 2 was against O’Higgins. In a fiery game Everton were awarded a penalty on 60 minutes after Argentinian midfielder Mauro Bogardo was hacked in the area, suffering a fracture to his ankle. O’Higgins were reduced to 10 men but Mauro Guevgeozian missed the spot kick.

Thankfully, seven minutes later, Jorge Torales headed what was to be the winner. Numerical advantage was lost 10 minutes from the end when Cristián Oviedo was sent off but the Ruleteros held on for three points that put them in 8th position in the table.

For the next game the Ruleteros went on May 9 to San Felipe, almost in the shadows of the highest peak in the Americas, Aconcagua. It was the final league game before the midway point of the championship and Everton extended their unbeaten run to four matches with a 3-1 win, thanks to two goals from Mauro Guevgeozian and one by Lizandro Henríquez. The win allowed Everton to go into the mid-season break in sixth place.

The tournament will resume after the World Cup when Everton will have the opportunity to put a few games under their belt – on July 18 against Audax Italiano and on July 25 against Universidad Catolica – before crossing the Andes, Amazon and Atlantic to make history for”that game” at Goodison Park on Wednesday 4th August.

Mike Owen

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