Chile are down to 10 men -- perhaps unjustly -- but they were able to grab a stunning opening goal against Colombia just before the stroke of halftime in their CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying tilt. The match was a very even one until the the 34th minute, when Chile's Gary Medel was shown a straight red card. Colombia looked likely to score for a few minutes until Matias Fernandez struck a stunner, and they're now facing an uphill battle as Chile lead 1-0.
The red card was the result of a shoving match between Medel and Luis Perea, during a scuffle caused by a hard foul on Colombia's James Rodriguez. Both Medel and Perea were doing an equal amount of shoving, but Perea made the decision to take a dive and clutch his face. The referee didn't see the incident, but his assistant bought it and the official showed a red card after consulting with him on the sideline. If the referee saw the incident, he likely would have shown a yellow card to both men.
Chile remained aggressive, despite being shorthanded and that strategy paid off in the 41st minute. Fernandez picked up a ball that was deflected out of the Colombia penalty area and unloaded on a stellar shot from 25 yards, placing his strike perfectly past David Ospina low and at his near post.
We'll have coverage of every match in our CONMEBOL 2014 World Cup qualifying StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.
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