Arturo Vidal is arguably the most influential Chilean player in this century, but his contribution isn’t always very useful. Last night he earned himself a straight red card less than 15 minutes into their home tie with Ecuador – with his side already a goal behind.The former Barcelona, Bayern and Juve midfielder caught Felix Caicedo with a kung-fu kick that wouldn’t look out of place in a Jackie Chan film and was rightfully given marching orders. Although he was obviously sorry for his moment of madness. He knew that he’d left his team in the lurch. Ten-man Chile team couldn’t recover all night and ended up losing 2-0.
Chile missed the 2018 World Cup and they will miss the one in Qatar unless they improve massively in their four remaining matches. Currently sixth in the South American Qualifiers, La Roja will have to better Peru or Colombia and squeeze into one of the top five places to qualify.After the game, Vidal said that he didn’t deserve his tenth career red card – simply because he was only going for the ball.”I did not see the player, I did not intend to hit him. I feel sad. I think what happened today was incredible. I never thought I could be sent off. I did not see the player, so I only apologized to my teammates, the coaching staff, the people who came to support.”Saturday, 20.00: (3.05) Lazio (3.35) Juventus (2.50)A couple of hours later, he apologized to the entire country in his Instagram post.”I still can’t believe it. I can only apologize to my teammates, the coaching staff, my family and my entire country. We will continue fighting until the end.”Chile’s remaining four qualifiers see them take on Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia, which is certainly a tough run. Vidal is desperate to make the next year’s World Cup his last dance and an ideal stage to bow out – but he might have to sit that one out. And it would be a shame.The boy who grew up in a poor neighbourhood of Chile’s capital Santiago de Chile and played football on dirt pitches all day showed immense desire to succeed in the game. Recently, we’ve seen Arturo come to Inter training session in his old Fiat Panda car, one that you’d never expect a millionaire footballer to see driving. It shows how humble and down to earth Arturo really is. Arturo Vidal comes to practice in his decades-old Fiat PandaA tough upbringing shaped the 34-year-old into the man he is today. Above all, he showed that he is a human. And humans fail sometimes. Ladies and gentleman – Arturo Vidal doing backflips on his carWORLD CUP – SOUTH AMERICAN QUALIFIERSTuesdayBolivia – Uruguay 3-0 (2-0)/Arce 30, Martins 45, Algaranaz 74/Venezuela – Peru 1-2 (0-1)/Machis 52 – Lapadula 18, Cueva 65/WednesdayColombia – Paraguay 0-0Argentina – Brazil 0-0Chile – Ecuador 0-2 (0-1)/Estupinan 9, Caicedo 90/