SANTIAGO, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Chile beat Ecuador 2-0 in the opening match of the Copa America 2015 that saw both teams suffer a penalty and a red card.
The match kicked off at 20:30 local time (23:30 GMT) in the National Stadium in Santiago, Chile, immediately after the 20-minute opening ceremony which included Cirque de Soleil style dancers.
In the first half, both South American teams struggled to put the ball in the back of the net. However, Chile, managed by Argentinian Jorge Sampaoli, did have a few opportunities even though Ecuador's defence was tight.
Occasional failures in midfield left Arsenal striker Alexis Sanchez looking alone on the attack.
The first goal for Chile came from a penalty taken by Juventus forward Arturo Vidal after he was fouled by Miller Bolanos just over 20 minutes into the second half.
Six minutes from full-time, Napoli forward Eduardo Vargas took advantage of a perfect pass from Sanchez to score Chile's second goal of the evening and secure the host nation's victory.
However, the victory was bittersweet as a total of five yellow cards were dished out by Argentine referee Nestor Pitana (2 for Ecuador and 3 for Chile) with the final one resulting in Matias Fernandez being sent off for a double yellow after a bad tackle. This means that Fernandez will miss Chile's next match against Mexico on Monday.
The match marked the first one in group A, which also includes Mexico and Bolivia who will play each other on Friday at 20:30 local time (23:30 GMT) to conclude the first matches of the group.