A Historic Victory for the Chilean National Team

The sight of the Chilean national team players on the balconies of the Presidential Palace of La Moneda on Saturday night was like a historical reparation. Why? Because they had also been invited after being eliminated in the round of 16 in the last two World Cups, a measure that many considered populist and undeserved.

This time Alexis, Vidal, Bravo, and their teammates jumped like children and hugged President Michelle Bachelet as if she were their favorite aunt who always indulged them. The president had a lucky charm effect in this Copa America, where La Roja won a title that had eluded Chilean football for 105 years. And they did it with all the merits in the world. The Copa America trophy was what this team needed to cross the doors of immortality.

The members of the Golden Generation, a name that spontaneously emerged for this group of players who achieved third place in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup and qualified for two consecutive World Cups for the first time in the country's history, had no qualms about saying that they aspired to be the best Chilean team of all time. Aspiring is an understatement because deep down, they were always convinced they were the best.

The comparison hurt the older generations. Those who witnessed the team that finished third in the 1962 World Cup considered it a lack of respect. Some forty-year-olds said that this generation did not have the quality of the Elías Figueroa and Carlos Caszely era, which shined in the 70s and early 80s. Others complained about the lack of an iconic figure like Zamorano or Marcelo Salas, references of the previous generation.

However, everyone agreed on one verdict: if the so-called Golden Generation wanted to be the best, they had to win something. Not only did they win, but they were also protagonists, they proposed, they attacked all the time, they stood face to face with any opponent, and dazzled the world. More than any other Chilean team in history.

The whole country celebrated like never before. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets, some in the Plaza de la Constitución, others following the open-top bus. It was a more joyful and crowded celebration than Colo Colo winning the 1991 Copa Libertadores, Marcelo Rios becoming the world's number one in tennis in 1998, or Nicolás Massú and Fernando González winning the first Olympic gold medals for the country. It was also the most tragic, with a regrettable toll of three dead.

In Chile, new winds are blowing. The Copa America-winning La Roja promises to bury forever the complacency that is called "moral victory" in these parts. The Golden Generation came to show that anything is possible.

Check the calendar of matches day by day, all the results (both in the group stage and in the final phase), as well as the latest news , the best photo galleries, and the videos (goals, match summaries, technical details, great plays, Menotti's analysis) of the 2015 Copa America.