Arturo Vidal’s late header helped Chile to a 2-0 win over Cameroon in their Confederations Cup Group B opener here on Sunday, as the video assistant referee played a prominent role.
Chile dominated an entertaining, but goalless, first half as Eduardo Vargas saw his strike ruled out by the video assistant.
The Copa America champions had to wait until the 81st minute though to find a breakthrough, which was provided by a flying header from Bayern Munich midfielder Vidal.
Vargas, who missed a host of earlier chances, added a second in added time after another video review. The victory gave Chile a perfect start to its maiden Confederations Cup campaign, after it qualified by successfully defending the Copa America title last year.
“It was very important to start in the right way with our goal to become champions,” said Vidal.
Earlier, a dramatic Group A game in Kazan that saw Hector Moreno head in an injury-time equaliser for Mexico against Portugal also featured a goal by Nani disallowed for offside on review.
The results: Group B: Cameroon 0 lost to Chile 2 (Vidal 81, Vargas 90+1); Group A: Portugal 2 (Quaresma 34, Cedric 86) drew with Mexico 2 (Hernandez 42, Moreno 90+1).