Golazo: Juan Carlos Oblitas, PERU vs Chile, Copa América 1975: Chilena vs Chile



There is a small amount of controversy in South America over what to call the bicycle kick. Nearly everyone calls it the "Chilena" (meaning Chilean) as it was a speciality of Ramón Unzaga who used the technique in the early 20th Century. The Argentine press labelled the technique the "Chilena" when they first saw it executed by Unzaga in an early edition of the Copa América.

The only people who call it by another name are the Peruvians, who call it the "Chalaca" (meaning from Callao) as they claim it was invented by an unspecified person in the port of Callao and then copied by the Chileans. The evidence is pretty tenuous, one academic claims to have seen proof in a very old (and unspecified) book, and that is about as much as they can come up with. The Peruvians remain fiercely possessive of the move and insist in referring to it in a way that nobody else in South America understands.

When the two sides met in the group stage of the Copa América in 1975, Juan Carlos Oblitas executed one of the most famous "Chalacas" in the history of South Américan football, taking a couple of touches before firing the overhead into the Chilean goal. Despite Peruvian objections it would seem like a dreadful wasted opportunity not to claim that he scored a great "Chilena" against Chile.

Peru went on to beat Chile 3-1 to qualify for the next round in which they famously beat Brazil. They were eventually crowned 1975 Copa América champions after winning a 3rd leg tiebreaker against Colombia.

Part of the Golazo series.

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