It didn't take long for the chants to begin. Chi chi chi, le le le, vamos Chile! The Chilean red filled the stands of San Juan's brand new Estadio del Bicentenario. But something wasn't quite right. There were pockets of Peruvian supporters, also in red and white. And who were those blue and white-shirted supporters with trumpets, drums, a huge banner, many of them drinking tea through a straw?
Chile, as it happens, were not even playing, but their fans were in great voice. Claudio Borghi and his players were in the stadium, but the team was warming up in the changing room, still preparing. Uruguay was facing Peru, the starter in the double bill that pitched Chile versus Mexico as main course.
And by the end of the night, the Chile-Mexico match had indeed been the headline game from the back-to-back matches. Uruguay's impressive front three of Diego Forlán, Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani - not to mention added creativity in midfield from Nicolás Lodeiro - failed to gel. Too often those four misread a run or mistimed a pass. Finding themselves a goal down against a side they were expected to beat hardly helped mistakes go without notice.
In the same way that Uruguay had to claw their way back, so too did Chile also have to produce a display to overturn a goal deficit. "Every goal, every single goal, has a mistake at its root," explained Chile coach Claudio Borghi afterwards. "Even Maradona's goal against England."
Arturo Vidal had the game-winning goal against Mexico. (Photo: Miguel Tovar/Getty Images)
And while Borghi will look into how his side conceded before going on to take the victory, there were many positive signs from the team, in particular the morale-boosting result. Mexico may have been forced to put together a side decimated by restrictions from the federation, plus not one, but two major scandals to affect the squad list, but the Tri started brightly. Argentina were meant to breeze past Bolivia, but they could only salvage a point after going a goal down. Brazil was meant to comfortably defeat Venezuela, but even with Robinho, Pato, Neymar and Ganso were unable to find a goal. And just minutes before Chile played, Uruguay was also meant to have seen off any threat from Peru with an opening win.
All the coaches involved, and indeed the players, have concurred - is this a first ever? - that it is the fans and particularly the media, to blame for a hyperactive prediction machine that tells us who will win tournaments before they start. But few would have expected the debuts made by the teams who unarguably have the big name players.
So Chile's win, and the manner in which they won - which drew praise from Mexico coach Luis Fernandez Tena - has lifted the expectations on the team. This wasn't the media, but the fans.
Mendoza, where Chile is based, is just across the border with Argentina, albeit with the Andes separating the two. Tens of thousands of Chileans are expected to make the journey. Many already have. Just 160 kilometers north of Mendoza, the sight of Chilean fans packing the stadium in San Juan for the first match was fully expected.
And so it is that of the teams likely to make the final stages in the tournament, Chile was the only one to win their first match. Colombia was the only other side to do so at all. As Borghi said, Chile is, effectively, playing at home. With their three home games in the region - either in San Juan or Mendoza - the support should be the necessary extra to Messrs Sanchez, Suazo, Vidal, Medel, Fernandez and company to make it through to the knockout phase in style. The Uruguay game on Friday should provide a guide as to whether it is Chile that can break the dominant Argentina-Brazil axis of recent years.
