Chile hold Uruguay, Peru beat Mexico
Reuters - Saturday 09 July 2011, 03:13
MENDOZA - Peru edged Mexico 1-0 at the
Copa America on Friday to move level on points at the top of
Group C with Chile, who had earlier come from behind to draw 1-1
with Uruguay.
Paolo Guerrero claimed his second goal of the tournament to
give the Peruvians a deserved victory against an under-strength
Mexico, stroking the ball home from close range in the 82nd
minute after being left unmarked at the far post.
The win put Peru on four points alongside Chile and leaves
World Cup semi-finalists Uruguay third in the group on two
points, needing a positive result in their final game next week
to advance to the quarter-finals.
Having drawn their opener against Peru, Uruguay went in
search of a win against Chile and Luis Suarez should have put
them ahead after 19 minutes but blasted over after Edinson
Cavani had put him through.
Eight minutes later, a mix-up in the Chilean defence left
Diego Forlan with a free header from the edge of the six-yard
box with Chilean keeper Claudio Bravo stranded, but defender
Pablo Contreras cleared the goal-bound effort off the line.
Chile's closest first-half effort came from a bizarre
deflection.
Uruguayan defender Diego Lugano attempted to boot the ball
clear but it hit Chile's Mauricio Isla and floated over Fernando
Muslera towards the Uruguayan goal but came back off the
crossbar.
However, nine minutes after the break, Alvaro Pereira broke
the deadlock for Uruguay. Suarez was the provider, crossing from
the left for the Porto player to stroke home.
Chile went on the attack and in the 65th minute, Jean
Beausejour escaped down the left and cut the ball back for
Sanchez, who buried a low shot in the far corner of the
Uruguayan net to earn his side a point.
"I'm happy with the way the team played," Chile's Argentine
coach Claudio Borghi told reporters.
"Let's not forget we were playing against the team that
finished fourth at the World Cup and that they had almost the
same team as then, and that we were losing, so coming from
behind was important."
Six of the opening 10 matches in South America's most
prestigious international tournament have ended in draws and
invitee Costa Rica, supposedly the weakest team in the
competition, are the only side to have won by two clear goals.
The top two teams from the three groups advance to the
quarter-finals along with the best two third-place finishers.