Chile hold Uruguay in Copa America stalemate

Mendoza: Uruguay and Chile drew 1-1 at the Copa America on Friday as the list of stalemates in the early stages of the tournament in Argentina continued to grow.

Alvaro Pereira put Uruguay ahead in the 54th minute before Chile`s highly rated striker Alexis Sanchez equalised in the 65th to ensure both teams remained on course to advance from Group C. Six of the opening nine matches in South America`s most prestigious international tournament have ended in draws and Costa Rica, supposedly the weakest team in the competition, are the only side to have won by two clear goals. Having drawn their opening match against Peru, World Cup semi-finalists Uruguay were in greater need of a win 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, Pereira broke the deadlock. Suarez was the provider, crossing from the left for the Porto player to stroke home. Chile went on the attack and just after the hour, 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. Mexico (0 points) and Peru (1 point), the other two teams in Group C, were facing off in the same stadium later on Friday. Chile have four points from two matches and Uruguay are on two, with the top two teams from the three groups advancing to the quarter-finals along with the best two third-place finishers. Bureau Report