Substitute Lautaro Martinez grabbed an 88th-minute winner as Argentina finally overcame Chile 1-0 to book their place in the quarter-finals of the Copa America on Tuesday.
Substitute Lautaro Martinez grabbed an 88th-minute winner as Argentina finally overcame Chile 1-0 to book their place in the quarter-finals of the Copa America on Tuesday.
Canada triumph
In other Copa America action, Jonathan David scored the only goal as Canada reignited their campaign with a 1-0 victory over 10-man Peru in sweltering Kansas City. Lille striker David – who is reportedly being targeted by Manchester United and Chelsea – once again demonstrated his eye for goal with a cool finish to secure all three points at Children’s Mercy Park Stadium.
A game played in scorching afternoon sunshine – with on-pitch temperatures nudging towards 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) – saw one of the two referee’s assistants collapse with apparent heat exhaustion just before half-time.
Canada, beaten 2-0 by Argentina in the opening game of the tournament, took the lead in the second half after Peru had been reduced to 10 men following the dismissal of Miguel Araujo for a wild foul on substitute Jacob Shaffelburg that sparked a melee amongst players from both teams.
Referee Mario Escobar initially only gave Araujo a yellow card for his ugly studs-up challenge but the punishment was upgraded after a VAR review. That dismissal tipped a close game in favour of Canada and the breakthrough finally came on 74 minutes with David’s goal from a sweeping counter-attack.
Left-winger Shaffelburg played a sensational first-time cross-field pass to David, who took one touch without breaking stride and then buried a right-foot finish into the bottom corner past goalkeeper Pedro Gallese. Peru pressed forward in search of an equalizer, but Canada goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau denied Christian Cueva with a fine one-handed reflex save from a volley before keeping out Paolo Guerrero’s injury-time free-kick.
