Sanchez strikes as Chile head for Copa last eight

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A second-half goal from promising starlet Alexis Sanchez gave Chile a 1-1 draw with fancied Uruguay on Friday to take the Roja to within an ace of the Copa America quarterfinals.

Udinese's Sanchez, who is reported to interest European champions Barcelona, struck on 64 minutes to make it four points from two games for the Chileans after Alvaro Pereira had opened the scoring for the Uruguayans eight minutes into the second half.

With Uruguay having dropped points to begin with in a 1-1 draw against Peru, there was pressure on the Charruas to take their game up a notch.

But the Chileans once again showed they will be a force to be reckoned with at the event, having already seen off Mexico.

Defender Waldo Ponce said they should have won the group by now.

"A draw is OK but really we should have won it as we had more chances. We are playing well," said the Mexico-based Ponce.

Four points on the board should be enough for the Chileans, four times bridesmaids but never winners of the South American championship, to move into the next round while Uruguay must look to see off the Mexicans in their final group encounter to assure their own progress.

After something of a phony war of a first half, Pereira put Oscar Tabarez's 14-time champions ahead in the 53rd minute with a left-foot finish after Liverpool's Luis Suarez had played him in on the left.

But it took only 11 minutes for "Nino Maravilla" (boy wonder) Sanchez to put the Chileans on terms as he advanced to the edge of the area before firing past keeper Fernando Muslera to spark delirium among the almost 30,000 Chilean fans who have crossed the border hoping this can prove to be their team's year.

After the goal, it was Chile who maintained most of the momentum but Uruguay threw their men behind the ball and their rear-guard action frustrated Claudio Borghi's side as the contest petered out into a stalemate.

A late Luis Jimenez header almost gave Chile another win bonus but Muslera was equal to the task as he leaped to parry the effort away.

He then did well to stop a goal-bound drive from Mauricio Isla.

Suarez was earlier guilty of a bad miss when midway through the first half he allowed keeper Claudio Bravo to smother his shot after picking up a loose ball.

Then Suarez played in Diego Forlan, who has yet to find his splendid World Cup form and whose header was cleared in extremis by Pablo Contreras.

Uruguay now must go for the win against the Mexicans in La Plata while Chile take on Peru in a "Pacific clasico" at Mendoza.