Late goal lifts Argentina past Chile, into Copa quarters

Lautaro Martinez scored off a corner kick in the 88th minute to give Argentina a 1-0 victory over Chile in East Rutherford, N.J., allowing the reigning champions to clinch a berth in the quarterfinals of Copa America.

Lionel Messi sent a corner kick into the box where Claudio Bravo saved a shot by Giovani Lo Celso before the rebound came out to Martinez. The goal withstood a review for being offside.

Bravo made eight saves, including an acrobatic stop in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time on Martinez, who also scored in the 88th minute of a 2-0 win over Canada in the opener of Group A action.

Emiliano Martinez made three saves for Argentina, which had a 22-3 shot advantage.

The final Group A matches are Saturday: Argentina (2-0-0, 6 points) plays Peru (0-1-1, 1 point) in Miami Gardens, Fla.; while Chile (0-1-1, 1 point) opposes Canada (1-1-0, 3 points) in Orlando, Fla. The top two teams advance to the quarterfinals.

Argentina kept prodding and poking for the breakthrough and had two glorious chances early in the second half. Nahuel Molina took a pass from Messi and tried to sneak the shot past the near post, but Bravo held his ground to make a 50th-minute save.

In the 61st minute, Nicolas Gonzalez's rising shot was parried off the crossbar by Bravo. At that point, the shots were 17-0 with six on target.

Chile's first attempt came in the 72nd and was a dandy with Rodrigo Echeverria firing from just outside the box to force the save by Emiliano Martinez.

Just four minutes later, Echeverria ripped a shot from 15 yards, only to have Emiliano Martinez make a scrambling reactionary save.

Argentina dominated the first half with 13 shots, three on goal. The Argentines had 20 first-half shots without a goal in their first two matches.

Messi brought the 81,106 fans to their feet in the 36th minute with a 30-yard strike that skipped once before careening off the bottom of the right post.

The attempt came 10 minutes after he went to the sideline briefly for treatment on his right thigh after a hard foul by Gabriel Suazo.

--Field Level Media