Argentina edge Chile 1-0 to seal Copa America quarter-final place

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey :Argentina became the first side to book passage into the Copa America quarter-finals after a late strike from Lautaro Martinez earned them a 1-0 Group A victory over Chile on Tuesday.

The defending champions had to wait until the 88th minute for the winner. Giovani Lo Celso's shot was saved by Chile's Claudio Bravo after a Lionel Messi corner kick but Martinez was on hand to fire home the rebound.

The goal stood after a lengthy VAR review for offside.

Argentina top the group with six points after two matches, with Canada in second on three following their 1-0 win over Peru earlier on Tuesday. Chile and Peru have one point each.

"These matches are always like this, we have to continue in the same way, treating the matches in this way, as they are all going to be complicated," Martinez told TyC Sports.

"Everything was tight, they set up lines of five at times ... but we are happy that at the end of the day we ended up taking the three points, which is what we wanted to start with."

The loss extended Chile's winless streak against Argentina in the Copa America to 30 matches.

Chile have won the Copa twice but have never beaten Argentina in regulation time at the tournament, getting the better of them on penalties in the final of the 2015 and 2016 editions.

There was little to separate the two in a cautious opening spell at MetLife Stadium but once Argentina got going it quickly turned into a one-sided contest.

Julian Alvarez and Nicolas Gonzalez tested keeper Bravo with tame efforts, while Rodrigo de Paul smashed a swerving right-foot effort just over the crossbar.

Captain Messi, who played a role in both of Argentina's goals in their opening win over Canada, was once again at his brilliant best and