A heavily anticipated match-up between reigning champions Uruguay and pre-tournament favourites Argentina proved to be a low scoring affair in La Serena.
Argentina started well with Ángel Di María looking to be in good form, forcing Fernando Muslera into an early save.
In the 20th minute Lionel Messi glided past two players before laying the ball to PSG’s Javier Pastore. ‘Flaco’ then shot straight at the goalkeeper. Soon after, Uruguay forced a corner that was eventually nodded just wide by Diego Godín, who should’ve done better.
Just before the clock struck 25 minutes Messi swung in a peach of a cross to the head of Sergio Agüero who, unfortunately for Gerardo Martino, was thwarted by Muslera.
Benfica’s Maxi Pereira worked space well on the right side before crossing to Diego Rolan who headed well wide of Sergio Romero’s goal. Just after that the referee sent Argentina boss ‘Tata’ Martino to the stands.
So came to an end a close first half between the two sides, with Argentina slightly on top but no outright domination from either side.
The second half continued the way the first had played out, with a well drilled Uruguay side trying to match Argentina’s powerful offence with their solid defence, while looking to prove a danger on the counter attack.
Twelve minutes into the final 45 Argentina broke Uruguay’s resolve. Pastore turned magically before poking the ball through to Pablo Zabaleta, who laid a fantastic cross on to the head of Agüero, beating Godín to the header and powering past Muslera, injuring his shoulder in the process.
Messi salvaged a poor cross to work his magic on the right hand side, skipping past the defender before seeing his drilled cross turned away.
The final half an hour was a relatively ugly affair for the most part, with the feistiness of the derby getting the better of some players.
Maxi Pereira’s shot was pushed out by Romero, falling to Rolán who somehow managed to smash the rebound over the crossbar with all of the net to aim for.
Messi then tried a stinger from 25 yards but only found the arms of Muslera. Uruguay responded through Álvaro González, who launched an effort from 30 yards that wisped wide of the mark.
Substitute Carlos Tevez came on with eight minutes to go, getting straight into the game by picking out Messi who stung the hands of Muslera once again.
In the final minute Abel Hernández’s strike was well saved by Romero and that proved to be the last chance of the game. Argentina join Paraguay on 4 points, with Uruguay in third on 3 and Jamaica bottom on 0 after two games each in Group B.
Argentina: Romero; Zabaleta, Garay, Otamendi, Rojo; Pastore (Banega 78), Mascherano, Biglia; Messi, Agüero (Tevez 82), Di María (Pereyra 89)
Uruguay: Muslera, M Pereira, Giménez, Godín, Á Pereira, González, Arévalo, Lodeiro (Hernández 70), Rodríguez (Sánchez 64), Rolan, Cavani
Booked: Lodeiro, Mascherano, Godín, Rojo, Romero, Á Pereira
Goalscorers: Agüero
Man of the Match: Mascherano. The Barcelona midfielder was everywhere today, putting himself about in a massive match for Argentina. His industrial work-rate epitomised what was needed for Argentina to grind out the victory.