Chile defeats Uruguay 3-1 in World Cup Qualifiers

Chile defeated Uruguay 3-1 on Tuesday with a splendid performance by Alexis Sánchez, who scored a brace to revitalize La Roja and bring them closer to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Juan Antonio Pizzi's team showed doubts in the first half but managed to come back from Edinson Cavani's opening goal and sealed the match in a great second half.

Eduardo Vargas equalized just before half-time and Alexis shined in the second 45 minutes with two goals that leave his team with 20 points and in a direct qualification position to the World Cup.

The first half was dominated by Uruguay and the Uruguayans had opportunities to go into half-time with the game decided.

Two minutes into the game, a mistake by Gonzalo Jara resulted in a double shot. The first was by Cavani and it was cleared by Claudio Bravo; Matías Vecino pounced on the rebound but his shot went slightly wide.

After a quarter of an hour, another Chilean error in the ball distribution, this time by Marcelo Díaz, led to Cavani's goal. The ball fell to the feet of Luis Suárez, who assisted his teammate to finish with a powerful right-foot shot.

La Roja succumbed to the intense pressure from Uruguay and only troubled the rival defense with some incursions from the left wing by Jean Beausejour.

In added time of the first half, Chile took advantage of the only mistake by the Uruguayan defenders to equalize the match.

Beausejour delivered a perfect cross that was headed home by Eduardo Vargas, who found the net after more than a year of drought in the qualifiers.

Uruguay lost momentum in the second half and Chile took advantage to shake off the pressure and play more freely, although without great displays and far from their best level.

Sixty minutes into the game, Chile took the lead with the help of goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, who fumbled a shot from Alexis Sánchez from outside the box that didn't seem to carry much danger.

The Arsenal striker had a perfect night with his second goal less than fifteen minutes before the end. Alexis controlled wonderfully a well-measured pass from Marcelo Díaz, resisted the challenge from the Uruguayan defenders, and finished with a subtle touch past Muslera's dive.

Three minutes before the final whistle, Claudio Bravo committed a penalty but the goalkeeper made up for his mistake by saving Luis Suárez's shot.