Mauricio Isla struck late as Chile advanced to the semifinals of the Copa America with a 1-0 victory over nine-man Uruguay in a fractious quarterfinal here on Wednesday.
The Juventus full-back found the target nine minutes from time after Uruguay forward Edinson Cavani was dismissed following a second yellow card for an off-the-ball incident with Gonzalo Jara.
Uruguay were handicapped further when Jorge Fucile was also booked for a second time for a rash tackle on Alexis Sanchez.
The hosts will now confront the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal between Bolivia and Peru for a place in the final.
Jorge Sampaoli’s team are aiming to win the Copa America for the first time, despite the fact this will be their 20th appearance in the tournament’s last four.
Uruguay will head home pondering what might have been had they been able to call upon their talisman Luis Suarez. The Barcelona striker missed the tournament due to a ban for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini during last year’s World Cup.
Cavani took his place in Uruguay’s starting line-up despite Tuesday’s arrest of his father for allegedly causing the death of a motorcyclist by crashing his car while drunk.
Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez will surely be ruing that decision now after the Paris Saint-German forward showed a blatant – and understandable – lack of focus.