Chile overcome indiscipline to win in Venezuela

Published June 09, 2012

| Reuters

Chile made light of indiscipline in their squad to score two late goals for a 2-0 win over Venezuela that put them top of the South American World Cup qualifying group on Saturday.

Claudio Borghi's side will remain top until the next round of matches in September having overtaken Argentina, who had a bye on Saturday, which they spent beating World Cup hosts Brazil 4-3 in a friendly in New Jersey with a Lionel Messi hat-trick.

Chile have 12 points from six matches to Argentina's 10 from five and Copa America holders Uruguay, with eight points from four games, can move within a point of the new leaders if they beat Peru in Montevideo on Sunday.

The visiting team broke the deadlock with five minutes remaining when midfielder Matias Fernandez, the best player on the field, entered the box from the right and score with a shot that took a slight deflection.

With a tired Venezuela side looking for an equalizer, striker Charles Aranguiz scored from substitute Sebastian Pinto's cross to make the result safe for Chile one minute into added time.

Borghi dropped two players from his squad during the week after they were spotted at a Santiago nightclub only hours before the squad were due to resume training after a day off in Chile's second indiscipline scandal in seven months.

Despite the disruptions, Chile have won three qualifiers in a row, two of them on the road after last weekend's 2-0 victory in Bolivia.

(Reporting by Diego Ore; Writing by Rex Gowar in London; Editing by John O'Brien)

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