A late header from Edinson Cavani gave Uruguay a 1-0 win over holder Chile on Monday which saw it snatch the top spot in Group C at its opponent’s expense and set up a quarterfinal meeting with Peru.
The striker glanced Jonathan Rodriguez’s cross into the net in the 82nd minute to break the deadlock in a finely balanced game played with a fierce competitive edge even though both teams had already sealed their place in the last eight.
Cavani had been sent off in Uruguay’s 1-0 defeat to Chile in the 2015 quarterfinals and he and his teammates celebrated the goal as if it had just won them a trophy.
In Belo Horizonte, Japan and Ecuador were eliminated after their 1-1 draw gifted Paraguay a quarterfinal berth as one of the two best third-placed sides.
The results:Group C: Uruguay 1 (Cavani 82) bt Chile 0; Ecuador 1 (Mena 35) drew with Japan 1 (Nakajima 15) .
