Di Maria scores as Argentina beat Chile

REUTERS: Argentina shrugged off the absence of Lionel Messi to beat Chile 2-1 in the Copa America on Monday, with an emotional Angel Di Maria scoring the opening goal and dedicating it to his grandmother, who passed away before the game.

With Messi watching from the sidelines due to a back injury, Di Maria put the 14-times champions ahead early in the second half before Ever Banega doubled their lead shortly after. Jose Pedro Fuenzalida pulled a goal back for Chile in injury time.

In the other Group D game, played earlier on Monday, Panama beat Bolivia 2-1.

Argentina posed a constant threat with fast sweeps forward and Di Maria capitalised on one such attack after 50 minutes, running on to a pass from Banega to slot home from eight yards.

“We’ve been doing things properly for years now and maybe this year it will come right,” said Di Maria, who broke down in tears after dedicating his goal to his grandmother.

Argentina doubled their lead eight minutes later in similar fashion, this time Di Maria feeding Banega in the same position on the left and his deflected drive beat Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo at his near post.

“If you make mistakes in these games you pay a high price and that is what happened today,” Bravo said in a televised interview after the game in Santa Clara.

Second-half substitute Erik Lamela twice came close to adding to Argentina’s lead but it was Chile who got the third goal of the game thanks to a mistake from Sergio Romero.