Chile and Mexico drew 3-3 in the most spectacular game of the Copa América so far. The hosts came from behind twice and Mexico secured a point in the dying minutes when Chile were preparing the celebrations. The home side had two legitimate goals ruled out and in the end many were left feeling this was a draw with the taste of defeat.
At the beginning of the match, the direct approach that is the hallmark of Jorge Sampaoli sides was caught off guard by Mexico's suffocating pressing tactics, which forced plenty of Chile mistakes when the home side tried to create attacking moves.
An erratic Roja was surprised by Mexico getting in behind them after Herrera's side had lined up with an apparently conservative five-man defence. El Tri scored twice and rattled the crossbar in the first half.
Mexico took the lead on 20 minutes when Vicente Vuoso took advantage of Juan Carlos Medina's knock-down to poke home from six yards. Chile's Miiko Albornoz tried to stop the ball with his hand, which would have invited a red card, but was unable to stop the shot.
Chile were level just a minute later; Arturo Vidal paid homage to Iván Zamorano with a header that was worthy of the former Madrid striker, hanging in air and twisting his body to the left to beat José Corona.
Mexico kept attacking and Bravo tipped a Gerardo Flores header on to the bar, the defence scrambling the ball clear. But Herrera's side were eventually rewarded for the industry when Raúl Jiménez sent a looping header over Bravo and into the back of the net for his first goal in the Copa and his first for Mexico in seven months.
With four minutes to go until the break, Vidal drove in from the right and his cross found Eduardo Vargas unmarked on the penalty spot to score his 20th Chile goal.
In the second half, Chile camped out in Mexico's half and were at times an unstoppable force. On 54 minutes Mexico's back line broke and Vidal was brought down by Flores. The Juventus player stepped up to take the kick himself and made no mistake to put Chile ahead for the first time in the match. It was also La Roja's 1000th goal.
Chile kept the pressure up and on 64 minutes Jorge Valdivia had a legitimate goal ruled out and two minutes later Vuoso stole in behind the Chile defence and beat the despairing dive of Bravo to level the scores at 3-3.
Alexis Sánchez also saw his effort annulled as he was adjudged marginally offside on 80 minutes after Valdivia had fired just wide after good work by Vidal and Sánchez.
Chile kept piling forward in search of a winner but couldn't find one. Although the hosts showed a consistent attacking threat defensive errors were also evident among a side who have aspirations to lift the Copa. Next Sampaoli's side will face surprise package Bolivia on Friday to decide who will top Group A.
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- And the day-to-day fixtures here.