Argentina moved closer to a spot in the final round of the pre-Olympic tournament with victory over Chile on Friday evening.

Goals from Nicolás Capaldo and Nehuén Pérez secured the 2-0 win for Fernando Batista’s side but it perhaps wasn’t as comfortable as the scoreline may suggest.

Some slack passing out of the Chilean defence gifted possession to Argentina after only seven minutes and when River Plate youngster Julián Álvarez fed the ball into Nicolás Capaldo, the Boca Juniors midfielder emphatically found the top corner.

A tight offside call denied Pérez an earlier goal during the first half and as Chile came more into it, Argentina were indebted to goalkeeper Facundo Cambeses for maintaining their advantage.

The Banfield keeper would produce another superb stop after the break to prevent Pablo Aránguiz equalising and soon after Argentina doubled their lead. Álvarez swung in a free-kick from the right, Adolfo Gaich headed back across goal and captain Pérez stuck out a boot to divert it past Omar Carabalí.

Argentina held on and could reach the final round with a win over already eliminated Ecuador on Monday.

Argentina: Facundo Cambeses; Marcelo Herrera, Nehuén Pérez [captain], Facundo Medina, Claudio Bravo; Fausto Vera, Nicolás Capaldo; Julián Álvarez, Nahuel Bustos (Matías Zaracho), Agustín Urzi (Juan Brunetta); Adolfo Gaich (Valentín Castellanos)

Chile: Omar Carabalí; Raimundo Rebolledo, Nicolás Ramírez, Nicolás Díaz, Sebastián Cabrera; Adrián Cuadra, Tomás Alarcón [captain], Pablo Aránguiz (Ignacio Jara), Camilo Moya (Matías Cavalleri); Angelo Araos, Nicolás Guerra (Iván Morales)