SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Striker Eduardo Vargas scored twice to lead Chile to a 2-1 win over 10-man Peru in the semi-finals of the Copa America on Monday, keeping alive the hosts’ hopes of winning the South American tournament for the first time.

Vargas scored the winner with a long-range shot that found the upper corner in the 64th minute, sending the home-crowd favourites to their first Copa America final in 28 years.

“I’ve been practising shots from outside the area, I was confident,” Vargas said through a translator. “I’m glad it went in.”

Chile were heavily favoured to advance but they struggled throughout the match against their continental neighbours.

The winning score came only three minutes after Peru had equalised with an own goal by defender Gary Medel.

Vargas had opened the scoring in the 42nd, and Peru were down to 10 men after only 20 minutes when defender Carlos Zambrano was sent off for hitting midfielder Charles Aranguiz on the back during a challenge.

Argentina were scheduled to meet Paraguay in the other semi-final match yesterday. The final is on Saturday.

Peru were trying to win their third Copa America and first since 1975. The team also lost in the semi-finals in 2011 to eventual champion Uruguay and finished third.

“We leave with a sour taste after the elimination, we wanted to reach this final,” Peru coach Ricardo Gareca said. “It’s very difficult to play a man down for so long against a team of this level.”

Peru had been the surprise of the tournament after advancing from a group that included Brazil and Colombia.

“We fought until the end,” Peru striker Paolo Guerrero said. “We fought until the last minute and if we had stayed 11 against 11 the story could have been different.”

The last time Chile had made it to the Copa America final was in 1987 when they lost to Uruguay.

The Chileans have been dominant from the start of this year’s tournament, playing at home with their best team in years. But Peru made it difficult for the hosts at the Estadio Nacional on Monday, threatening several times on counterattacks even after going a man down.

“The ejection seemed to hurt us more than it hurt them,” Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli said. “The anxiety turned against us and we ended struggling.”

Vargas opened the scoring off a rebound. Alexis Sanchez’s curling shot from outside the area struck the far post and returned straight to Vargas, who rolled it into the net. The striker appeared to be slightly offside at the time of Sanchez’s shot, but the referee let the goal stand.

Peru equalised when Medel tried to intercept a right-side cross by Luis Advincula and put it into his own net. Five minutes later, however, Vargas gave Chile the lead again, sending a right-footed shot from outside the area over Peru goalkeeper Pedro Gallese, who was out of position.

It was Vargas’ fourth goal of the tournament, surpassing teammate Arturo Vidal and Peru’s Paolo Guerrero as the competition’s leading scorer.

Vargas also had a goal disallowed for offside in the 49th, though the replay showed he appeared to be in good position to score.

Peru had the game’s first chance of the match with a dangerous header by forward Jefferson Farfan in the ninth minute. The ball struck the post with Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo already beaten on the play.

Chile were without central defender Gonzalo Jara, who was suspended for two matches for poking Edinson Cavani’s behind in the quarter-finals against Uruguay. CONMEBOL, football’s governing body in South America, initially suspended Jara for three matches, but the punishment was reduced on appeal.

Chile, Venezuela and Ecuador are the only teams yet to win the South American championship.