Santiago de Chile, Jan 18 (IANS): The Chilean and Bolivian national football teams debuted at the South American U-20 Championship here with a 1-1 draw.

Ramiro Vaca scored for the Bolivians and Lucas Alarcon scored for Chile on Thursday, a fair score given the performance of both teams in the city of Rancagua, reports Efe.

Venezuela finished the first day of the tournament as leader of group A thanks to its 1-0 victory against Colombia. Brazil, which rested on Thursday, will debut on Saturday, the second match day.

Bolivia surprised the locals with an early goal from Vaca, who scored with a shot from outside the penalty area.

Shortly after the Bolivian goal, Carlos Villanueva could have scored the equalizer, but his powerful shot was stopped by goalkeeper Jhon Jairo Cuellar, one of the best of his team.

Villanueva did it again after half an hour of play, but was stopped again by the Bolivian keeper.

Before the break Roler Ferrufino was about to score the second for Bolivia, but his shot went wide of the mark.

The second half got off to a sluggish start on both sides, although the match was reversed in the 61st minute when Chile finally managed to draw.

Allende passed the ball into the area, Tomas Alarcon pivoted with his head and Lucas Alarcon found a space between the Bolivian defenders to score with a header.