Chile put memories of an ill-tempered semifinal at the FIFA U-20 World Cup and clashes with the police behind them, making a little history along the way.

Defender Hans Martinez scored just before halftime to lift Chile to a 1-0 win over Austria in the third-place game Sunday afternoon.

Chile's Hans Martinez celebrates his goal against Austria during the third-place match at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Toronto on Sunday. Chile won 1-0.
(Canadian Press/ Frank Gunn)

Chile's previous best was a fourth-place finish at the 1987 tournament that it staged.

"It was a difficult game, but we played hard and fought, and were able to achieve third place in the tournament," Chile coach Jose Sulantay told reporters after the game.

The contest followed a semifinal at BMO Field on Thursday when at least half a dozen Chilean players were handcuffed following a melee with police. The commotion started as Chilean players were about to greet fans outside the stadium after their 3-0 defeat against Argentina.

As pushing and shoving began, a Chilean official said police used pepper spray and a Taser to subdue the players and some other members of the country's soccer delegation.

"It was a psychological struggle [to return to BMO Field]," Sulantay admitted. "That was an imprtant factor in the game, but we won and that's what matters."

Sulantay said he used his experience as a coach to talk to the players to convince them "to come back and win third place."

This tournament was also a benchmark for Austria, which failed to advance from the first round in its only two other appearances at the competition, in 1977 and 1983.

Sunday's game was a rematch from the first round, when the teams battled to a 0-0 draw in Toronto.

"I think we did a good job since we arrived in Canada," said Austria's Paul Gludovatz before adding this was his last game as coach.

Sulantay made a few changes to his starting lineup, with Dagoberto Currimilla and Gary Medel both suspended after being sent off in the semifinals. FIFA also suspended forward Jaime Grondona as a result of his confrontation with the referee in the game against Argentina.

Austria was missing injured defender Thomas Panny.

1st goal comes in injury time

The game started with both teams passing the ball sharply and looking to score.

Austrian goalkeeper Andreas Lukse was kept busy in the first half, making fantastic diving saves to deny Chile's Nicolas Medina and Arturo Vidal on long-range efforts.

Chile broke the Austrian resistance with a perfectly executed passing play in injury time to take the lead going into halftime. Michael Silva floated a free kick from the right wing into the box and Martinez beat his defensive marker to volley the ball past Lukse.

Austria carved out two good scoring chances in the opening minutes of the second half, as Siegfried Rasswalder and Veli Kavlak tested Chilean goalkeeper Cristopher Toselli.

Toselli made another big stop in the 63rd minute, making a kick save from in close on Martin Harnik after Robin Okotie's shot hit the crossbar.

Five minutes later, Austria was reduced to 10 men when defender Michael Madl earned his second yellow card of the contest.

Chile should have made it 2-0 with eight minutes left in regulation after Isaias Peralta broke in alone on Lukse, but the Austrian dove at the feet of the Chilean forward and stripped him of the ball as Peralta tried to round the goalkeeper.

Austria came within inches of tying it in the final minutes, but Toselli reached back to make an incredible goal-line save on a powerful shot from Harnik. The Austrians protested the call, believing the ball did cross the line, but Swedish referee Martin Hansson did not agree.

"I think we played well. We were a man down, but we were the better team in the second half," said Austrian captain Sebastian Proedl, who congratulated Toselli for a great game, calling him "the best goalkeeper in this tournament."