A brilliant individual effort by Luis Hernandez set up a header by Miguel Zepeda three minutes before the hooter, five minutes after Raul Palacios had put Chile back on level terms.

It was the second straight third-place finish in the world's oldest tournament for National teams.

Francisco Palencia gave Mexico a 26th-minute lead, although he appeared to control the ball with his hand before scoring.

``I'm extremely satisfied with what we did,'' Mexican coach Miguel Lapuente said. ``We don't want to look for any excuse. The problems we had, we had.''

Only around 2,000 fans braved cold, blustery conditions in supposedly sub-tropical Asuncion to watch a match which could have marked the international farewell of Chile striker Ivan Zamorano.

Mexico played only hours after the South American Football Confederation imposed six-month bans on Raul Laraand Paulo Cesar Chavez, who both failed dope tests earlier in the tournament.

The Mexican squad have furiously backed their team-mates, threatening to pull out of the Confederations Cup, which starts later this month in their country, if Lara and Chavez are not recognised as innocent. In a letter signed by the entire 22-playing members of the team, the side said Lara and Chavez were men of irreproachable character and insisted that the test results were wrong.

The punishment handed out yesterday, considered relatively light, applies only in South America and does not necessarily prevent them from playing for their clubs in Mexico or on their National team.

However, the definitive sanctions fall to Fifa and Concacaf, the Confederation for North and Central America and The Caribbean. Those bodies are expected at least to confirm the six-month suspension and could order a harsher penalty.

Lara and Chavez were suspended when routine tests showed traces of steroids in their urine after a first-round gamewith Brazil, which Mexico lost 2-1. Lara was tested again after the next game, a 3-1 victory over Venezuela, and again the result was positive, Conmebol said.