Sergio Aguero scored the only goal of the game as Argentina got their Copa America campaign back on track with a deserved victory over Uruguay.
The match was a heated affair to say the least though minor altercations never developed into anything serious, but Argentina were made to fight for the victory by the 2011 champions.
Diego Rolan missed Uruguay's best chances of either half while Lionel Messi ran the show for Argentina, but Aguero's bulletted diving header in the second half was enough to earn his side all three points.
A tentative opening
Though either side could potentially have looked to settle for the draw, the opening five minutes of the match offered no indication that that would be the case. Neither truly created a clear-cut opportunity early on, but an early Uruguay counter-attack threatened to develop with Edinson Cavani not found in space in the area, while Aguero hit the side-netting from a tight angle at the other end shortly after.
Argentina's profligacy in their opening game against Paraguay cost them dear as they passed up numerous gilded chances in a two-all draw, and there was a slight nervousness in their early play as they kept the ball tentatively around the edge of the attacking third.
Fernando Muslera was celebrating his birthday in between the Uruguay posts, and had his first save to make with eight minutes played. Lionel Messi drifted through space in the middle of the park before tapping the ball to Javier Pastore. The PSG man laid the ball off to Angel di Maria down the right flank, but his left-footed shot lacked the curve to beat the keeper and the danger was cleared.
It was a chance which seemed to spark Uruguay into action, as they enjoyed a spell of pressure camped around the edge of the Argentina penalty area. Maxi Pereira delivered the ball into the area on more than one occasion as Argentina failed to properly clear, but nothing came of their spell of pressure. Moments later, di Maria cracked a half-volley high and wide from the corner of the penalty area, the ball swerving away from goal from his powerful left boot.
As the first half reached its halfway point, both sides' defences seemed to be taking hold of the game as the action was increasingly rebuffed to the centre of the pitch. Argentina's creativity was predictably coming mainly from Messi and in part Pastore, while Uruguay had little in terms of possession in the attacking half of the pitch.
With 20 minutes played, Messi and Pastore combined to make another presentable chance. Cutting in from the right this time, Messi played the ball across the edge of the penalty area for Pastore to run onto, but as he took a touch to the left, he seemed to lose control of the ball somewhat and his low shot was straight at Muslera.
Again, the save catalysed an attack for Uruguay at the other end. Nicolas Lodeiro found himself in space behind the defence down the left, and clipped a cross towards the far post where Rolan was just unable to turn the ball in. From the resulting corner, Diego Godin flicked a header across the face of goal and half a yard wide.
Aguero could have opened the scoring
The first real golden opportunity came for Argentina with 25 minutes played, Messi once again playing the role of provider. He clipped a tremendous ball towards the far post from the right corner of the penalty area where Aguero was unmarked, but his header back across goal was saved low down by Muslera with Pastore ignored in space across the six-yard box.
With the attack not quite cleared, Pastore drilled a cross from the left which was met powerfully by the head of Messi, but it was instantly blocked by Jose Maria Gimenez and cleared away.
With Argentina turning the screw at one end, Uruguay remained almost anonymous at the other with their approach play all too often rushed and easily cleared. Cristian Rodriguez, who scored the winner in their opening win over Jamaica, was left invisible as every ball seemed to be rushed to Cavani. However, one attack which was built in more considered fashion resulted in Rolan flashing a header wide.
As Lodeiro received the first booking of the game after a number of thumping fouls from the Uruguayans, Argentina boss Tata Martino found himself sent from the touchline for his contentions with the referee with his team frustrated at the lack of intervention from the officials.
Messi and Pastore combined once again as the former scrambled the ball away from the attentions of three defenders to Pastore, whose attempted pass down the left was too close to the goalkeeper for the advancing Marcos Rojo to latch onto inside the area.
In the final stages of the first 45 minutes, the game was becoming increasingly a battle between the Argentinian probing passing and excellent Uruguayan pressure on the ball.
A rare corner for the side on top of the affair left Muslera protesting to the referee as he felt he was fouled attempting to punch the delivery away, but his spilled clearance resulted in only another corner kick. The second delivery was far too deep with Nicolas Otamendi back-pedalling to try and reach the ball, but it was nodded away by Godin.
Uruguay enjoyed a short spell of pressure around the penalty area courtesy of a pair of deep free kicks conceded by Javier Mascherano and Aguero, with Sergio Romero's clearances not totally convincing in response to some dangerous deliveries.
Both sides needed to cool off at half-time
The deep-seated rivalry between the two nations threatened to boil over in first-half stoppage time as Mascherano went through Lodeiro in return for a yellow card and a heated argument in the centre circle. Cavani sent a typically acrobatic half-volley flying wide to the right of goal from the resulting free kick as the half-time whistle sounded.
Uruguay came flying out of the blocks at the start of the second half with Maxi Pereira beating two defenders down the right and sizzling a driven shot towards goal, which Romero parried away just out of reach of the lurking Rolan.
Their opponents, on the other hand, seemed somewhat out of sorts as they came out for the second period. Di Maria was handed a great opportunity to deliver a dangerous ball from a deep free kick, but his set piece was scythed dreadfully over the heads of the defenders who had made their way forward.
Just a minute or so later, Cavani matched his incompetence in comical fashion at the other end as he pummelled a half-volley high over the crossbar and well over the running track separating the fans from the pitch, the ball eventually bouncing into the stand.
With another five minutes played, Romero was called into action as he charged some distance out of his area to chest a long pass away from Cavani, who had sprung the offside trap. As Argentina looked to break, they were once again stopped in their tracks by the furious harrying and pressing of the Uruguayan defence, seemingly re-energised after the break.
Aguero gives Argentina the lead
However, Argentina finally came alive once again with ten minutes of the second half played as Aguero put the finishing touch to a lovely team goal.
Lucas Biglia played the ball to Pastore at the edge of the area who laid off Pablo Zabaleta, making haste down the right for the first real time in the match. He delivered a powerful cross pass the near post where his Manchester City teammate Aguero got ahead of his marker to power an emphatic header past the stranded Muslera.
The travelling Argentina fans, meanwhile, celebrated with a rendition of "El que no salta es Ingles" - "Whoever doesn't jump is English".
Despite the immediate joy, Aguero's goal came at a cost as he soon went down holding the shoulder on which he landed after hurling himself towards the ball - Gonzalo Higuain and Ezequiel Lavezzi were soon sent out to warm up by an anxious-looking Argentina bench.
He made his way back onto the pitch in some discomfort and was immediately presented with an opportunity to double the lead, breaking through but rolling a tame shot at Muslera with di Maria in space to his right.
As Uruguay threw caution to the wind through the introduction of a third forward in Abel Hernandez, the River Plate derby threatened to spark as Godin and Rojo were involved in a spat with Muslera after the third was given a foul claiming a high cross. Though pushing and shoving was widespread, the altercation did not descend further and the referee kept cards pocketed.
However, the match refused to calm down as Barcelona teammates Messi and Mascherano reacted angrily to a series of fouls on the former from Arevalo Rios. Messi soon begrudgingly made up with his opponents, but it was another sign of the passion with which both teams were playing.
Rolan passes up the chance of an equaliser
With a quarter of an hour to play, Uruguay missed a gilt-edged opportunity to level the scores. Romero parried a shot from Maxi Pereira at the edge of the area straight to the feet of Rolan, but the 22-year-old fluffed his lines and rushed his shot over the crossbar from no more than eight yards out.
Argentina continued to threaten as Uruguay committed more men forward, and Messi went close to a second as he drifted in from the right and powered a left-footed shot straight at Muslera from 25 yards. At the other end, Alvaro Gonzalez lifted a half-volley inches wide as the ball bounced invitingly up towards him outside the area.
Soon after, substitute Carlos Tevez laid the ball back to Messi from the right, with the Champions League winner unleashing a lightning shot towards the bottom-right corner like a bolt from a crossbow, but Muslera once again was equal to it as he dropped down to flick the ball wide.
With five minutes to go, Rolan went agonisingly close as a dangerous counter-attack resulted in a corner. The ball was swerved in from the right, and the forward's goal-bound header was somehow clearer off the line by a throng of Argentinian bodies with their backs to the well.
As stoppage time loomed, Hernandez was the next to go close. His finish seemed like a good one as he stabbed the ball first-time towards the bottom corner, but Romero reacted fantastically to paw the ball behind.
And, though Uruguay continued to apply pressure deep into the four minutes of stoppage time, Argentina held on for a vital win which keeps their chances of topping Group B well and truly alive with only Jamaica to play.