New Zealand, who secured their first point at an under-20 World Cup finals with a 1-1 draw against Cameroon in their group B opening match, struggled to contain their more experienced opponents throughout the match and it was goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic who came their rescue time and again.
Lively Uruguay forwards Pablo Cepellini, Cesar Texeira and Adrian Lunawere spelled danger everytime they had the ball.
But Marinovic blocked every thing they rifled at him including one from point blank range by Texeira and another sizzling volley by Cepellini.
New Zealand were under pressure from the kickoff as Uruguay moved the ball fluently around to find gaps in a nervous New Zealand.
Luna was an ever present danger as he often got behind the New Zealand defence only to find Marinovic in his way.
Speedy winger Marco Rojas was back in the New Zealand lineup after missing the first game with a hamstring injury but his teammates were unable to get the ball to him as they frittered the scraps of possession they had away with poor passing.
Uruguay had the ball in the net with a powerful driven volley from outside the box by defender Diego Polenta but the goal did not count as the referee had blown for an infringement in New Zealand's favour a spilt second before.
New Zealand's defence held out for the rest of the half however which ended with a rare shot by striker Dakota Lucas which Uruguay goalkeeper Salvador Ichazo saved.
New Zealand were a more composed side in the opening minutes of the second half with Rojas seeing more of the ball.
New Zealand struck against the run of play in a counter attack which saw Rojas round rugged Uruguay skipper Diego Polent to send a pint point cross from the right which found a diving Andre Bevin who drilled his powerful header into the back of the net and silence the strong contingent of Uruguayan supporters.
Stung, Uruguay's reply was instant with Texeira and Alexander de Silva forcing consecutive saves from Marinovic.
As the minutes ticked by, a desperate Uruguay threw everything at New Zealand and finally found the equaliser when Texeira laid off a return pass to Luna whose running side foot shot gave Marinovic no chance in the 74th minute.
Though Uruguay, who drew their opening match 0-0 with group favourite Portugal, probed hard for the winner New Zealand, well marshalled by skipper Nick Branch and James Musa in the heart of the defence, kept their heads for a well-deserved draw.
The result leaves New Zealand and Uruguay tied with two points each in the group while Portugal and Cameroon who meet later today have a point.
New Zealand play their final group match against Portugal on Saturday morning also at Cali.
