The want-away Manchester United forward missed a penalty for Chile as they succumbed to a 3-2 loss at home to Costa Rica.
The 29-year-old did score eight minutes later to make for a tense finale, but the loss and penalty miss ultimately overshadowed Sanchez’s second goal for club and country this season.
It was reported this week that Sanchez wants to move away from United, where he has flopped since his January transfer.
The bustling forward has scored only three league goals in 21 appearances for the club, not performing to level his £350,000-a-week wage suggests.
Despite recently showing an upshot in form as centre-forward in Romelu Lukaku’s absence, Sanchez is holding out for a move to Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germain.
After the 3-1 derby loss to Manchester City, Sanchez was ostensibly furious with Jose Mourinho’s decision to bench him.
It was reported that he petulantly slammed his boots on the changing room floor after the game, as well as openly criticising the side’s defenders for the sloppy goals they conceded at the Etihad Stadium.
The international break might have been perceived as welcome solitude for Sanchez, but even prior to Friday night’s loss the forward was “acting weird”.
That is according to Chilean newspaper La Tercera, who claimed that the talisman has been “silent” during training.
After one training session ended, the former Arsenal man reportedly spent at least half an hour sat on one of the benches by himself.
Other Chilean teammates bonded while playing football-tennis together, yet Sanchez did not want to join in.
Within the Chile camp the group feels like Sanchez is a leader when on the pitch but he has little involvement within the group, La Tercera claim.
It’s been over a year since Sanchez scored his last international goal against Ecuador in October 2017.
Sanchez’s former manager Arsene Wenger got the best out of him at Arsenal, and the unemployed coach believes Sanchez is struggling for confidence.
Speaking on BeIN Sports, Wenger said: “I believe he has lost confidence.
“The strength of Alexis Sanchez is to take the initiative, to dribble.
“Those are the players who are most vulnerable when they lose confidence their game is based on that and having that feeling to take initiative, he has lost that slowly.
“Since the start of the season he had a high level of physical energy but he has lost that as well.”