Uruguay virtually guaranteed their spot in the Copa America quarterfinals on Thursday, crushing tournament underdogs Bolivia 5-0 in their Group C match in New Jersey. Eight minutes in, Darwin Nunez increased Uruguay’s lead with a left-footed shot past Bolivian keeper Guillermo Vizcarra, his seventh goal in seven international matches. Facundo Pellistri had opened the scoring in the first minute.
In the 77th minute, Federico Valverde made it 4-0 with a close-range strike, and Maximiliano Araujo sealed the victory four minutes later. Rodrigo Bentancur, a substitute, scored the fifth goal with his first touch in the 89th minute to complete the thrashing.
Uruguay’s last group game is against the United States on Monday. If they win, they advance as group champions; even if they lose, they will probably advance because of their better goal differential.
Bolivia, who have dropped their first two games, has a very low mathematical possibility of making it out of the group stage for the fourth consecutive year.
The night when Nunez netted his 13th goal for his country, Luis Suarez, Uruguay’s all-time top scorer, in as a late substitute and was given the captain’s armband right away.
Before Pellistri scored from a skillfully executed set piece in the eighth minute, Nunez had already squandered one excellent opportunity. Nunez completed intuitively over the right shoulder of charging Viscarra and inside the near post to double Uruguay’s lead.
Much to the dismay of manager Marcelo Bielsa, Uruguay eased off at the beginning of the second half, but it turned out to be the quiet before the storm. After Maximiliano Araujo capitalized on a through pass from Nicolas de la Cruz to add a third, Uruguay added two more goals in the last minutes.
In a tense Copa America Group C match on Thursday, Panama shocked the world by defeating the United States 2-1. The hosts were reduced to 10 men after Tim Weah’s red card in the 18th minute.
Adalberto Carrasquilla was sent off for a brutal challenge on Christian Pulisic five minutes after Jose Fajardo gave Panama the lead in the 83rd minute. With a higher goal differential than Panama, the United States is tied for second place in the group with three points. To move on to the knockout stages, the hosts must at least match Panama’s performance in the last group encounter.
On Monday, the United States plays Uruguay and Panama plays Bolivia. American midfielder Tyler Adams described the game as “an emotional rollercoaster, but at the end of the day, it’s soccer.” “We know what we’re getting into, and we expected there to be fighting when we played in Copa America. Panama deserves praise. They fulfilled their duties. They received the outcome.”
Thomas Christiansen, the coach of Panama, claimed that his squad had played the game plan flawlessly. “I’m very happy, in particular for the team, tactically and psychologically,” he stated. “I try to maintain composure and objectivity when making decisions. Naturally, everyone who participated gave what we anticipated from them, and as a result, we had successes like this one.”
The hosts suffered a costly night overall, as goalkeeper Matt Turner had to be replaced at halftime due to a leg injury sustained in the 12th minute following a contact with Cesar Blackman, a defender for Panama. After a tense and intense start to the match, Weah was sent off after a video review revealed he had shoved Roderick Miller in the back of the head off the ball.
In the 22nd minute, Folarin Balogun gave the home team the lead with an incredible strike from 17 yards, thrilling the fans following Weah’s ejection. But the celebration was short-lived since four minutes later Blackman equalized from the edge of the box.
“There were things before the red card that went against us,” stated Balogun. “Of course, we probably could have had a few decisions, but that’s the nature of the game.”
After the intermission, Ethan Horvath took over for the injured Turner in the American goal. In the 64th minute, U.S. defender Cameron Carter-Vickers was almost given a penalty, but the call was overruled by video review.
Orlando Mosquera of Panama denied Ricardo Pepi’s header in the 81st minute, which was the greatest chance the United States had in the second half.
