Still on borrowed time, Brazil failed to beat Colombia (1-1) on Saturday in Santa Clara (California), and will meet Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay for a shock in the quarter-finals of the Copa America, which they will have to play without Vinicius Jr.
In this match at the top of Group D, the Seleçao failed to dominate Colombia, now unbeaten in 26 matches, condemning themselves to second place and a shock in the quarter-finals on Saturday in Las Vegas against Uruguay, who are coming off a perfect group stage (three wins in three games). Brazil will also have to play without their leader Vinicius Jr., recent winner of the Champions League with Real Madrid, who was cautioned on Tuesday for the second time in the tournament and therefore suspended for the next match.
In the 7th minute, a very exaggerated little blow to the face by James Rodriguez earned the striker a yellow card. After getting up, the Colombian leader’s delicious left foot found the top of the bar with a powerful direct free kick from more than 25 meters (8th).
A few moments later, Raphinha found the Colombian right top corner with a sublime direct free kick (12th) to launch Brazil perfectly. Tough (33 fouls), this choppy match ultimately left little room for the artists. A clever pass from Jhon Cordoba allowed Daniel Munoz to be launched into the Brazilian area for Colombia’s equalizer at the end of the first half (45+2).
The Cafeteros were able to settle for a draw which ensured them first place in Group D, a quarter-final which was a priori more favourable against Panama on Saturday in Glendale (Arizona), and allowed them to extend their unbeaten run to 26 matches (last defeat at the start of 2022 against Argentina).
Argentina vs Ecuador in quarter finals
A new free-kick from Raphinha, which licked the post (60th), an incursion from Vinicius (90+3) and a final strike from Andreas Pereira (90+5) sent a few shivers down the spine, without masking the lack of ideas of the Seleçao, which is not short of talent. “Our team is improving after each match, after each training session and I think we are on the right track,” assured Raphinha.
“It’s not the result we were hoping for (…) But whoever wants to be champion should not worry about their next opponent, we must be ready to beat anyone.”
Condemned to a big win combined with a defeat for Brazil, Costa Rica won the other match of the group against Paraguay (2-1), but finds itself third in group D and eliminated with four points, behind Colombia (seven points) and Brazil (five points).
Lionel Messi’s Argentina and Ecuador will face each other in the first quarter-final on Thursday in Houston, Texas.
