Brazil played out an action-packed 1-1 draw with Colombia in California on Tuesday to set up a mouth-watering Copa América quarter-final against Uruguay. The result means Colombia finished top of Group D on seven points and will face Panama in the last eight.
Daniel Muñoz’s first-half strike for Colombia cancelled out an impressive early free kick from Brazil’s Raphinha. The result extended Colombia’s unbeaten streak to 26 matches, though it did mark the end of their 10-match winning run.
“It was a match we all wanted to play to measure ourselves in a good moment for the team,” Colombia coach Nestor Lorenzo said. “I think we took another step forward today. With Brazil you cannot neglect the team even for a second. The feeling is one of satisfaction against a complicated opponent.”
Brazil defender Marquinhos conceded that the team are not firing on all cylinders yet. “We have to be honest with ourselves, we still have a lot to grow, a lot to improve, especially in these big games,” he said.
The match between Colombia, unbeaten since March 2022, and five-time World Cup winners Brazil lived up to its firecracker billing as the two sides tore into each other straight from the kickoff. In a frantic first 15 minutes at Levi’s Stadium, Vinicius Jr was shown a yellow card after accidentally striking James Rodriguez while tussling over a loose ball, a booking which rules the winger out of the Uruguay match.
Rodriguez went within inches of scoring the opener as he clipped the crossbar from the resulting free kick. But the Colombia veteran was upstaged in the 12th minute by Raphinha, who whipped a sublime free kick of his own into the top corner to give Brazil the lead.
Colombia thought they had equalised when Davinson Sanchez headed home Rodriguez’s dangerous cross into the box but the goal was disallowed for offside after a lengthy VAR check. Brazil called for a penalty in the 42nd minute when Muñoz brought down Vinicius in the box but replays showed the Colombia defender got a touch on the ball.
Jhon Cordoba then found a pocket of space on the edge of the area and the Colombia striker played a brilliant through ball to Muñoz, who rifled his effort into the net to level the scores in first-half stoppage time. Despite the searing California heat neither side let the intensity drop after the break and Raphinha came close to scoring from another free kick in the 59th minute, firing just wide of the post.
Colombia also had their chances to score in the second half, the best of which fell to substitute Rafael Borre, who blazed a shot over the crossbar from close range. Colombia keeper Camilo Vargas had to be sharp to keep out Brazil substitute Andreas Pereira’s dipping long-range effort deep into stoppage time.
Costa Rica failed to move into the quarter-finals after finishing third in the group on four points, one behind Brazil, even after two early goals set up a 2-1 victory over Paraguay in their final group match.
“This was a very tough group. We were playing against Brazil and Colombia, two of the four favourites to win the Copa,” Costa Rica coach Gustavo Alfaro said. “We had our strengths, our achievements and our mistakes, but we grew and we’re analysing the performance rather than the results.”
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Costa Rica needed results to go their way along with a big swing in goal difference to qualify and they wasted no time getting on the board when skipper Francisco Calvo and Josimar Alcocer made it 2-0 inside seven minutes. Calvo headed home from the edge of the six-yard box in the third minute while 19-year-old Alcocer powered past several players before pulling the trigger from well outside the box to beat the keeper.
Paraguay came to life in the second half and Costa Rica’s hopes of qualifying dwindled 10 minutes after the restart when Ramon Sosa scored his first goal for his country. Costa Rica’s defence could do nothing as Mathias Villasanti dribbled into the box and set up Sosa, who blasted the ball into the top corner past the outstretched hand of goalkeeper Patrick Sequeira.
Costa Rica nearly conceded again from a corner in added time, the ball deflecting off Fabian Balbuena’s head to Angel Romero but his shot failed to make it past the fingertips of Sequeira. It marked the first time since 1925 that Paraguay had lost all of their group matches.
“It was a bad tournament, a bad performance,” Paraguay coach Daniel Garnero said.
