Key events
46 min The second half is under way, and the early signs are that Colombia are in the mood to kill some time.
Uruguay have made a double substitution at half-time:
Cristian Olivera and Giorgian de Arrascaeta are on for Pellistri and Mathias Olivera.
Colombia have brought on Santiago Arias for Jhon Arias. If only they had a player called Elbow.
Munoz may have been suckered into that red card by Dennis Wise Ugarte, possibly with a sly pinch. His response was pretty daft, though, a heartfelt elbow to the breastbone.
Half time: Uruguay 0-1 Colombia
Colombia are a goal up and a man down after an impassioned first half in North Carolina. Darwin Nunez missed two excellent chances for Uruguay before Jefferson Lerma headed Colombia ahead from James Rodriguez’s corner.
Daniel Munoz, perhaps Colombia’s best attacker, got carried away and was sent off for two yellow cards, though it’s still not clear whether VAR was used correctly. Colombia are still fuming as they go off at half-time.
45+5 min Cordoba misses an awkward volley over the shoulder, then Diaz’s deflected shot is saved by Rochet.
Munoz is sent off!
45+1 min Chaos in North Carolina! Munoz has been given a second yellow and Colombia are going mad. In isolation it’s the right decision – he elbowed Ugarte in the stomach – but I’m not sure about the protocol. Are the VAR team even allowed to recommend a second yellow? That’s clearly what happened.
45 min Ugarte is down after some kind of incident with Munoz, who himself is showing his chest to the referee.
Replays show that Munoz slammed an elbow into Ugarte’s chest; he should have been given a second yellow card for that but it;s probably not enough for a VAR straight red.
44 min: Smart save by Rochet! Uruguay are hanging on for half-time. The relentless Munoz surges into the area and tees up Rios, whose first-time shot is well saved to his left by Rochet.
43 min Marcelo Bielsa is pointedly telling his team to calm down.
It’s a bad moment for the Uruguay keeper Sergio Rochet. He came for Rodriguez’s inswinging corner, got nowhere near it and was beaten by Lerma’s downward header. Lerma did really well to get above Gimenez and then force his header just inside the near post. Anywhere else and Rochet would probably have kicked it away.
GOAL! Uruguay 0-1 Colombia (Lerma 39)
Jefferson Lerma gives Colombia the lead!
38 min It’s been an odd first half, in that Colombia have played most of the football but Uruguay – specifically Darwin Nunez – have had the two best chances.
36 min “That’s a fascinating clip from the press conference by Bielsa,” says Justin Kavanagh. “You can just imagine the agonies of embarrassment that such statements would cause at most big clubs that have been sanitised against such truths by parades of smiling PR persons. Presumably the Uruguay blazers conduct themselves with the same hard-nosed eh… respect for realism… as their teams have shown down the years. Good on them for letting Bielsa Bielsify.”
34 min: Uruguay substitution Poor Rodrigo Bentancur, who has had such dumb luck with injury, is limping off in distress. He’s replaced by Guillermo Varela, which could mean another change of system.
33 min: Chance for Colombia! Rodriguez whips an inviting cross that is headed miles wide by Cordoba near the penalty spot. He mistimed his header.
31 min Munoz is booked for a tackle from behind on Araujo, then gives the referee a mouthful. This match is starting to descend.
29 min A TV replay shows why Gimenez went down in the 21st minute. Before that free-kick he scrubbed Gimenez’s hair; Sanchez responded by punching him in the gut. He’s extremely lucky to get away with that.
28 min: Another chance for Nunez! This one came on the break. Nunez skidded away from the last defender, in the D, and smashed a curler wide of the far post with his right foot. He rested on his haunches, trying to make sense of it all; he’s now had two and a half chances to put Uruguay ahead.
Nunez’s movement is so good, his spirit irrepressible. But he wants to score too much.
27 min Bentancur is limping heavily. He wants to continue, so maybe it’s just an impact injury, but it doesn’t look great.
26 min De la Cruz is booked for a late tackle on Rios. That’s the first yellow card of the night; it won’t be the last.
24 min Uruguay have kept James Rodriguez quiet so far and are growing into the game as an attacking force. Valverde’s deep cross is volleyed miles in the air by Nunez. It turns into a dangerous up-and-under but Colombia eventually clear.
22 min Darwin Nunez is starting to stretch Colombia. He gets behind the defence in the inside-right channel and sweeps a cross shot that goes a few yards wide. Not the greatest effort, in truth, but his movement wil encourage Uruguay.
21 min The lively right-back Munoz is fouled on the right wing by Araujo. Rodriguez’s free-kick is claimed well by Rochet.
Gimenez went down after a little off-the-ball wrestle; I think he’s okay.
17 min: Great chance for Nunez! Uruguay almost sting Colombia with their first chance. Valverde’s flicked pass bounced off Nunez and then Cuesta before falling kindly for Nunez, who leathered it just wide from the edge of the area. That was a pretty good chance.
16 min Lerma shoots wide from distance. It’s all Colombia right now.
15 min: Just wide by Munoz! Diaz gets to the byline and curls an excellent deep cross towards the far post, where Munoz towers over Araujo and heads back across goal. The ball bounces not far wide of the far post.
13 min The pitch doesn’t look in the best condition, which may have contributed to the slightly scruffy start to the game. We’re only 77 minutes away from penalties.
11 min Diaz chops back inside neatly on the edge of the area and crosses towards Cordoba. It’s slightly too deep and drifts behind. Colombia have started well though, with around 67 per cent possession and the only attempt at goal to date.
10 min Apologies, we’ve had a couple of technical problems but I think everything’s okay now.
6 min Colombia have settled the quicker and are starting to play some good stuff. Arias received a square pass 20 yards from goal but shoots high and wide. He had Munoz outside him in a decent position.
3 min Nothing much to report, just a couple of early offsides.
2 min Looks like a back three for Uruguay, though I’m trying to work out who the wing-backs are – I think it’s De la Cruz and Valverde. Bentancur is certainly playing high up the field.
1 min Peep peep! Colombia kick off from left to right as we watch.
The Colombia anthem is belted out by the majority of the stadium, which is a sea of yellow. This means so much to almost everybody in the stadium.
Here come the teams: Uruguay in white, Colombia in yellow. I really like their current kit, though that might be a trick of the mind because they’re playing so well. If they’d been plugged 4-0 by Panama it might not look so chic.
A reminder of the teams, who will be joining us shortly.
Uruguay (possible 3-3-3-1) Rochet; Caceres, Gimenez,
M Olivera; Valverde, Ugarte, De la Cruz; Pellistri, Bentancur, M Araujo; Nunez.
Substitutes: Mele, Israel, Olaza, Varela, Vina, R Araujo, Marichal, De Arrascaeta, Rodriguez, Martinez, Suarez, Canobbio, Ocampo, C Olivera.
Colombia (4-3-3) Vargas, Mojica, Sanchez, Cuesta, Munoz; Rios, Lerma, Arias; Rodriguez, Cordoba, Diaz.
Substitutes: Ospina, Montero, Santiago Arias, Mina, Machado, Lucumi, Quintero, Uribe, Carrascal, Asprilla, Castano, Borja, Borre, Sinisterra, Duran.
Referee Cesar Ramos (Mexico)
Patriotism comes in many forms
“Have you heard Bielsa’s short sermon about the state of the sport?” asks Kári Tulinius. “Personally, I think he’s right that football right now is not at its most thrilling, and that the only ones benefiting are the owners. However I do think, perhaps foolishly, that because of the game’s simplicity, that new ways of playing will emerge, which will churn the fetid waters of tactical orthodoxy. Of course, that will become the new stasis, and the cycle will begin anew. I’m curious to know what you think.”
I hadn’t heard that, thanks for sending it. As long as he lives Bielsa will be football’s conscience, and I agree with pretty much all of it. That said, the sport is so inherently wonderful that even decades of avarice and cynicism haven’t ruined it. Yet.
A reminder that there’s no extra-time tonight. If the game is level after 90 minutes it goes straight to penalties, just like it did when Uruguay beat Brazil in the quarter-final.
Uruguay team news
Marcelo Bielsa makes three changes: Sebastian Caceres, Jose Maria Gimenez and Rodrigo Bentancur replace Nahitan Nandez (suspended), Ronald Araujo (came off injured against Brazil but is officially on the bench) and Matias Vina. That might mean a switch to a back three.
Colombia team news
A single, expected change for Colombia: Jefferson Lerma returns to the midfielder after suspension in place of Mateus Uribe.
Berhalter fired as USMNT coach
Some big, if unsurprising news: Gregg Berhalter’s six-year tenure as USMNT coach is over.
Read Ben McAleer on James Rodriguez
Something about this semi-final feels ominous for Uruguay. The main reason to be fearful of falling at the final furlong is the form of Rodríguez. The 32-year-old is playing at the same level he reached in 2014, when his performances at the World Cup culminated in a £63m move from Monaco to Real Madrid, making him the fourth most expensive footballer in history after Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suárez.
His performances at the World Cup resulted in the infamous headline: “The name is Bond, James Rodríguez.” And his renaissance this year is giving Colombia a good chance of reaching what would be their third Copa América final.
The pre-match score is Uruguay 15-1 Colombia. That’s how many Copa Américas they’ve won, though 11 of Uruguay’s were before the competition was rebranded in 1975.
Colombia’s win was on home soil in 2001; that was also the last time they reached the final. Uruguay’s most recent victory was in 2011, when Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan shared five goals in the semi-final and final. That’s Uruguay’s only final this century.
Point being, this means the world to both teams – and their fans.
Rob will he here shortly. In the meantime, here’s a little beef between Argentina and Drake:
Drake’s string of defeats against short geniuses continues apace. Weeks after being publicly humiliated by the world’s greatest rapper, the 5ft 5in Kendrick Lamar, he has been publicly humiliated by the world’s greatest footballer, the 5ft 7in Lionel Messi.
The Canadian rapper posted on Instagram that he had bet $300,000 – to win $2.88m – that Les Rouges would beat Argentina in Tuesday’s Copa América semi-final. Messi duly scored his team’s second goal as Argentina beat Canada 2-0 to advance to Sunday’s Copa final, where they can retain the title they won in 2021.
After the game, Argentina’s social media team posted an image of Messi and Co celebrating their victory with the caption “Not like us”, the title of a diss track aimed at Drake by Lamar, which has been streamed nearly 500m times on Spotify and was the capstone on a public feud that most observers saw as the equivalent of a 7-0 thrashing by the Californian.
You can read the full article below:
