MEXICO 3 (Pereira OG 4', Marquez 85', Herrera 90+2')
URUGUAY 1 (Godin 74')
Red cards: Guardado (Mexico), Vecino (Uruguay)
GLENDALE, ARIZONA // Two late goals Sunday night preserved Mexico’s image as a team to beat in Copa America.
Before Rafa Marquez and Hector Herrera scored to give their team a 3-1 victory, the only offence Mexico could muster was an own-goal by Uruguay’s Alvaro Pereira four minutes into the match.
That ignominious moment came just after the Chilean anthem was, embarrassingly, played instead of the Uruguay anthem in the pre-game ceremonies. Copa America 2016 blamed the mistake on “a human error”.
“It was a lack of respect, nothing more than that,” Pereira said.
After some tense moments, the late scoring surge finally gave the loud, rowdy, vastly pro-Mexico crowd of 60,025 the victory it expected in the Copa America opener between teams considered the two best in Group C.
“It’s step by step,” Mexico’s Andres Guardado said. “We have the capability. We have a lot of games to go but we have to continue on the same path and know that we are in a good spot but have work to do.”
See also:
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• Diego Forlan: For once, Uruguay will be one of the favourites at Copa America, not the underdogs
Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio knows his team will be the “home” team throughout the competition.
“We have to learn to play as protagonists,” he said, “and this is how we should play in America.”
Marquez’s close-range shot in the 84th minute broke a 1-1 tie and Herrera’s header from just outside the net added another score in extra time. Marquez’s score came 10 minutes after Diego Godin’s header tied it for Uruguay at 1-1.
“They struggled and tied the game,” Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez said. “We missed chances and that’s just soccer. Mexico happened to get the goals and it’s a just result.”
Mexico, who have never won the Copa America, stretched their unbeaten run to 20 consecutive games.
Uruguay, 15-time Copa America champions, were without best player, Luis Suarez, who injured a hamstring in a match two weeks ago.
Marquez’s go-ahead goal came after a pass slipped through his legs and to a teammate, who sent the ball back to him for a wide-open shot at the net.
“I got the pass and I controlled it well,” he said, “and put a good shot on it.”
Guardado and Uruguay’s Matius Vecino drew red cards and will have to sit out a match.
Uruguay were down to 10 players after Vecino left just before half-time after kicking Mexico’s Jesus Manuel Corona in the knee.
But despite being at a man disadvantage, Uruguay went on the attack earlier in the second half and, after several near misses, tied it at 1-1.
Guardado drew his second yellow card to set up a free kick for Uruguay. He thought it was an unwarranted call.
“The second one, that happens in soccer 20,000 times,” Guardado said. “A player trying to start something by talking to the officials. He hit me and I had to defend myself.”
On the free kick, Carlos Sanchez sent the ball into the area where, in the match’s 74th minute, Godin went up in a crowd and headed it into the right corner of the net. It was the first goal Mexico had allowed in the last 252 minutes of play.
The celebrating Uruguayan players were briefly pelted by water bottles from the crowd.
Early on, the own goal came after a near-perfect centre pass from just inside the right sideline by Guardado. Pereira and Herrera both went up for it. Herrera missed but Pereira, trying to head the ball over the net, instead knocked it to the left of goalkeeper Fernando Muslera and Mexico led 1-0.
In the pre-match ceremony foul-up, Uruguay’s players stood silently, many with blank stares, as the wrong anthem was played.
“We sincerely apologise to the Uruguayan Federation, the Uruguay National Team, to the people of Uruguay and to the fans for this mistake,” Copa America 2016 said in its statement. “We will work with all parties involved to ensure such an error does not occur again.”
Uruguay face Venezuela in Philadelphia on Thursday night.
“We have a very difficult situation against Venezuela,” Tabarez said. “If we don’t win, we are basically out. There have been many teams that have lost the first match and went on to become champions.”
Mexico play Jamaica on Thursday night in Pasadena, California, in front of what is bound to be another huge crowd at the Rose Bowl.
JAMAICA 0
VENEZUELA 1 (Martinez 16')
Red card: Austin (Jamaica)
CHICAGO // Venezuela defeated Jamaica 1-0 in a physical Copa America Centenario clash on Sunday that saw the Reggae Boyz reduced to 10 men while coach Winfried Schaefer was expelled from the dugout.
Jamaica, riding high after a shock friendly victory over Copa America champions Chile in a warm-up last week, were left ruing a string of missed chances against their South American Group C rivals.
“We had a couple of chances and didn’t take them, they got one chance and they took it, and that was the difference in the game today,” said Jamaica’s assistant coach Miguel Coley, appearing at the post-match press conference instead of the dismissed Schaefer.
In blazing hot sunshine at Chicago’s famous Soldier Field Stadium, Jamaica made life difficult for themselves with Rodolph Austin sent off midway through the first half for a rash challenge on Tomas Rincon.
By that stage Jamaica were already trailing 1-0 after a sloppy clearance from Michael Hector gifted possession to Venezuela around 30 yards from goal.
A swift series of one-touch passes culminated with Josef Martinez being played into space, and the Torino striker duly tucked away a low finish beneath the advancing Andre Blake to make it 1-0 after 16 minutes.
Jamaica had their chances to score, with JeVaughn Watson heading against the crossbar from Garath McLeary’s corner after only 11 minutes.
The circumstances surrounding the apparent expulsion of Jamaica’s veteran German coach Schaefer remained unclear.
He was seen in a lengthy discussion with the match officials just before the start of the second half before being ordered to watch the remainder of the game from the stands.
Although down to 10 men, Jamaica continued to create chances, Michael Hector clipping the outside of the post on 49 minutes with a fine curling shot from distance.
Venezuela almost doubled their lead in the 70th minute only for Wilker Angel’s powerful diving header to be parried away by Blake.
Jamaica had started the game without Leicester City defender Wes Morgan, with reports in Kingston quoting Schaefer as saying he was still tired from celebrating the team’s fairy-tale Premier League triumph.
Morgan however appeared from the bench in the 40th minute, replacing the injured Kemar Lawrence.
“It’s always hard when you go a man down but I think it shows our team spirit that we didn’t concede another goal and we kept going and created chances,” Jamaica’s English-born forward Giles Barnes said.
“We gave blood, sweat and tears but unfortunately we didn’t hit the back of the net.”
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