On the reverse end of the fixture, the US sits in second with three points and a plus two-goal differential.
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“You need now to get at least one point”. Colombia defender Jeison Murillo went up for a header on offense clashed heads with Villar trying to catch the ball and both went down in a heap. The US recorded their first Copa America win since upsetting Argentina on July 14, 1995, breaking a seven-game winless streak in the tournament, including six straight losses.
It took the Paraguayans less than two minutes to put the pressure back on Colombia’s side after Victor Yala from 25 meters shoots the ball into the corner behind Ospina. It’s a good group of guys that we have together. “I think this is the most hard group”.
Colombia advanced to the quarter-finals of the Copa America Centenario courtesy of a 2-1 win over 10-man Paraguay on Tuesday. Colombia has certainly made its presence known by being the first team in Copa America to advance to the next round. This allowed for the likes of Jermaine Jones, DeAndre Yedlin, and Fabian Johnson to get forward in the attack because the USA was covered on defense. The top two teams in the group will advance to the next round. “You see that they are starting now to smell each other and make runs off each other”, he said.
Dempsey got the first, his 50th worldwide goal, from the penalty spot after Cristian Gamboa was adjudged to have pushed Wood in the box with six minutes gone.
Paraguay seemed to ignite their offense late in the first half.
But Klinsmann, whose position could be in jeopardy if the USA make an early exit from the tournament, said there was no chance of his team playing for a draw.
Neither the U.S., not Costa Rica and Paraguay will be able to threaten Colombia’s six points, given the Cafeteros some ease ahead of the match against Costa Rica on Saturday.
“We watched video, we see things, we know as players we can do things better, but we can take positives out of the game”, Cameron said.
Paraguay’s task got tougher when Romero was sent off for a second booking in the space of three minutes when he pulled back Rodriguez and Colombia held on for victory.
The second goal came 18 minutes later when Edwin Cardona managed to knock the ball into the path of Rodriguez, who fired past Villar with a first-time effort, notching his 16th worldwide goal.
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Colombia shot-stopper David Ospina hardly touched the ball in the opening half, and a Robert Piris Da Motta strike was the only shot they had on goal in the opening 22 minutes, but even that was blocked by defender Jeison Murillo.
