A capacity crowd of 82,566 is expected to fill MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
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Ospina also rescued Colombia in normal time with a superb save from Christian Ramos’ goal-bound header before denying Miguel Trauco with an acrobatic stop from his foot in the subsequent penalty decider.
At 10 p.m. this evening, the two teams will face off at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., with the victor moving on to face Colombia in Chicago next Wednesday.
Tailgaters sang and danced. This was an event. With the United States of America advancing the semi’s already they are guaranteed two more matches in this tournament and could possibly play the victor of this match in the final or third-place match.
It was a physical contest from start to finish. I think he’s the best’.
Colombia came inches from taking the lead in the 22nd minute.
Colombia came the closest to opening the scoring when captain James Rodriguez cut through the Peruvian defense in the 21st minute only to see his right-footed strike ricochet off the post with Real Madrid man hitting the side net from the rebound.
Colombia had a 9-4 advantage in total shots, but both teams had only one shot on goal.
A penalty shoot-out win over Peru saw Colombia move into the semi-finals of the Copa America Centenario.
David Ospina was the hero in the shootout as he backed up Colombia’s flawless pens by saving Peru’s third spot kick.
Peru nearly snatched victory deep into injury time however when Christian Ramos headed powerfully towards goal from Cueva’s corner.
The Colombians controlled play in the early stages of the first half, but had very little to show for their efforts.
“I contributed my bit, and we want to keep going from here”, Ospina said.
“We had high expectations, and it hurts so much more to be eliminated in this way”.
The fact that Peru even advanced to the quarterfinals was surprising.
But they did so with plenty of controversy. Raul Ruidiaz and Renato Tapia were successful on the first two attempts for Peru. The officials discussed it, but the goal ultimately stood.
Peru enter the fray having escaped the clutches of Group B, unlike tournament favourites, Brazil.
Argentina manager Gerardo Martino said Messi “is definitely in good shape to play from the beginning, so it’s quite possible that he will be a starter”.
“They’re both big teams, with talent”. That accomplished the USA goal of making it at least to the semifinals, which was no guarantee after its loss to Colombia. “For the last few years, the team has been playing well in all the decisive games and it bodes well for this tournament”.
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“How can that not inspire you, if you’re facing one of the best players in the world?”
