Colombia beat Peru 4-2 in a penalty shootout on Friday to progress to the semi-finals of the Copa America after the two sides played to a boring scoreless draw in New Jersey. Hoping to stay even after three rounds, Miguel Trauco sent a kick down the middle as Ospina dived to his left and raised his trailing right leg to kick the ball away.
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About two minutes later, Christian Cueva stood over the ball, looked skyward, exhaled deeply and skied La Blanquirroja’s final attempt over the crossbar.
Colombia will play in Chicago next Wednesday, June 22, against Mexico or Chile for a place in the Copa America Final. The United States faces Argentina or Venezuela at Houston on Tuesday in the first semifinal of the expanded tournament, played with 16 nations from throughout the Americas to celebrate the event’s 100th anniversary. It was an unfortunate kick for the 24-year-old set piece expert who had been one of the stars of the Peruvian team alongside Guerrero, with his vibrant and energetic style of play. They eliminated none other than Brazil, and that’s when they needed a win.
The next opportunity fell to James in the 22nd minute, with the Real Madrid attacker seeing his shot cannon off the post. “I love David, and today he was great”.
And there were empty seats at the start of the game, but as it happened, that was more to do with traffic on a Friday night in the Greater New York area. The best scoring chance of the opening stanza came from the foot of James Rodriguez in the 21′ minute.
Colombia’s inability to find the decisive pass in the final third resulted in the starvation of Carlos Bacca who was spearheading the attack.
Their spirit was undeterred by a somewhat disheveled first half that saw the two sides register 19 fouls, but not a a single shot on goal.
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Far from the prettiest soccer Copa America has seen this edition, Friday’s tense, chippy affair still offered plenty of entertainment value, due in no small part to the fans. “We know that whoever we face, they are going to try and complicate things for us”.
