Colombia qualified for the quarter-finals of the Copa America after a 2-1 Group A victory over 10-man Paraguay in Pasadena.
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Dempsey’s 50th goal game came in his 126th appearance for the US. Here are the five major talking points from matchday 5.
Colombia vs Costa Rica Copa America 2016 encounter begins at 9:00 p.m. local time ET or 6:00 p.m. PT on June 11, 2016 and 1:00 a.m. GMT on June 12, 2016. Their efforts paid off bountifully as the United States of America led 3-0 by half-time, effectively putting the tie to bed.
Ecuador: Must beat Haiti in the first game of the day, and will be guaranteed to progress if it wins by two goals.
The team claimed an impressive 4-0 win over Costa Rica after suffering a 2-0 lost to Colombia just days before. The win took them to 4 points, 2 behind the leaders Colombia.
Paraguay forward Antonio Sanabria believes recapturing that spirit will be important if they are to leapfrog United States of America and advance from the group stage. We’re aiming as high as possible, though we know that there is a team stronger than everyone in Juventus.
But on Tuesday he converted the opening penalty and then created the second and third goals, utilizing his full bag of tricks.
“Here and there, we maybe didn’t play as well as we did against Colombia, but we scored goals”, Klinsmann said after the win. “Our team needs to remember what we did in the second half, because we can do it again (against the U.S.)”. Only a wide shot by Clint Dempsey gave the United States hope to tie the game, but in the 40th minute of the match, the referee called a handball by DeAndre Yedlin inside the United States box given a penalty kick to the “Cafeteros”. Expect Paraguay to be desperate from the first minute on Saturday since they know that nothing but their best effort of the tournament will get them past the USA and into next week’s quarterfinals.
The final goal came just before the game’s conclusion, when Graham Zusi, who had come on for Wood in the second half, dribbled into the area and scored on a left-footed strike.
Paraguay will have to win this weekend without midfielder Oscar Romero, who was sent off with his second yellow card in the 81st minute.
“I think we all do understand what’s at stake”, USA manager Jurgen Klinsmann said at his press conference on Monday.
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“You want your players to go through that and go in there with a big chest and take the game to Paraguay and respect them with all the strengths they have, but also kind of showing them that we are able to play these kind of games”.
