Copa América: Brazil to face Uruguay in quarter-finals after Colombia top Group D

Brazil played out an action-packed 1-1 draw with Colombia in California on Tuesday to set up a tasty Copa América quarter-final against Uruguay. The result means Colombia top Group D with seven points and will face Panama in the last eight.

Daniel Muñoz’s first-half strike for Colombia cancelled out an impressive early free-kick from Brazilian Raphinha. The result extended Colombia’s unbeaten run to 26 games, although it did end their 10-game winning streak.

“It was a match we all wanted to play to measure ourselves in a good moment for the team,” Colombia coach Nestor Lorenzo said. “I think today we took another step forward. With Brazil, you can’t neglect the team for a second. The feeling is one of satisfaction against a complicated opponent.”

Brazilian defender Marquinhos admitted that the team is not yet at full speed. “We have to be honest with ourselves, we still have a lot to grow, a lot to improve, especially in these big games,” he said.

The match between Colombia, unbeaten since March 2022, and five-time world champions Brazil lived up to its fireworks promise as the two teams went at it from kick-off. In a frantic first 15 minutes at Levi’s Stadium, Vinicius Jr. was shown a yellow card after accidentally hitting James Rodriguez while wrestling for a loose ball, a yellow card that will rule the winger out of the match against Uruguay.

Rodriguez came within a whisker of opening the scoring when he hit the crossbar from the resulting free-kick. But the Colombian veteran was overshadowed in the 12th minute by Raphinha, who himself fired a sublime free-kick into the top corner to put Brazil ahead.

Colombia thought they had equalized when Davinson Sanchez headed Rodriguez’s dangerous cross into the penalty area, but the goal was ruled out for offside after a lengthy VAR check. Brazil went for a penalty in the 42nd minute when Muñoz brought down Vinicius in the penalty area, but replays showed the Colombian defender touched the ball.

Jhon Cordoba then found a space on the edge of the penalty area and the Colombian striker played a brilliant through ball to Muñoz, who fired his shot into the net to level the scores in first-half injury time. Despite the scorching Californian heat, neither side dropped their intensity after the break and Raphinha came close to scoring from another free-kick in the 59th minute, but fired just wide of the post.

Colombia had chances to score in the second half, the best of which fell to substitute Rafael Borre, who fired over the bar from close range. Colombian keeper Camilo Vargas had to be sharp to stop Brazilian substitute Andreas Pereira’s diving long-range shot deep into injury time.

Costa Rica failed to reach the quarter-finals after finishing third in the group with four points, one behind Brazil, despite scoring two early goals to secure a 2-1 victory over Paraguay in their final group match.

“This was a very tough group. We played against Brazil and Colombia, two of the four favorites to win the Copa,” Costa Rican coach Gustavo Alfaro said. “We had our strengths, our performances and our mistakes, but we have grown and we analyze the performances instead of the results.”

Costa Rica needed results to go their way, along with a major shift in goal difference to qualify, and they wasted no time getting on the scoreboard as captain Francisco Calvo and Josimar Alcocer made it 2-0 inside seven minutes. Calvo headed in from the edge of the box in the third minute, while the 19-year-old Alcocer passed several players before pulling the trigger from well outside the box to slot past the keeper.

Paraguay came to life in the second half and Costa Rica’s qualification hopes were dashed 10 minutes after the break when Ramon Sosa scored his first goal for his country. Costa Rica’s defence could do nothing as Mathias Villasanti dribbled into the penalty area and set up Sosa, who fired the ball into the top corner past the outstretched hand of goalkeeper Patrick Sequeira.

Costa Rica nearly conceded another goal in injury time after a corner, the ball deflected off Fabian Balbuena’s head to Angel Romero but his shot failed to get past Sequeira’s fingertips. It was the first time since 1925 that Paraguay had lost all of their group games.

“It was a bad tournament, a bad performance,” said Paraguay coach Daniel Garnero.