In the concluding matchday for Group A, the United States join Colombia as the top two teams of the group, qualifying to the quarter finals of the Copa America, leaving Paraguay and Costa Rica disappointed.
United States 1 Paraguay 0: Despite playing with 10 men for 42 minutes, the hosts erase their loss to Colombia in the tournament opener and beat a tough and rugged Paraguay side with a Clint Dempsey goal in the 27th minute. Excellent work by Gyasi Zardes on the wing opened up the opportunity for Dempsey, who was a gametime decision leading up to the match. Paraguay had their chances, especially early on, but couldn’t take advantage of DeAndre Yedlin getting red carded, twice booked for reckless tackles.
Colombia 2 Costa Rica 3: The Colombians were through either way, but by losing the match they’ll play out of the second seed, which means, probably, facing Brazil in the next round. Costa Rica are going home, but at least they managed to gather some respect after their poor performances that kept them out of the final 8. Johan Venegas, a Colombian own goal and Celso Borges scored for Costa Rica, Frank Fabra and Marlos Moreno scored for Colombia.
Group A Table
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | United States (H, A) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
2 | Colombia (A) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 6 | |
3 | Costa Rica (E) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 4 | |
4 | Paraguay (E) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 1 |
Top Scorers
- Philippe Coutinho (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argetina): 3 goals
- Renato Augusto (Brazil), James Rodriguez (Colombia), Blas Pérez (Panama), Arturo Vidal (Chile), Clint Dempsey (United States): 2 goals
- 32 Different players with one goal each