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Copa America 2019: Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani crush 10-man Ecuador

Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani were on target as Uruguay thumped 10-man Ecuador 4-0 in their opening Group C match at the Copa America on Sunday.

Nicolas Lodeiro opened the scoring after just six minutes before Ecuador full-back Jose Quintero was dismissed for a flailing arm.

With a numerical advantage, Uruguay ran riot at the Mineirao stadium in Belo Horizonte as Cavani and Suarez netted before the break. The rout was completed 12 minutes from time with an Arturo Mina own goal.

“We had chances in the first half, we managed to take them and that gave us the tranquility to manage the game,” said Cavani, who finally scored his first Copa America goal in his fourth participation.

“It was an important step.” It was the ideal beginning for Uruguay in a tough Group C alongside champions Chile and guests Japan, who meet on Monday in Sao Paulo.

“We’re not as bad as that,” lamented Ecuador’s Colombian coach Hernan Dario Gomez.

“It was a match that got away from us, especially in the first half when it got away from us in every aspect.” Uruguay were off to a dream start.

Suarez crossed from the right and Lodeiro proved the coolest customer in the Mineirao stadium as he beat one defender with his chest control, flicked the ball over another and then hit a crisp, low volley into the bottom far corner.

“We knew they would be very tough opponents. The important thing was start the game with maximum concentration and we managed that,” said Cavani.

Uruguay were rampant and had the ball in the net soon afterwards only for Cavani to be given offside in the build-up.

Ecuador brought a physicality to the contest that upset the Uruguayan players and Quintero was perhaps lucky to escape punishment when catching Diego Laxalt with an elbow in an aerial challenge.

But moments later, his arm made contact with Lodeiro’s face when challenging for another header, this time drawing blood.

Brazilian referee Anderson Daronco — whose bulging arm muscles put even Ecuador’s strapping players to shame — initially showed the full-back a yellow card but after consulting VAR he changed that to red.

That left Ecuador with a mountain to climb.

On 27 minutes, Alexander Dominguez made a brilliant low save to turn behind Cavani’s half-volley from 15 yards.

Paris Saint-Germain forward Cavani was denied again when Dominguez stunningly tipped his clever back-flick onto the post one-handed.

But it was third time lucky on 33 minutes as Diego Godin headed the ball into the danger area and Cavani acrobatically rasped a bicycle kick from seven yards past a helpless Dominguez, his 47th international goal.

– Patient Uruguay – =================== Nahitan Nandez wasted a good chance, shooting straight at Dominguez but Suarez put the game to bed a minute before the break, stealing in at the back post to poke home a flick-on from Martin Caceres.

With the game all but over as a contest, the second half was a damp squib of an affair.

Uruguay had the ball in the net soon after the restart but Cavani was offside again.

Ecuador showed plenty of commitment, continuing to rough up Uruguay’s more technical players, but never looked like they believed they would get anything out of the game.

Uruguay looked content to play a patient possession game without pushing for more goals.

Cavani did send Suarez scampering in on goal after a defensive mistake but Dominguez was quickly off his line to snatch the ball off the Barcelona forward’s toes.

The fourth came in calamitous fashion as Gaston Pereiro tried to pick out Suarez from Cavani’s cross even though he was only six yards from goal.

His header dropped to Ecuador center-half Mina, who inadvertently volleyed into his own goal.

“The important thing was that the team won and now we’ll prepare for the next match,” against Japan on Thursday, said Suarez, who notched his 57th goal for Uruguay.

Qatar hit back to snatch Paraguay draw

Boualem Khoukhi scored 13 minutes from time as Asian champions Qatar hit back from 2-0 down to earn a 2-2 draw with Paraguay at the Copa America on Sunday.

An Oscar Cardozo penalty and a stunning Derlis Gonzalez strike gave the South Americans a 2-0 lead in Rio de Janeiro but goals from Almoez Ali and Khoukhi in the final quarter snatched a share of the Group B spoils for the tournament debutants.

“It’s a fair result, we deserved the point we gained,” said Qatar’s Spanish coach Felix Sanchez.

He praised his players for “keeping the faith” and “showing the desire to go after the game, that was the most positive thing for us.” It left the sides two points behind Group B leaders Colombia, who opened their account with a 2-0 win over Lionel Messi’s Argentina on Saturday.

“We were unable to manage our advantage and we leave with a bitter taste,” admitted Gonzalez.

Tournament invitees Qatar made a disastrous start with a defensive mix up in the first minute causing panic in their own area.

The Asian champions survived but Paraguay kept the pressure on and a couple of minutes later had won a penalty for handball after a Bruno Valdez header struck Portuguese-born full-back Pedro Miguel’s arm.

Cardozo hammered the resulting spot kick straight down the middle of the goal to give Paraguay a fourth-minute lead.

Qatar should have equalized on 16 minutes but incredibly two players missed an open goal.

Left-back Hassan Abdelkarim flashed an inviting center across the six yard box where Sudanese-born Ali and Hasan Khalid Al Haydos both somehow contrived to completely miss the ball from just a couple of yards out.

Qatar, the next World Cup hosts in 2022, were neat and tidy in possession but initially lacked the cutting edge and ruthlessness that Paraguay showed.

The South Americans threatened to double their lead but Fabian Balbuena headed over and Hernan Perez forced a smart save from goalkeeper Saad Al-Sheeb.

Qatar had another great chance to equalize after Al Haydas’s beautiful chipped pass found Abdulaziz Hatem six yards out at an angle, but he blasted a volley straight into goalkeeper Roberto Fernandez’s chest.

– Qatar fightback – =================== Paraguay looked to have doubled their lead on 51 minutes when Cardozo turned home a Miguel Almiron cross, but VAR adjudged Gonzalez to have been offside in the build-up.

Five minutes later, though, Gonzalez himself scored the second with a screamer from 25 yards into the top corner.

Qatar were back in it halfway through the second period with a special strike of their own as Ali’s shot from the corner of the 18-yard box took a nick off a defender’s foot and arched over Fernandez into the top corner, drawing cheers from the sparse crowd inside the Maracana stadium.

And the Asian champions were level 13 minutes from time after opening up the Paraguay defense with a slick passing move.

Akram Afif slipped in Algerian-born Khoukhi, running in at an angle between full-back and center-back.

His finish hit Fernandez’s knee and ballooned up into the air where the back tracking Rodrigo Rojas attempted to head it off the line but succeeded only in putting the ball into the roof of the net and then injured himself falling into the goal.

“We need to take a look at our midfield play,” Paraguay coach Eduardo Berizzo said.

“We were up against very good opponents, we knew what were up against.”

First Published:
Jun 17, 2019 15:01 IST

Source: HindustanTimes