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Uruguay sets up match with Argentina after beating Mexico, Chile tops Peru

Uruguay Mexico 1 (Reuters)

By FRANCO PANIZO

Uruguay wasted a number of chances, but Alvaro Pereira's goal was enough to give Los Charruas a 1-0 win over Mexico and set up a mouth-watering quarterfinals match against Argentina.

Pereira gave Uruguay three points in the final game of Group C on Tuesday night when he netted his second goal of the tournament in the 14th minute. Pereira pounced on a rebound and knocked the ball in from inside the six yard box with his left foot.

The victory, combined with Chile's win over Peru in the first game of the night, lifted Uruguay to second place in the group with five points. It also set up an appetizing quarterfinals date against Argentina, which finished second in Group A. The game will be played on Saturday, July 16.

Mexico was eliminated from the competition with the loss, finishing fourth in the group and dead last in the tournament after failing to secure a single point.

Here are the game highlights as well as a recap of Chile's win versus Peru:

LATE OWN GOAL SEES CHILE WIN GROUP C

Chile and Peru entered their final match in Group C knowing that a victory would be enough to take first place. The spoils went to Chile as an agonizing own goal in the final seconds of the game saw Peru lose for the first time in this Copa America.

Chile defeated Peru, 1-0, after a corner kick whipped in from the right smacked off Peruvian midfielder Andre Carillo before rolling into his own net in the 92nd minute.

Both teams rested regulars as they had already secured advancement to the knockout stage, but both finished the game with 10 men after Chile's Jean Beausejour and Peru's Giancarlo Carmona were given red cards for a physical incident off the ball in the 62nd minute.

The result, combined with Uruguay's triumph over Mexico, dropped the La Blanquirroja to third place on four points. But like Chile, the Peruvians will have to wait until group play is wrapped up on Wednesday to see who they'll face in the quarterfinals.

Here are the game highlights:

  

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Happy to see Mexico lose to Uruguay and finish the Copa America in dead last? What did you think of Chile's win over Peru? Excited to see Uruguay-Argentina in the quarters?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. First time Mexico is left out of groups stage since they participated in 1993. I thought Uruguay will score 3 on them and it didn’t happen. All teams in group c had there chance to beat Mexico for the first time in copa America. Mexico had never lost to them in copa america. Well it was a under 22 squad because with there real squad that would of not happen.

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  2. When you talk about Mexico’s “B-team”, you overlook the fact that the eight players were not there for a reason. Can a coach really count on players that lack discipline and ignore the team rules? These players clearly had different priorities than doing well in the tournament. If they are the B-team, they did worse than the C-team that finished last in their group.

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  3. Comparing the 2007 Copa America and ’10 World Cup squads, the US didn’t send such a weak team. These players that played the Copa American went on to play in the WC:
    Jay DeMerit, Herculez Gomez, Ricardo Clark, Jonathan Bornstein, Brad Guzan

    A side from those the CA squad also included:
    Sacha Kljestan,Charlie Davies,Benny Feilhaber, Kasey Keller,Eddie Johnson.

    It will be interesting to see how Costa Rica and Mexico’s squads compare to their WC squads.

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  4. Mexico actually did do better, US finished last in 2007 with -6 goal difference.

    Conmebol found it disrespectful that the USSF would send a bunch of amateurs to the Copa America. Either that or the US didn’t bring enough $$$ to the tournament.

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  5. Relax. Mexican team fielded their version of a C-Team not A-Team. I believe Pele Dos Santos was the only holdover from the Gold Cup squad. The 8 guys removed would have made this team closer to a B-team.

    Forlan and Suarez have been uncharacteristically bad all tournament.

    It was good to see that Mexica struggled as bad as the US team as they join the list of Copa America participants to not come away with a point. In other words as was the case with US a few years ago, who cares of how bad they did. It’s not like the teams fielded their top guys.

    But let’s face it. As much as I hate saying this, their talent is a lot better than ours. Younger, faster, technically skilled, and better coached. Our advantage used to be that we were faster, athletic, physical, and organized. I remember when we were able to run around in circle of these guys, but I can’t say that anymore after the gold cup final.

    oh well, all I can hope for is better player development.

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  6. Racism? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard hear, even dumber that martha guy.

    I thought Costa Rica did very well since they were last minute call ups, Mexico on the other hand have themselves to blame. They could have done ok, if not for the whole prostitute scandal, maybe.

    What was the US excuse? Concacaf didn’t impose an age limit on them like they did to Mexico and Costa Rica. What matters to Conmebol is $$$, and because of that Mexico will always be invited. The US will probably never be invited again, but then again USSF doesn’t really care.

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  7. Seriously, when I see Martha’s rants, all I see is blah blah blah … The kid is clearly angered. By what, I’m just not sure. Maybe Mexicans?

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  8. Hey jerk! who ever said Gio was Pele? You are being irrational pal, it was Mexico’s B team not A team. “sucktitude” WTH? you are illiterate, misinformed, and you make the human race look stupid with your ignorant rants……If some one is going to post something, please make sure it makes sense and you prove a point… with all due respect, what is your damn deal ? your like a plague, I hope they make a Vaccine for stupidity soon.

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  9. I don’t know about outclassed but Mexico was the weaker opponent. No big deal. I’m sure lessons were learned and most important of all, never call up Marquez Lugo again. Please.

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  10. Losing by one-goal margins is a victory for this Mexico team. I agree with AL 17, not bad overall. As for Gio, I could see the frustration toward the beginning of the tourney when he tried to make plays but had no real support. Marquez Lugo was no help. So I can understand the kid.

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  11. Exactly.

    Goldcup (qualifying for Copa)
    Copa America
    WC qualifiers/confed
    WC

    Confed spot could be determined by gold cup or hight Copa finish by conceded team. The problem with this is that concaf minnow only get payday games every other year vs 3 out of 4

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  12. Huh? I only watched the Mexico v Uruguay match, but in that one mexico looked great through the mids. Yes they were overmatched physically and couldn’t finish – but they were inventive, composed and passed well. Lost? No way. I say again, I wish our USMNT would/could play that way.

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  13. Um USA c team did play just as good in copa as mexicos a- team. Or i Should say they sucked as bad.

    Alot of you were kissing mex butt over all their glorious u17 games and how they were going to win the next 5 world cups…

    And now you excuse then because they were missing six “starters” yet you want to dismiss the us missing regulars in the Gold Cup as contributing to their loss.

    How can anyone say they looked ? That’s a overly optimistic way to look at things they were lucky uruguay should have won 5-0 Forlan an Suarez were uncharacteristically bad and missed a Ton o sitters and even some break aways.

    Then Gio “Pele” Dos Santos was subbed at the half for sucktitude. He looked like Ronaldo and Ronaldinho out there…… The fat lazy versions of then

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  14. “… finishing fourth in the group and dead last in the tournament after failing to secure a single point”

    They did so much better than the team we sent 4 years ago.
    NOT!

    And why did the US not get an invite?

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  15. Are you kidding me?

    Mexico looked completely overmatched in all 3 games. Look beyond the final scores, and you will find that Mexico was physically outclassed in all 3 games. Their youngsters looked completely lost, and their more senior members looked even worse. Even the biased Univision commentators were tearing Mexico a new one during the Uruguay game. Even as a USA fan, I expected more from our rival.

    Th most interesting thing I noticed was how Mexico responded to these PHYSICAL conmebol teams. The Uruguay defenders and mids clobbered Mexico the entire game, and Suarez did a great job putting his body into the Mexico backline. It was satisfying to see Mexico without their crowd and without their swagger. I really hope Bradley was taking notes.

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  16. Costa Rica did well, but I am not sure that I agree with you regarding Mexico’s U22 looking good. They lost all their games and scored only one goal. They even lost to Peru, which along with Bolivia is probably the weakest South American team at the moment. After a stellar Gold Cup, Gio Dos Santos is back to being an average player. I know that his teammates at Copa are lesser players that Mexico’s A squad, but I still did not expect such a big drop off in his performance.

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  17. well colombia won their group and earned the right to play an easier team. by lucked out i meant that Peru finished in 3rd place and still didn’t get an Argentina or Brazil. No disrespect to Colombia.

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  18. I don’t think that FIFA deducts points for losses, but Mexico will probably drop because they didn’t gain any points while the other teams did.

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  19. Why was Conembol ok with Mexico and Costa Rica bring U22 squads but was upset with the US for bringing the squad they did in 07, I call racism…..

    Why cant Concacaf and conembol make a joint tournament every Olympic year and rival the Euros

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  20. Even though they lost, I thought Mexico ‘B’ side looked great – quick, inventive, composed, passed beautifully. I’d like to see the USMNT play like that, A or B or any side.

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  21. Mexico’s U22 looked good as did Costa Rica’s U22 team that played in this tournament. CONCACAF is about to get really tough and should be fun to watch.

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  22. Fifa’s ranking don’t care what team you send. They rate the competition and they rate your opponent and give you points based upon those factors. It’s pretty simplistic.

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  23. Chile have looked pretty good. Peru has been surprisingly good considering how awful we’ve been fairly recently. I would have liked to see what Markarian could do with a full strength Peruvian side (Farfan, Pizarro, Zambrano). Looks like Peru might “luck out” and catch Colombia in the quarters.

    Either way the knockout stage is the real test for all these teams. Much was made of Brazil and Argentina’s poor play in the groups but the knockout stage is where you see how strong a team really is.

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  24. So since these games are categorized as ‘A’ games in the FIFA rankings, is it safe to assume that Mexico will drop in rank? Or will the ranking somehow take into account that they sent a B team?

    Yes, yes, I know that FIFA ranks really don’t matter but I’m curious.

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  25. Great to see Chile top the group. They’re my favorite South American team hands down, and I was worried they were going to hit a slump after Bielsa left, but they seem to be playing pretty well. They’ll have to finish more chances than they did against Peru, but I think they have an excellent chance to make it to the final. Although it seems like every time Chile make it to the knockout round of a tournament, their first game is against Brazil, which makes things difficult. It will be interesting to see how the Group B games finish up tomorrow. I’m torn between hoping that Chile can avoid Brazil for once, and wanting to take the opportunity to get revenge on a subpar Brazilian team for all the other times they’ve knocked Chile out of tournaments. ¡Vamos La Roja!

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  26. Honestly, this is the best thing that could have happened to this butchered U-22 Mexico team after losing 8 players 6 of which were starters, due to the prostitution scandal. I think they should have dropped out the tournament when that happened.

    Reply

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