Brazil played out an action-packed 1-1 draw with Colombia in California on Tuesday to set up a mouth-watering Copa America quarter-final against Uruguay.

Colombia, who finished top of Group D on seven points, will face Panama in the last eight.

The match between Colombia, unbeaten since March 2022, and five-time World Cup winners Brazil lived up to its firecracker billing as the two sides tore into each other straight from the kickoff.

In a frantic first fifteen minutes at Levi’s Stadium, Vinicius Jr was shown a yellow card after accidentally striking James Rodriguez while tussling over a loose ball, a booking which rules the winger out of the Uruguay match.

Rodriguez went within inches of scoring the opener as he clipped the crossbar from the resulting free-kick.

But he was upstaged in the 12th minute by Raphinha, who whipped a sublime free-kick of his own into the top corner to give Brazil the lead.

Colombia thought they had equalised when Davinson Sanchez headed home Rodriguez’s dangerous cross into the box but the goal was disallowed for offside after a lengthy VAR check.

Brazil claimed for a penalty in the 42nd minute when Daniel Munoz brought down Vinicius in the box but television replays showed the Colombia defender got a touch on the ball.

Colombia striker Jhon Cordoba then found a pocket of space on the edge of the area and played a brilliant through ball to Munoz, who rifled his effort into the net to level the scores in first-half stoppage time.

Despite the searing California heat neither side let the intensity drop after the break and Raphinha came close to scoring from another free-kick in the 59th minute, firing just wide of the post.

Colombia keeper Camilo Vargas had to be sharp to keep out Brazil substitute Andreas Pereira’s dipping long-range effort deep into stoppage time, a save which preserved the draw and stretched Colombia’s unbeaten run to 26 matches.

Costa Rica prevail

Costa Rica scored two early goals to beat Paraguay 2-1 in their final Group D
match but failed to advance after finishing third following Brazil’s draw.

“This was a very tough group. We were playing against Brazil and Colombia, two of the four favourites to win the Copa,” Costa Rica coach Gustavo Alfaro told reporters.

“We had our strengths, our achievements and our mistakes, but we grew and we’re analysing the performance rather than the results.

“The important thing is that we learn.”

Costa Rica needed results to go their way along with a big swing in goal difference to qualify and they wasted no time getting on the board when skipper Francisco Calvo and Josimar Alcocer made it 2-0 inside seven minutes.

Reuters