In a heated duel with Colombia, Brazil missed out on winning their group at the Copa America and face a tough quarter-final – partly because of Vinicius Junior.
The Brazilian national team will have a bad word to say about Jesus Valenzuela from Venezuela for some time to come. The referee was at the center of attention on several occasions when the Selecao lost their Copa America group win with a 1-1 draw against Colombia on Wednesday night (CEST) and had to concede to their opponents.
While Colombia will face Panama in the quarter-finals, Brazil will have to play Uruguay on Sunday (3:00 CEST), who dominated Group C with three wins and 9:1 goals. Even more bitter: Vinicius Junior will be missing. In what was expected to be a heated encounter with the Colombians in Santa Clara, California, Real Madrid’s attacker received the first of his five yellow cards in the seventh minute – his second of the tournament.
Vinicius Junior stunned after tackle – Cordoba sets up equalizer
Nonetheless, Brazil had the advantage after the opening stages: after 32-year-old James failed to hit the crossbar with a superb free-kick (8′), Raphinha sank his effort into the corner of the goal at the other end with no less skill. Keeper Camilo Vargas was unable to prevent the shot from going in – 1:0 (12′).
The Colombians, who went into the game on a 25-game unbeaten streak, were just as unimpressed by this as they were by a goal by Davinson Sanchez that was disallowed for a close offside call and continued to dominate the rest of the first half. And it ended in controversy.
Vinicius Junior went down in a duel with Daniel Munoz in the penalty area but, to his horror, was not awarded a penalty, even after a VAR check. Apparently, referee Valenzuela and his team were of the opinion that Vinicius Junior had already taken off shortly before the clear contact. In any case, Munoz did not hit the ball (43′). Even more bitter: Shortly before the break, Munoz equalized after being set up perfectly by ex-Bundesliga professional Jhon Cordoba (45.+2).
With the final whistle, Valenzuela increases Brazil’s anger once again
Because former Frankfurt and Bremen substitute Rafael Borré missed a great chance for Colombia in the second half and Vargas saved a long-range shot from joker Andreas Pereira shortly before the end, the score remained 1-1, after which the Brazilians surrounded Valenzuela. He added to their anger by not allowing a corner kick to be taken seconds after stoppage time had expired
In the parallel match, Costa Rica defeated point-less Paraguay 2:1, but that was no longer enough to jeopardize Brazil’s progress. For that to happen, the favorites would have had to lose and Costa Rica would have had to celebrate a resounding victory
