Piero Hincapie opens Ecuador’s first Copa America victory with a curious goal against Jamaica – while Venezuela book their quarter-final ticket against Mexico
After a surprising 2-1 defeat to Venezuela in their Copa America opener, Ecuador may have got their act together just in time. On Thursday night (CEST), the 30th-ranked team in the world defeated underdog Jamaica 3:1 and now only needs one point in the final match against Mexico to advance to the quarter-finals.
In Las Vegas, it was Piero Hincapie who put the Ecuadorians on the road to victory with a crazy goal. The Leverkusen man struck a cross almost from the corner flag, which was deflected by Kasey Palmer into the right-hand corner of the goal (13′). In first-half stoppage time, 17-year-old Kendry Paez, who will join Chelsea FC in 2025, made it 2:0 with a penalty
The Jamaicans, who were making their third appearance at the South American Championship as guests, came close again through West Ham professional Michail Antonio following a corner (54′), but were unable to score. Instead, substitute Alan Minda made everything clear on the counter-attack (90.+1).
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Venezuela then booked their quarter-final ticket with a 1:0 win against Mexico. The in-form team of Argentinian coach Fernando Batista, who are fourth in the South American World Cup qualifiers and can dream of their first appearance in the finals, benefited from two penalties in Los Angeles: veteran Salomon Rondon, who had narrowly missed out on the lead before the break (post, 34), converted with ease (57), while Orbelin Pineda failed to score from the spot against strong keeper Rafael Romo (88).
This miss put Venezuela – like defending champions Argentina the day before – through to the knockout round. Mexico, on the other hand, must beat Ecuador to progress. Jamaica is eliminated
