Glendale, June 6: Late goals from Rafael Marquez and Hector Herrera helped Mexico survive the loss of playmaker Andres Guardado to a red card and win 3-1 against Uruguay in the Copa America Group B opener for both teams.
Mexico ran its unbeaten streak to 20 games across all competitions with the win here on Sunday.
Diego Godin of Uruguay scored on a header off a set piece in the 74th minute to tie the game at 1-1, right after Guardado was sent off.
An own goal in the fourth minute by Uruguay’s Alvaro Pereira had Mexico ahead 1-0 for much of the game, but Uruguay’s attack got stronger even down a man to start the second half.
Uruguay played the entire second half with 10 men after midfielder Matias Vecino drew a second yellow card when he kicked Mexico’s Jesus Manuel Corona in the knee just before halftime. Uruguay made it interesting despite the disadvantage.Diego Rolan put an open shot wide in the 58th minute.
Uruguay’s best chance to score in the first half came when Edinson Cavani got behind the Mexico defense in the 30th minute and rifled a shot on goal, but Alfredo Talavera made a sliding save.
But Mexico applied pressure to score in the 85th minute and then in injury time to seal three points.
Group C action continues on Thursday when Mexico faces Jamaica in Pasadena, California and Uruguay takes on Venezuela in Philadelphia.
Wrong anthem played at Uruguay-Mexico Copa match
Uruguayan footballers were shocked and surprisingly looked at each other in bemusement when the wrong national anthem was played prior to their Copa America Centenario match against Mexico.
The organisers played the national anthem of Chile instead of Uruguay’s “Orientales, la Patria o la Tumba” here on Sunday.
The organisers apologised to the “people of Uruguay” and blamed “human error” for the mistake and said they will ensure the error is not repeated again, reports the BBC on Monday.
Uruguay lost the match 1-3, conceding two late goals, after being down to 10 men for a large part of the match.
