🌎 Brazil redeemed after Paraguay thrashing; Colombia advance | OneFootball

We continue with more Copa América action as we head into the weekend, and now we turn our attention to Group D, which was still very much up for grabs coming into the night. Here is what went down

Paraguay 1-4 Brazil

Scorers: Vinicius 35′, 45+5′, Sávio 43′, Paqueta (P) 65′ ; Alderete 48′

Brazil opened the floodgates with an emphatic win against Uruguay to get their Copa América campaign back on track.

Brazil appeared to be headed down a dark path when Lucas Paquetá blazed his penalty-kick wide after a hand-ball in the box, but the West Ham man was bailed out when Vinicius Junior finally opened Brazil’s account at the competition, alleviating plenty of pressure.

It went from good to great for the Brazilians when surprise started Sávio got in on the action to double the lead just minutes before Vinicius secured his brace to all but kill the game.

Paraguay pulled one back after the break thanks to Omar Alderete, perhaps making Brazil sweat just a bit.

That sweat dissipated relatively quickly however, as Lucas Paquetá righted his earlier wrong by converting from the penalty-spot, putting the final touches a dominant half-hour.

It got far worse for Paraguay when Andrés Cubas appeared to kick out at a Brazilian player and was given his marching orders — a final nail in the Paraguayan coffin.

Colombia 3-0 Costa Rica

Scorers: Díaz 31′, Sánchez 60′, Córdoba 63′

Colombia cruised into the quarter-finals, thumping a previously stubborn Costa Rica side.

Costa Rica had already shown that they would be a tough nut to crack when they held Brazil to a goalless draw last time out, and they were proving equally tough against Colombia to start the night.

While Los Cafeteros pushed for the opener, the Costa Rican reaguard stood tall until the half-hour mark when a rush of blood to the keeper’s head gifted Colombia the chance to snatch the lead.

For some reason, Patrick Sequeira came rushing out of his goal to close down a Colombian attacker, but he clattered into that attacker in the process to force the referee into awarding a penalty-kick. Up stepped Luis Díaz to coolly dispatch the spot-kick.

It was much of the same after the restart, as Colombia pushed for the second goal that would give them an unssailable lead, and they found that breathing room thanks to Davinson Sánchez, who headed home form a corner on the hour-mark.

The floodgates appeared to open from there and it only took three minutes for Jhon Córdoba made the most of his start by getting in behind the Costa Rica defence thanks to a line-splitting James Rodríguez pass before firing home the third on the night.