ORLANDO: Panama beat Bolivia 3-1 on Monday to finish second in Group C and qualify for the Copa America quarter-finals after tournament hosts the United States were eliminated following a 1-0 loss to group winners Uruguay.
The win moved Panama, playing in only their second Copa America, up to second on six points, three more than the U.S., as the central American side reached the knockout stage for the first time.
Uruguay finished with nine points. Jose Fajardo opened the scoring for Panama while substitutes Eduardo Guerrero and Cesar Yanis scored late to seal all three points, with Bolivia’s lone goal coming from Bruno Miranda.
“Football is daily suffering, but today there was a lot at stake,” Panama boss Thomas Christiansen told reporters. “We knew that not even a win guaranteed that we would make it to the quarter-finals after the first goal.
“Our performance dropped at times ... they (Bolivia) began to control the game and they scored. We started to get a bit more anxious. “But we reacted quickly. Our players were able to overcome those odds and the substitutions made a huge difference.”
Bolivia needed a win with only a slim chance of staying alive in the tournament, but it was Panama who broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute when Cristian Martinez set up Fajardo. The 30-year-old forward expertly controlled Martinez’s header into the box, let it bounce and volleyed the ball past Bolivia goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra.
Bolivia equalised in the 69th minute when they cut through Panama’s midfield and defence, with Ramiro Vaca finding Miranda, who slipped his shot past the keeper. Bolivia nearly took the lead in the 78th minute when Panama goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera ventured out of the box but Miguel Terceros’s long-range effort was thwarted by the retreating Panama defence.
A minute later, Panama wrested back control of qualification when Davis curled in a cross from the left and Guerrero connected with a glancing header - his first goal for his country. Yanis made sure of victory in the first minute of added time, blasting a right-footed shot into the top right corner after he was put through on goal, sparking wild celebrations at the Inter&Co Stadium.
While Panama wait to learn their quarter-final opponents with Group D set to finish their games on Tuesday, Bolivia exit the tournament after three straight losses having conceded 10 goals and scoring just one. “We need to leverage all the lessons we learned here in Copa America,” Bolivia coach Antonio Carlos Zago said.