Wasteful Uruguay score late flurry to down Panama in unconvincing Copa América opener
On a hot and humid night in Miami, Uruguay looked dominant early on, and their constant overlapping in the final third forced Panama to adopt a defensive stance.
Given how sharp Marcelo Bielsa’s men looked in the early stages, it wasn’t surprising to see La Celeste breaking the deadlock in the 15th minute when Maximiliano Araujo found himself in space on the edge of the box and blasted an unstoppable effort past Orlando Mosquera to give the 15-time Copa America champions an early lead.
La Celeste didn’t slow down after their early goal and kept controlling the contest, but despite the fact they often sought Darwin Nunez, the Liverpool striker was unable to find the back of the net in the first 45.
Panama failed to move past the halfway line with any sort of confidence, and Uruguay had at least two clear chances to double their lead, but their lack of accuracy in the final third forced them to settle for a 1-0 advantage at the break.
Panama enjoyed an excellent start to the second half and generated two clear scoring opportunities, as the halftime adjustments complicated Uruguay, with José Fajardo and Puma coming agonisingly close to finding the back of the net.
Uruguay didn’t react, and not even the substitutions of Nicolas De La Cruz and Sebastian Caceres could spark Bielsa’s boys. Federico Valverde tested Mosquera with a long-range effort in the 66th minute, but that was their first real approach since half time.
The final 20 minutes turned out to be extremely interesting. Uruguay took advantage of that to bolster their lead in the final stages of the contest, first when Nunez latched on to a rebound to smash home a volley from close range on 85 minutes and shortly after it was Mataas Viaa, who headed home a cross from De La Cruz.
Panama were not going to leave Miami empty-handed, however, and Michael Amir Murillo pulled one back with the last kick of the game to reduce the deficit.
The final result was positive for Uruguay, but this was very much a laboured success. La Celeste will aim to move closer to clinching a spot in the knockout stages against Bolivia on Thursday, while Panama will take on USA in an all-CONCACAF matchup on the same day.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Matias Vina (Uruguay)