An own goal, a penalty, and an injury-time winner – it was yet another exciting day in the 47th edition of Copa America. Venezuela held Ecuador to a 2-2 draw, and Peru pipped Colombia to register their first win.
Here’s a recap of both the matches from the fifth matchday of Copa America 2021.
VEN vs ECU
Venezuela scored in the dying minutes to earn a point against Ecuador in the Group B fixture. Edson Castillo was the player to watch out for in the match as he scored Venezuela’s opening goal and set up the injury-time equalizer. Ecuador would have been disappointed to miss out on three points after grabbing the lead twice in the match.
Sporting CP’s Gonzalo Plata was outstanding for Ecuador. He scored a brilliant individual goal to help his side take the lead for the second time in the match. A few minutes later, Plata released Inner Valencia with a brilliant through ball, but the 31-year-old missed the target. Ecuador, who suffered a narrow defeat at the hands of Colombia in the opening game, is at the bottom of Group B.
Goalscorers: VEN – E Castillo, R Hernandez; ECU – A Preciado, G Plata
Assists: VEN – J Martinez, E Castillo; ECU – R Arboleda
Top Five Fantasy Points scorers: E Castillo (19 pts), Ayrton Preciado (13.5 pts), G Plata (11 pts), R Hernandez (11 pts), J Andres Martinez Torres (10 pts)
COL vs PER
An own goal from Yerry Mina helped Peru pick up three points and climb to third in Group B. It was Peru, against the run of play, who drew the first blood through Carlos Pena in the 17th minute. Colombia had their chances in the first half as Juan Cuadrado’s curling effort narrowly missed the target, while Miguel Borja’s powerful strike deflected over the bar.
Colombia leveled the game immediately after the break when Borja converted a penalty, awarded for bringing him down inside the box. However, just after the hour mark, Mina accidentally steered the ball into his own goal to give Peru the lead and eventually all three points.
Goalscorers: COL – M Borja; PER – S Pena, Y Mina (OG)
Assists: none
Top Five Fantasy Points scorers: S Pena (12 pts), M Borja (12 pts), Y Yotun (6.5 pts), W Barrios (6.5 pts), J Cuadrado (6.5 pts)
Parameswaran Sankaranarayanan
Parameswaran Sankaranarayan is a sports enthusiast who has worked in print, website, and other digital platforms. He was part of the editorial team of first-ever Indian football-based website - IndianFootball.com (now defunct) - and passionately follows the latest happenings in world football. During his time as a journalist, he had the opportunity to interact with some of the iconic personalities in Indian sports and witness some memorable moments in Indian football.
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