Luis Suarez rescued Uruguay with an injury-time equaliser before the South Americans defeated Canada 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out to win the third-place playoff match of Copa America on Saturday.
Uruguay looked to be heading to a shock defeat after the Canadians took a 2-1 lead in the 80th minute through a Jonathan David goal at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium.
But former Barcelona and Liverpool star Suarez, who came on as a second-half substitute, swept in a crisp finish from Jose Gimenez in the second minute of injury time to make it 2-2 and send the game to penalties.
In the shoot-out, Canada midfielder Ismael Kone saw his spot-kick saved by Uruguay goalkeeper Sergio Rochet before Alphonso Davies saw an attempted panenka hit the crossbar and bounce out to give Uruguay victory.
It marked a disappointing end to the Copa America for Canada, who had been on course for a famous — and deserved — victory before Suarez’s late leveller.
Uruguay had got off to a dream start with Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur firing them into the lead after just eight minutes.
Sebastian Caceres outjumped his marker to knock down for Bentancur, who turned and swivelled before rifling a shot into the roof of the net.
The Uruguayans almost doubled their lead soon afterwards when a sweeping counter-attack left Canada’s defence scrambling to cover, only for Maximiliano Araujo’s shot to be blocked by Canada goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair.
That miss proved costly as moments later Kone equalised for Canada with a superb improvised finish on 22 minutes.
Jacob Shaffelburg’s corner was met with a header by Moise Bombito, and Kone lobbed the advancing Rochet with a deft flick to make it 1-1.
Uruguay thought they had equalised almost immediately when Facundo Pellistri got the ball in the net in the 23rd minute. An offside in the build-up however saw the goal chalked off.
Canada meanwhile twice spurned golden opportunities to score just before half-time, Tani Oluwaseyi heading wide from close range on 41 minutes before Jonathan Osorio saw an effort cleared off the line in the 43rd minute.
A flurry of substitutions led to a disjointed second half, and the game seemed to be meandering to a draw until Kone surged forward from midfield 10 minutes from time and unleashed a ferocious shot that Rochet could only parry into the path of David, who tucked away the finish to make it 2-1.
But with victory beckoning, Canada continued to press forward rather than defend their lead, and duly paid the price when Uruguay got in behind their defence to set up Suarez’s equaliser.
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