Copa America: Between “cannon shots”, USA and Uruguay pass the test

Two “cannon shots” from Christian Pulisic and Maxi Araújo set the tone on the fourth day of the Copa America with victories for the United States and Uruguay, respectively.

• READ MORE: Pulisic leaves his mark during Copa America 2024 debut
• READ MORE: United States 2-0 Bolivia: Highlights, result and stats
• READ MORE: Uruguay 3-1 Panama: Highlights, result and stats

U.S. fans enjoyed the debut of their national team and their performance in a 2-0 win over Bolivia, in their promising tournament open.

For its part, Miami painted itself blue and joined in the moment that Marcelo Bielsa’s team is living to establish itself as a tournament favorite defeating a feisty Panama 3-1 that put up a battle from start to finish.

Copa America: United States 2-0 Bolivia

• The ‘Giant of Concacaf’ does not shrink vs Conmebol

The U.S. Men’s National Team is reaching beyond its North American dominance as ‘the giant of Concacaf’, to go against Conmebol teams on its turf in this Copa America tournament.

With their victory against Bolivia, they have won 8 of their last 10 games against South American teams: only losing to Venezuela in the 2019 Copa America and a 1-5 embarrassing loss vs Colombia in a friendly on June 8.

• The Captain’s early bird

Less than three minutes into the match, ‘Captain America’ Christian Pulisic, scored in what is so far, the fastest goal of Copa America 2024.

Pulisic (30) also joins a short list of six U.S. players who have 30 goals or more in their national team colors: Clint Dempsey (57), Landon Donovan (57), Jozy Altidore (42), Eric Wynalda (34) and Brian McBride (30).

• Bolivia, from bad to worse

As the Bolivian national team looks to rebound after many years of lackluster performances, that plan has not taken hold yet, as the team is on a 13-game winless streak in the Copa América.

Their last triumph in Copa America came in the 2015 edition after beating Ecuador 3-2.

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Uruguay 3-1 Panama

• Darwin Nuñez inspired

Darwin Nuñez showed he had what it took to score more than one goal, but narrowly missed his debut without breaking the opponent’s goal.

The Liverpool striker had to wait until the 85th minute to celebrate his first goal, making his sixth consecutive game scoring for Uruguay, of which he has scored nine goals in total.

• Don’t forget Araújo

If Pulisic stole the spotlight with his goal in Dallas, Maxi Araújo’s goal in Miami was not far behind.

The Liga MX player from Toluca burst through Panama’s goal with a shot from outside the box in the 15th minute to open Uruguay scoring.

Araújo is already the third Liga MX representative to score in the 2024 Copa América: joining Eduard Bello of Venezuela (Mazatlán FC) and Gerardo Arteaga of Mexico (Monterrey).

• Panama’s consolation

Despite the two goal loss, Panama put up a respectable performance in which they pushed Uruguay to the limit; however, they ended up finding their ‘goal of honor’ to avoid remaining scoreless, toward the end of the match as a result of an extraordinary play by Michael Murillo.

This was Panama’s fifth goal in their two Copa America appearances.