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Manchester United’s Facundo Pellistri and Uruguay crashed out of Copa America despite playing half of the game with a man advantage.
The Uruguayans had squeezed past Brazil in the previous round but there was to be no repeat as Colombia won 1-0 and booked their place against United duo Lisandro Martinez and Alejandro Garnacho’s Argentina in the final.
After missing a couple of clear first half chances, the 15-time tournament winners went behind in the 39th minute when Jefferson Lerma nodded in from a corner. Uruguay gained a significant advantage when their opposition went down to ten men in additional time of the first half, when Daniel Muñoz was given a second yellow card.
La Celeste could not take advantage of their good fortune, however, and could not find an equalising goal, despite having 62% of the ball.
They managed 11 shots on goal, the same as Colombia, and could only muster two shots on target despite playing the entire second half with an extra man.
Pellistri had a very poor game and he was subbed off during the half-time break.
Despite starting the tournament very strongly with a goal and an assist, the winger has faded as the competition has worn on.
The winger was given a score of 6.7 on Sofascore for his night’s work in Charlotte.
He completed only one dribble attempt in the game and had a meagre 11 touches of the ball.
He had a pass rate of 75% but he only managed to complete three out of four, highlighting the winger’s peripheral influence on the game.
Nonetheless, one of those passes was a key pass but it did not end up in a reward for his nation. He also failed to get any sort shot on or off target during the semi-final.
Defensively he won two out of his four ground duels and he lost his only aerial battle. The attacker also completed one tackle in the match.
Pellistri’s side will now compete in the third place playoff against Canada on Saturday night (Sunday morning UK time) where they will aim to put the disappointment of last night’s showing behind them.
United fans will also hope that a move for Uruguay’s Manuel Ugarte can speed up now that the South Americans can no longer win the tournament, in the same way the Netherlands’ Euro 2024 loss to England should help the Joshua Zirkzee and Matthijs de Ligt deals reach a swifter conclusion.
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