Late goals lift Mexico to 3-1 win avs Uruguay

Mexico ran its unbeaten streak to 20 games across all competitions with the win here on Sunday.

Diego Godin of Uruguay scored on a header off a set piece in the 74th minute to tie the game at 1-1, right after Guardado was sent off.

An own goal in the fourth minute by Uruguay’s Alvaro Pereira had Mexico ahead 1-0 for much of the game, but Uruguay’s attack got stronger even down a man to start the second half.

Uruguay played the entire second half with 10 men after midfielder Matias Vecino drew a second yellow card when he kicked Mexico’s Jesus Manuel Corona in the knee just before halftime. Uruguay made it interesting despite the disadvantage.

Diego Rolan put an open shot wide in the 58th minute.Uruguay’s best chance to score in the first half came when Edinson Cavani got behind the Mexico defense in the 30th minute and rifled a shot on goal, but Alfredo Talavera made a sliding save.

But Mexico applied pressure to score in the 85th minute and then in injury time to seal three points.

Group C action continues on Thursday when Mexico faces Jamaica in Pasadena, California and Uruguay takes on Venezuela in Philadelphia.

In the other game, Venezuela defeated Jamaica 1-0 in a physical Copa America Centenario clash in Chicago on Sunday that saw the Reggae Boyz reduced to 10 men while coach Winfried Schaefer was expelled from the dugout.

Jamaica, riding high after a shock friendly victory over Copa America champions Chile in a warm-up last week, were left ruing a string of missed chances against their South American Group C rivals. “We had a couple of chances and didn’t take them, they got one chance and they took it, and that was the difference in the game on Monday,” said Jamaica’s assistant coach Miguel Coley, appearing at the post-match press conference instead of the dismissed Schaefer.

In blazing hot sunshine at Chicago’s famous Soldier Field Stadium, Jamaica made life difficult for themselves with Rodolph Austin sent off midway through the first half for a rash challenge on Tomas Rincon.

Jamaica had started the game without Leicester City star Wes Morgan, with reports in Kingston quoting Schaefer as saying he was still tired from celebrating the Foxes’ fairytale Premier League triumph. Morgan however appeared from the bench in the 40th minute, replacing the injured Kemar Lawrence.