Colombia beat Uruguay 1-0 in their Copa América semi-final on Thursday despite being reduced to 10 men before half-time in a game that ended with ugly scenes as players entered the crowd to confront fans.
Jefferson Lerma’s header booked Colombia’s title decider against the defending champions Argentina.
Uruguay’s Darwin Núñez missed several chances in the first half and Colombia made them pay in the 39th minute when Lerma rose above the defence to head James Rodríguez’s corner past goalkeeper Sergio Rochet.
Colombia went down to 10 men just before half-time when Daniel Muñoz lost his cool and got himself sent off, with the right-back receiving a second yellow card for elbowing Manuel Ugarte in the chest.
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Uruguay dominated possession in the second half and Luis Suárez, on as a substitute, nearly equalised when he hit the post. But Colombia bravely held on for a famous win and will play Argentina in Sunday’s final.
“Until you overcome your weaknesses you cannot grow,” Colombia coach Nester Lorenzo said after the game. “And when you overcome those obstacles you can grow.”
Uruguay will play Canada a day earlier in the third-place playoff. At the end of the game Núñez and about a dozen of his teammates went into the stands as fans brawled. A video showed Núñez hitting a fan in Colombian team colors.
José María Giménez said members of the Uruguay players’ families were threatened by fans.
“Let me say something before they cut you off because they won’t let us speak into the microphone, they don’t want me to say anything about what’s going on but this is a disaster,” Giménez said on the official broadcast.
“Please be careful, our families are in the stands, there are little newborn babies. It was a disaster; there was no police and we had to defend our families. This is the fault of two or three people who had a few too many drinks and don’t know how to drink.”
Conmebol said it is investigating the incident.
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