Colombia goalkeeper David Ospina saves a shoot-out penalty from Uruguay’s Jose Gimenez during the 2021 Copa America quarter-final<\/strong><\/p>\n

Goalkeeper David Ospina was the hero as Colombia beat Uruguay on penalties in Brasilia on Saturday to reach the Copa America semi-finals.<\/p>\n

Ospina saved two spot-kicks in the shoot-out on the day he earned his 112th Colombian cap, moving clear of the previous national record he shared with the iconic Carlos Valderrama.<\/p>\n

There was little to report in a drab 0-0 draw over the regulation 90 minutes before the quarter-final tie went straight to penalties.<\/p>\n

Ospina saved from Jose Gimenez<\/a> and Matias Vina while Colombia scored all four of their penalties.
\nIt was a huge disappointment for Uruguay’s star forward pair Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez, who both converted their spot-kicks but almost certainly have played in their last Copa.<\/p>\n

It took almost half an hour for either goal to be threatened and when it was — Duvan Zapata<\/a> found a yard of space to force a save out of goalkeeper Fernando Muslera — the Colombia striker was flagged offside.<\/p>\n

Spaces started to open up and Cavani then lashed wildly wide, but again an assistant’s flag went up.<\/p>\n

Both Zapata and Cavani were proving a nuisance for their opponents’ defenses and it was the burly Colombian<\/a> whose determination created a chance for Luis Muriel<\/a> on the stroke of halftime, but his teammate for club and country lashed well wide.<\/p>\n

Uruguay’s Nahitan Nandez<\/a> came closest yet to breaking the deadlock early in the second half with a misdirected cross that Ospina had to tip away from the top corner.<\/p>\n

Uruguay was getting on top as Giorgian de Arrascaeta brought a save out of Ospina and Suarez had a shot charged down.<\/p>\n

Zapata was almost fighting a lone battle up front for Colombia, coming close with a pair of headers, but in truth, there was little to get excited about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colombia goalkeeper David Ospina saves a shoot-out penalty from Uruguay’s Jose Gimenez during the 2021 Copa America quarter-final Goalkeeper David Ospina was the hero as Colombia beat Uruguay on penalties in Brasilia on Saturday to reach the Copa America semi-finals. Ospina saved two spot-kicks in the shoot-out on the day he earned his 112th Colombian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":3195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[823,2078,2075,2073,2076,43,2077,2074],"class_list":["post-3194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-colombia","tag-copa-america-quarter-final","tag-edinson-cavani","tag-jose-gimenez","tag-luis-suarez","tag-nigeria-21","tag-ospina","tag-zapata"],"yoast_head":"\n