Uruguay began their defence of the Copa America with a narrow 1-0 victory over tournament debutants Jamaica courtesy of a single Cristian Rodriguez goal.
Star striker Edinson Cavani and Rodriguez had a few good opportunities in the first-half but couldn't take advantage. Nevertheless, Rodriguez didn’t waste his opportunity in the second-half - giving his country the lead 52 minutes in.
Jamaica had excellent opportunities to equalise in the final ten minutes but ultimately it was Uruguay who took the three points in their first game of the tournament.
Underdogs hold Uruguay level
Jamaica almost gifted their opponents the lead seven minutes in when Wes Morgan’s terrible back-pass almost saw Cavani through on goal but keeper Duwayne Kerr did well to get off his line and clear the danger.
Uruguay began to show their domination from that point but it was Jamaica who almost got the opening goal 31 minutes in. A corner was met by keeper Fernando Muslera and his influence was just enough to put off Adrian Mariappa at the far post who had an open goal in front of him but couldn’t finish.
With seven minutes left in the half Kerr produced a fantastic save to keep the scores level as Rodriguez did brilliantly to turn the defender and get a shot off, which look destined for the bottom corner, but Kerr did brilliantly to dive across and put it behind.
The final opportunity of the half fell to Jamaica when Darren Mattocks sprinted beyond two defenders to get into the area with a clear sight on goal, but his half-volley was very poor and the striker was made to regret the miss.
Jamaica made to rue missed chances
Seven minutes after the restart Rodriguez put Uruguay ahead. A set-piece was headed down well by Jose Gimenez into the path of Rodriguez, who buried his shot into the far corner after sending Kerr in the opposite direction.
Mariappa produced a great block to prevent a second just after the hour mark as Cavani burst into the area and attempted to bury his shot into the corner, but the defender got the block in and Rolan couldn’t get his shot off on the rebound.
Jamaica continued to push for an equaliser going into the final ten minutes and almost got it with nine minutes to go. Substitute Lance Laing played a great ball into the area which found the head of Deshorn Brown but his header flew agonisingly wide of the post.
Uruguay should have finished the match with more than a single goal with two minutes to play, when Cavani’s blocked effort fell perfectly for Christian Stuani in the area but he hit his shot well over the crossbar.
Uruguay win stands them in good stead
Nevertheless, his side emerged victorious and Uruguay will be happy with their performance as they managed to handle the pressure from a decent Jamaica side.
They stated their intent and the win will stand them in good stead ahead of their next two matches, with Argentina and Paraguay to come.
Jamaica, meanwhile, will also be pleased with their debut match in the Copa America, but will be disappointed that they didn’t actually get anything from their curtain-raiser as they had plenty of chances.
They will hoping that they can find their scoring boots ahead of their tricky matches against Paraguay and Argentina and if they produce a similar performance it wouldn’t be a surprise if they got something from those matches.