Darwin Nunez scored in his seventh consecutive international appearance as Uruguay took command of Copa America’s Group C with a 5-0 thrashing of Bolivia in East Rutherford, N.J., on Thursday.
Maximiliano Araujo also scored his second goal of the tournament and the third of the evening for La Celeste en route to the tournament’s most lopsided result so far.
Facundo Pellistri opened the scoring, and Federico Valverde and Rodrigo Bentancur completed the romp as Uruguay all but guaranteed its spot in the quarterfinals.
The Uruguayans can seal the group’s top spot with a win or draw in their group finale against the United States (1-1-0, 3 points) on Monday in Kansas City, Mo.
Bolivia is all but mathematically eliminated. That would mark the side’s fourth consecutive Copa America group-stage exit and the ninth in its past 10 appearances.
On a night when Nunez scored his 13th international goal, Uruguay’s all-time leading scorer, Luis Suarez, was afforded a late substitute appearance and was immediately handed the captain’s armband.
The gesture of respect for the 37-year-old was enabled in part by the dynamism of Nunez, his 25-year-old successor, who has registered 10 of his career international goals during this seven-match streak under manager Marcelo Bielsa.
Nunez had already missed one quality chance before Pellistri found the net in the eighth minute from a well-worked set piece. Nunez forced Bolivia goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra one of his four saves before he scored in the 21st minute to double his side’s advantage.
It was Araujo providing the perfect pass into the path of Nunez’s diagonal run, and Nunez finished instinctively over the charging Viscarra’s right shoulder and inside the near post.
Araujo finally added to Uruguay’s lead in the 77th minute to set off a late onslaught of goals. This time he was on the receiving end of a perfectly weighted throughball from Nicolas de la Cruz before finishing through Viscarra and a Bolivia defender.
He joined Nunez, Argentina’s Lautaro Martinez and the USA’s Folarin Balogun as joint leaders in the tournament’s Golden Boot race.
–Field Level Media
