Copa América Recap: Venezuela and Mexico Take Three Points
Venezuela 2-1 Ecuador
Toulouse FC's Cristian Cásseres Jr. featured in the starting 11 for Venezuela. Ecuador handed La Vinotinto an advantage when veteran forward Enner Valencia received a red card in the 22nd minute. Despite playing with ten men, La Tri opened the scoring courtesy of Brighton & Hove Albion winger Jeremy Sarmiento in the 40th minute.
Cásseres Jr. came out of the contest coming out of halftime, but Venezuela would level the scoring in the 64th minute thanks to a goal from Jhonder Cádiz. Ten minutes later, Eduard Bello would hand Fernando Batista and his team a 2-1 advantage with a goal in the 74th minute. Venezuela held onto their lead to secure the win and all three points.
Mexico 1-0 Jamaica
In the second match of the day, Clermont Foot's Shamar Nicholson played all 90 minutes for Jamaica in the tightly contested matchup against Mexico, recording three shots in the loss. Jamaica registered 13 shots in total but couldn't find the back of the net.
Heimir Hallgrímsson and his team thought they had opened the scoring in the contest when West Ham United's Michail Antonio, but a VAR review would rule it offside. Mexico scored the lone goal of the match off a shot from CF Monterrey's Gerardo Arteaga that gave El Tri all three points.
The next game for Nicholson and Jamaica will be against Ecuador on Wednesday. After both teams fell in their opening game, this matchup becomes a must-win for the two squads. As for Cásseres Jr. and Venezuela, they'll be facing Mexico, as both teams are vying to finish atop Group B.
Photo credit: Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
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