Copa America

Mexico and Uruguay were tied 1-1 in a hard-fought Copa America group stage game Wednesday when 37-year-old Mexico captain Rafa Marquez put his stamp on the match and removed all doubt as to the merits of putting an old creaky person in the starting lineup of a major international match.

Marquez, who once partnered Carles Puyol on Barcelona's back line, was upfield for a Mexico corner when he received a pass near the corner of the six-yard box and hammered the winning goal into the net. This is not the sort of behavior we expected from Marquez.

It was Rafa Marquez. 

It was the 37-year-old patriarch of the Mexican national team who scored the game-winning goal in a thrilling four goal, two red card clash.

It was the heart and soul, the leader of the Mexican national team that sent Mexico to the top of Group C.

You can hear what all that means to Mexico fans:

Brazil vs Ecuador finished as a nil-nil draw after an intense and controversial 90 minutes which saw an Ecuador goal incorrectly disallowed. The result sees Peru stay atop Group B as leaders. 

The United States were punished 2-0 by Colombia on Friday night to open the 2016 Copa America Centenario. A heavily pro-Colombian crowd in Santa Clara, California, watched as Geoff Cameron carelessly allowed Cristian Zapata to put his side ahead early before James Rodriguez capitalized from the spot on a sophomoric handball from DeAndre Yedlin.

The USMNT face Colombia in the first match of the Copa America Centenario tonight, and they will have to put on a strong showing in order to get anything from the match. They have a potentially tough group that includes World Cup quarter-finalists Costa Rica and last year's fourth place Copa finishers, Paraguay. It is important for the U.S. to start strong in the hopes of grabbing what could be three vital points. 

The Copa America and European Championships are the two biggest continental tournaments in football. Both have a similar structure, but the money made available for winnings by CONMEBOL and UEFA is not equal between the two.

The Copa America Centenario has $18 million with which to reward national teams, which is $8 million more than Chile 2015 had to distribute.

Javier Hernandez celebrated his birthday in fine style on Wednesday, netting the winning goal for Mexico against Chile in their final warm-up game before the Copa America Centenario.

With the scores level at 0-0, Hernandez, who turned 28 on the day, entered the match in the 78th minute. It took him all of eight minutes to snatch the victory for El Tri, his powerful header giving Chile’s goalkeeper, Cristopher Toselli, absolutely no chance.

If you have only seen Eduardo Vargas play club football, well, I feel sorry for you. Vargas is a forward for TSG Hoffenheim, and a thoroughly below average one at that. He scored 2 goals in 25 appearances in the Bundesliga last year, and that wasn’t exactly an exceptionally bad haul for him.

The United States kicks off the Copa America Centenario on Friday against the world’s fourth ranked team, Colombia. For Jurgen Klinsmann and the US, the match is similar to their World Cup opener against Ghana two years ago. In a difficult group containing Colombia, Costa Rica and Paraguay, the USA needs a positive result if they are to harbor any hope of advancing to the quarterfinals.

The Copa America Centenario is approaching fast, and for Lionel Messi and Argentina, the tournament is a chance at redemption. Having lost in the final of the World Cup in 2014 and the final of the Copa America last year, criticism is starting to grow due to Messi's underachievement.