After Colombia sealed a 1-0 victory in the Copa semi-final, Uruguay players climbed into the stands and exchanged blows with opposition fans.
Argentina’s undersecretary for sports Julio Garro was sacked on Thursday after demanding an apology from Lionel Messi for the racist chants during the national team’s celebrations after winning the Copa America.
"[The players] warmed up, cooled down, warmed up again, before the kick-off. Then we had 25 minutes of half-time, strange things for both teams," he said.
"We've had our players head-butted, we've had racial slurs thrown at our players live and through social media... We've been treated like second-class citizens."
Messi's 109th goal for Argentina also saw him surpass Iran's Ali Daei to take sole possession of second place on the all-time international scoring charts. Messi trails only Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored 130 goals for Portugal.
Julian Alvarez and Lionel Messi scored the goals as Argentina advanced to Sunday's final in Miami where they will face either Colombia or Uruguay.
The Copa America is down to the final four with a pair of fascinating semifinals and favourites Argentina hoping they can win their third straight major title.
Coming up against Uruguay, the standout performers of this Copa America so far, Brazil, missing their key player Vinicius Jr, will have a lot to fix in this heavyweight quarterfinal clash at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sunday morning.
Team USA, who suffered an upset 2-1 defeat to Panama last Thursday, went into Monday's final Group C game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City needing to match or better Panama's result against Bolivia to advance.
After Colombia sealed a 1-0 victory in the Copa semi-final, Uruguay players climbed into the stands and exchanged blows with opposition fans.
Argentina’s undersecretary for sports Julio Garro was sacked on Thursday after demanding an apology from Lionel Messi for the racist chants during the national team’s celebrations after winning the Copa America.
"[The players] warmed up, cooled down, warmed up again, before the kick-off. Then we had 25 minutes of half-time, strange things for both teams," he said.
"We've had our players head-butted, we've had racial slurs thrown at our players live and through social media... We've been treated like second-class citizens."
Messi's 109th goal for Argentina also saw him surpass Iran's Ali Daei to take sole possession of second place on the all-time international scoring charts. Messi trails only Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored 130 goals for Portugal.
Julian Alvarez and Lionel Messi scored the goals as Argentina advanced to Sunday's final in Miami where they will face either Colombia or Uruguay.
The Copa America is down to the final four with a pair of fascinating semifinals and favourites Argentina hoping they can win their third straight major title.
Coming up against Uruguay, the standout performers of this Copa America so far, Brazil, missing their key player Vinicius Jr, will have a lot to fix in this heavyweight quarterfinal clash at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sunday morning.
Team USA, who suffered an upset 2-1 defeat to Panama last Thursday, went into Monday's final Group C game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City needing to match or better Panama's result against Bolivia to advance.
Eight years ago, Messi was part of the Argentina team which lost the Copa America final on penalties to Chile at the New Jersey venue -- with the striker missing his team's first effort in the shoot-out.
