Uruguay began their Copa America journey in remarkable by drubbing Ecuador 4-0. Both of Uruguay’s star strikers Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez struck a goal each as Uruguay comfortably prevailed over 10-man Ecuador. It took just 6 minutes for Oscar Tabarez’s men opened the scoring. A cross from Luis Suarez found Nicolas Lodeiro who chested the ball and dribbled it before drilling it past Ecuador keeper Alexander Dominguez.
Uruguay appeared to have doubled their lead when Luis Suarez headed in from Lodeiro’s cross. However, Suarez’s header was disallowed. In the 19th minute, Ecuador’s Jose Quinteros elbowed Lodeiro which resulted in Lodeiro bleeding. The referee Anderson Daronco consulted VAR and gave Quinteros a straight red, thus giving him his marching orders. Uruguay made the most out of the extra man as they completely dominated in possession and shots.
In the 26th minute, Edinson Cavani doubled Uruguay’s lead by meeting Diego Godin’s headed cross with a spectacular bicycle-kick. Things went even better for Uruguay after Suarez netted their third just before half-time. Ecuador were nowhere in the game as they had only two shots on goal compared to Uruguay’s 16. Things went even worse for Ecuador as an attempt to clear from Arturo Mina resulted in an own goal.
It was Uruguay’s 30th win over Ecuador and a fine start for the 15-time champions. Oscar Tabarez’s team play their next match against Japan at Porto Alegre on Thursday while Ecuador play Chile at Salvador.
