It has been a long time since Paraguay last conquered South American football, and they start their 2021 Copa America campaign looking to arrest a slump against Bolivia.

Paraguay are two-time winners of the Copa America, though not since 1979 have La Albirroja hoisted the trophy aloft.

Since then, their best performance has been reaching the 2011 final, which they lost against Uruguay. Paraguay did make it to the 2019 quarter-final, where they were eliminated by eventual champions Brazil on penalties.

There are familiar faces in the squad – captain Gustavo Gomez, Newcastle United's Miguel Almiron and Angel Romero.

Juan Carlos Osorio oversaw Paraguay's run to the last eight two years ago, but former Celta Vigo, Sevilla and Athletic Bilbao boss Eduardo Berizzo is now at the helm as the country dreams big.

But Berizzo finds himself under pressure amid a four-game winless streak following their 2-0 defeat to Brazil in World Cup qualifying prior to the Copa America – the nation's first loss at home to the Selecao since 1985.

"The Copa America will serve to consolidate the concept and the idea," Paraguayan Football Association (APF) vice-president Javier Diaz de Vivar told Radio Monumental 1080 AM following the Brazil loss. "We see a growing Paraguay, we need to be more forceful and perhaps be a little more vertical, but we are doing well, working, we chat every day with Eduardo Berizzo."

Bolivia will be hoping the delayed Copa will help the team – the 1963 champions have not progressed from the group stage since 2015.

An additional advantage could be that most of Bolivia's squad play in the domestic league, which has been suspended due to the COVID-19 situation.

With more time to prepare together, Marcelo Martins and Bolivia – who took part in the 2015 quarter-finals, their first knockout-round appearance since finishing runners-up in 1997 – are looking beyond the group phase.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Paraguay – Julio Enciso

The youngest player at the Copa America, Enciso has already played 24 top-flight matches for Libertad and was briefly the youngest player to score in the Copa Libertadores this century with his goal against Jorge Wilstermann last year when still 16. A good dribbler and not shy to take a shot, Enciso has been used almost everywhere across the front for Libertad and could be an interesting wildcard option for Paraguay.

Bolivia – Marcelo Martins

The heart and soul of a nation? Look no further than Martins. The iconic forward stands alone as Bolivia's record holder for goals (25 in 83 appearances). Of those, 18 have come in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying, also making Martins Bolivia's top scorer in that competition. Playing his football for Cruzeiro in Brazil, Martins scored three goals in the two qualifiers immediately prior to the Copa America, helping his side to earn four points. Martins scored in the previous meeting between Paraguay and Bolivia – a 2-2 World Cup qualifying draw in November.

KEY OPTA FACTS

- Paraguay are winless in their last 11 games in Copa America (D6 L5), their longest winless run in the competition.

- Bolivia scored in each of their last two games in Copa America: Marcelo Martins and Leonel Justiniano found the net in their defeats against Peru and Venezuela respectively in 2019.

- This is the sixth consecutive Copa America with Paraguay managed by a Argentinian boss, with Gerardo Martino (2007 and 2011), Ramon Díaz (2015 and 2016) and Eduardo Berizzo (2019 and 2021) each taking charge for multiple tournaments.

- Bolivia boss Cesar Farías will manage his second Copa America. In his previous edition, he oversaw an historic fourth-place finish for Venezuela in 2011.

The Philadelphia Phillies keep finding ways to win, taking victory in their final at-bat for the third consecutive game with an 8-7 triumph over the New York Yankees.

It did not appear late heroics would be necessary in MLB on Saturday as the Phillies earned a commanding 7-2 lead against the visiting Yankees after five innings to back a solid start by Vince Velasquez.

But the Yankees scored a run in the sixth inning and another in the eighth before tying the game on DJ LeMahieu's three-run homer off Hector Neris in the ninth. 

After Archie Bradley held the Yankees scoreless in the 10th, Jean Segura hit a ground ball to third to score Ronald Torreyes from third base with the winning run as Gio Urshela's throw home was off the mark. 

It was the second successive walk-off hit for Segura after his two-run 10th-inning single beat rivals the Atlanta Braves on Thursday.

Philadelphia last had three consecutive walk-off wins from August 21-23 in 2013.

Rangers hammer Dodgers to snap skid

In one of the more unexpected results, the lowly Texas Rangers pounded the Los Angeles Dodgers 12-1, with the visitors limiting the World Series champions to six hits and beating up on Trevor Bauer and their bullpen. The victory snapped a 16-game road losing streak for the Rangers. 

Marcus Stroman and the New York Mets shut down the San Diego Padres' attack in a 4-1 win at Citi Field as Francisco Lindor and Jonathan Villar homered.

The Cincinnati Reds crushed the Colorado Rockies 10-3 to improve to 31-31 for the season after nine wins in their last 12 games. 

Brian Goodwin made a memorable first impression after driving in five runs in the Chicago White Sox's 15-2 rout of the Detroit Tigers. In his debut, Goodwin doubled in a run and hit a homer in his first two at-bats. In 357 games with the Washington Nationals, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels and Reds, he never had a five-plus RBI game. According to Stats Perform, the only other player with that many career games to have his first five-RBI game in his team debut was Todd Cruz in 1983.

White Sox crush Urena, Tigers

Tigers starter Jose Urena did not make it out of the second inning against the high-flying White Sox, allowing eight runs (seven earned) among the 15 batters he faced. The game got so bad the Tigers used catcher Jake Rogers and infielder Harold Castro to pitch the final two innings.

The Seattle Mariners took a 4-1 lead into the ninth inning against the Cleveland Indians, then saw the latter tie it up and eventually win it in the 10th on a throwing error by pitcher Paul Sewald. 

Vladdy, Blue Jays rough up Red Sox

The Toronto Blue Jays bashed five home runs, including the MLB-leading 20th of the season for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a career-long 468-foot shot for Bo Bichette, in a 7-2 rout of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. 

Saturday's results

Chicago Cubs 7-2 St Louis Cardinals
Washington Nationals 2-0 San Francisco Giants
San Francisco Giants 2-1 Washington Nationals 
Philadelphia Phillies 8-7 New York Yankees
Toronto Blue Jays 7-2 Boston Red Sox
Cincinnati Reds 10-3 Colorado Rockies
Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 Baltimore Orioles
Miami Marlins 4-2 Atlanta Braves
Chicago White Sox 15-2 Detroit Tigers
New York Mets 4-1 San Diego Padres
Cleveland Indians 5-4 Seattle Mariners
Milwaukee Brewers 7-4 Pittsburgh Pirates
Minnesota Twins 5-2 Houston Astros
Los Angeles Angels 8-7 Arizona Diamondbacks
Oakland Athletics 11-2 Kansas City Royals
Texas Rangers 12-1 Los Angeles Dodgers

Padres at Mets

The Padres (37-29) will send Chris Paddack to the mound as they try to avoid being swept by the Mets (32-24) on Sunday.

Israel Adesanya successfully defended his middleweight title once again, beating Marvin Vettori by unanimous decision in their rematch at UFC 263 in Arizona. 

UFC star Adesanya – who defeated Vettori by split decision in April 2018 – navigated five rounds with minimal difficulty, prevailing 50-45 on all three judges' scorecards in his third title defence since taking the belt with a knockout of Robert Whittaker in October 2019. 

Adesanya's only potential trouble spot came early in the third round on Saturday when Vettori knocked down the Nigeria-born New Zealander, but he weathered that challenge and handled everything else the Italian threw at him. 

A rematch with Whittaker seems on the cards as Adesanya (21-0) called out the Australian following his win, demanding a showdown in Auckland, New Zealand.

"You don't get to decide -- I get to decide," Adesanya said. "Because I'm the mother****** king, b****!"

Whittaker responded with a tweet that read "rest up, see you soon." 

Moreno first Mexican-born champ

In the co-headline bout, Brandon Moreno dominated Deiveson Figueiredo to take the Brazilian's flyweight strap and become the first Mexican-born UFC champion. 

Saturday's fight was in sharp contrast to the pair's draw at UFC 256 in December, as Moreno (19-5-2) had his way with the titleholder from the beginning. 

The 27-year-old from Tijuana submitted Figueiredo with a rear naked choke at 2:26 of the third round and exulted in his victory.

"UFC released me," Moreno said. "I wasn't that proud of my life but watch me holding this belt. I feel so amazing."

Figueiredo (20-2-1) was gracious in defeat, saying Moreno was "the better man tonight."

Edwards holds off late Diaz flurry

Leon Edwards and Nate Diaz made UFC history with the first non-main event, non-title bout to be scheduled for five rounds, and Diaz nearly made the extended term pay off. 

Edwards had his way for most of the fight but had to survive a furious flurry from the bloodied 36-year-old American in the fifth to win by unanimous decision, 49-46 on all cards. 

The pair had been scheduled to face off at UFC 262 last month, but the bout was pushed back when Diaz got cut in training. 

Utah Jazz All-Star Donovan Mitchell insisted he will be "fine" for Game 4 after exiting the team's loss to the Los Angeles Clippers due to ankle pain.

Mitchell left Saturday's 132-106 defeat against the Clippers because of pain in his right ankle as the top-seeded Jazz had their lead reduced to 2-1 in the Western Conference semi-finals.

Jazz star Mitchell finished with 30 points in Game 3 on the road in Los Angeles, where he exited with less than eight minutes remaining and did not return.

Mitchell missed the final 16 games of the NBA's regular season and Utah's playoff opener due to an ankle sprain, but he allayed concerns afterwards.

"I feel like I was able to go back, but no need to risk it down 16, 18 at that point," Mitchell said. "I'll be fine."

"It's when I land," Mitchell said. "It's been just trying to manage it. I don't really know what else to tell you; I don't want to say too much.

"It was just the landing, but I'm good. I'll be ready for Game 4."

Prior to Saturday's matchup, Mitchell scored 37 points in Game 2 and was averaging 1.00 points per minute this postseason (32.7 per game in 32.7 minutes per game). In his career, the Jazz guard has averaged 0.78 points per minute in the playoffs, just behind the all-time record of 0.80 by Michael Jordan (minimum 1000 minutes).

Mitchell added: "Obviously, it's not going to be 100 per cent, but you go out there and you try to compete. Things like this are going to happen.

"You just got to find ways to manage it and get out there and get ready. It's not going to be perfect, but it is what it is."

"He's in good shape," Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said. "He could have gone back in the game, but at that point, the lead had stretched. In fact, while we were talking, I think [Clippers star] Kawhi [Leonard] hit a 3.

"That was my decision not to put him back in at that point. The game had gotten away from us at that point, but he's fine."

According to Stats Perform, the Clippers became the first team to score 130-plus points in a Game 3 win after trailing a series 2-0 since the Jazz in the 1985 Western Conference semis.

Shakur Stevenson remains unbeaten as a professional boxer, defeating Jeremiah Nakathila by unanimous decision but even the victor was unhappy with the quality of the fight. 

Stevenson – the 2016 Olympic silver medallist – improved to 16-0 after the American claimed the WBO interim junior lightweight title in Las Vegas on Saturday.

A former WBO featherweight champion, Stevenson won 120-107 on all three judges' scorecards, though he acknowledged he was far from his best. 

"I apologise to all my fans I didn’t feel good tonight but I did what I had to do to win," Stevenson – who scored a knockdown of Nakathila (21-2) in the fourth round – tweeted after the bout. 

"Thank you for all da support I promise better for further fights to come."

The crowd in Las Vegas showered the fighters in boos in the 11th round as the 23-year-old Stevenson and his Namibian opponent Nakathila wrapped up an uninspiring affair.

"To be honest, I didn't really like my performance. I felt I could've performed a lot better," Stevenson said. "You had an awkward fighter throwing hard punches, and he knows how to grab and get away. He was a real awkward fighter.

"I tried to get him out of there a little bit, but I started getting hit with some solid shots. I ain't really like it, but next time I'm going to work on moving my head a little bit more and step it up a little more."

Stevenson is now set to face fellow WBO junior lightweight champion Jamel Herring (23-2) later this year. 

"If I had the choice, I'd take Oscar Valdez, but if I have to beat up Jamel to get to it, I'll do that, too," Stevenson said. "Jamel can't beat me. He knows what it is."

Brazil head coach Tite revealed the team asked for the Copa America not to be staged on home soil amid ongoing controversy regarding the showpiece South American tournament.

Defending champions Brazil will host coronavirus-hit Venezuela in the opening game of the Copa America on Sunday following initial concerns the Selecao would boycott the event.

Postponed from 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Copa America had been due to be shared between Colombia and Argentina, though both countries were removed as co-hosts following respective political and coronavirus issues.

Brazil was awarded hosting rights, despite being one of the countries worst hit by the COVID-19 crisis.

Captain Casemiro and the squad have already criticised CONMEBOL's decision to move the tournament to Brazil and those views have been amplified following news that 12 of Venezuela's travelling party tested positive for coronavirus.

With COVID-19 again casting a shadow over the Copa, Tite told reporters on the eve of the curtain-raiser: "I would like these problems not occurring, not only for Venezuela. The organisation is wrong and this is not political, but it is a direct criticism to CONMEBOL and whoever has defined this in the CBF [Brazilian Football Confederation] that the Copa America will be here, I did not ask for this.

"I do not have any political party and I did not have it throughout my career, I always voted for people and never for political parties. Not having political ideas, they politicised this situation, unfortunately. We chose to participate in the Copa America and be loyal, and the players and the coaching staff asked the president of the CBF before the Copa America was defined in Brazil. Before the president of the republic speaks, we told them that we would be loyal, out of respect for everything that is happening and on the one hand sentimental.

"We asked for some time before speaking publicly and the decision was already defined, this is the real thing and what I want to tell you. From that moment on we decided to express ourselves in a joint way and once it was defined we feel pride in our country, pride in representing the Brazilian national team and I am proud to be their coach, we are proud to be here. Please understand that it is not only black or white, there are also greys, there is the Brazilian national team and there is our discernment to choose to express our opinions outside of here.

"So, from the moment our opinions were contrary to the organisation of the Copa America and now we have to play, there are no excuses and we are going to play. We will take care of ourselves in the best possible way and we will adjust to our responsibilities."

Brazil have gone 20 Copa America games without losing when the tournament takes place on home soil (W12 D8). Their previous defeat was a 3-1 loss to Peru in 1975.

Indeed the Selecao have lifted the title on the previous five occasions they have hosted, with an overall record of W26 D12 L2 – the other reverse coming versus Paraguay back in 1949.

The Los Angeles Clippers' stars came through on their return home to drive a needed 132-106 win over the Utah Jazz in Game 3 of the Western Conference semi-finals on Saturday. 

Paul George posted 20 points in the first half and finished with 31, while Kawhi Leonard top-scored with 34 of his own as the Clippers led throughout and cut Utah's series lead to 2-1 in the NBA playoffs.

Donovan Mitchell had 30 points on 11-of-24 shooting from the field to lead the top-seeded Jazz, but by the time he found his offensive rhythm the game was largely out of hand in Los Angeles.

Mitchell did not score his first point until almost halfway through the second quarter. The last time he went scoreless in any quarter of a playoff game was April 14, 2019 against the Houston Rockets – a 32-point Utah loss. 

Utah kept this one a bit closer, cutting the Clippers' lead to eight points late in the third quarter, but George answered with a three-pointer and the Jazz could not get the margin below 10 from that point on. 

Among the key issues for Utah was Bojan Bogdanovic's worst performance in months. The Croatian made just two of 10 shots from the field and had nine points in the game – the first time he has been held to single digits since scoring seven in a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on April 26. 

Meanwhile, the Clippers' supporting cast turned in an impressive showing, with Nicolas Batum and Reggie Jackson combining to make nine of their 12 three-point attempts and scoring 17 points each. 

Game 4 is scheduled for Monday in Los Angeles. 

Nets at Bucks

Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks can level their Eastern Conference semi-final series with the star-studded Brooklyn Nets in Game 4 on Sunday.

Mexico fired a blank as El Tri were held to a 0-0 draw by Honduras ahead of the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Tata Martino's Mexico were taking to the field for the first time since their thrilling 3-2 extra-time defeat to rivals the United States in the inaugural Nations League final last week.

Saturday's international friendly served as preparation for the Gold Cup, which gets underway in the USA on July 10.

Mexico are the defending champions, but they have work to do following their goalless draw with Honduras in front of a huge crowd in Atlanta.

With more than 70,000 fans in attendance at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Mexico had the two best chances of the match.

Carlos Rodriguez rattled the crossbar with a powerful strike in the 30th minute, while Uriel Antuna found himself unmarked in the second minute of stoppage time but saw his header sail wide.

Mexico will face Panama (June 30) and Nigeria (July 3) before opening their Gold Cup campaign on July 10.

El Tri have been drawn in Group A, alongside El Salvador and Curacao, with Mexico also set to face the winner of the preliminary match.

As Brazil eye back-to-back Copa America trophies, Mineiro has been to the summit before.

Mineiro was part of the Selecao side that won the 2007 Copa America, defeating Argentina 3-0 to retain their CONMEBOL crown.

Brazil – led by Dunga – were far from favourites 14 years ago in Venezuela, where Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka and Adriano were among the absentees.

But a team featuring Robinho, Julio Baptista and Dani Alves upstaged great rivals Argentina, who were boasting Lionel Messi, Javier Zanetti, Carlos Tevez, Juan Roman Riquelme, Juan Sebastian Veron and Javier Mascherano in Maracaibo.

"On that occasion we basically went to the competition with our reserve team," Mineiro – who started every match and went on to earn a move to Hertha Berlin following the Copa America success, before joining Chelsea – told Stats Perform. "As several of the main players could not take part in that edition of the tournament.

"At the beginning, people did not expect much from us, the media was in doubt about our potential. But we managed to grow as a team little by little and we showed our potential. The biggest challenge came in the final match. And we won the Copa America and brought another trophy to Brazil."

"We are a country of over 200 million inhabitants. And it is a big responsibility to wear the yellow shirt," said 24-time international Mineiro. "The pressure is very big. However, it is also an honour, a privilege and a dream come true for every youngster, for every professional player to be able to wear that shirt and represent the country.

"We knew it. We were aware of our limitations. We knew it would be a tough Copa America for us. But we were totally focused and united and that was crucial for us. As I said, we went step by step gaining confidence. We got stronger and found ourselves in the final and managed to win it. For every professional footballer it is an honour to wear Selecao's shirt. Regardless of the pressure you must deal with."

The pressure is on Tite's Brazil to keep their hands on the Copa America trophy this year, as they prepare to open the showpiece South American tournament against Venezuela on Sunday.

Brazil have won five of the last nine editions of the Copa America, including the most recent one in 2019, while the Selecao have a favourable record against seven of the nine other teams at this year's event.

Pressure is nothing new in a country, where football transcends everything else. It is a way of life. It is a special kind of pressure in a country of 200million people, when every boy grows up wanting to play for the Selecao.

Amid the huge weight of expectations, Mineiro said: "Brazil is a country where emotions normally speak higher than reasoning. It is a fact. The here and now normally defines your status, how good you are. In Brazil there is not much patience to wait for a job to be developed. This is the Brazilian style, it is cultural to want immediate results.

"As we are considered...well, at least this is my impression where I go, we are considered one of the best - if not the best - football country in the world. But we must change that mentality and learn to work in different scenarios. With or without pressure. When we wear the Selecao shirt, every fan and the media expect us to win the game and play beautiful football and reach great results."

Brazil will also face Peru – a rematch of the 2019 decider, Colombia and Ecuador in Group B of this year's Copa America.

"Whenever you go onto the pitch, no matter if that is for the national team or for your club, you always think of winning the game," the 45-year-old continued. "But the pressure is obviously higher at Selecao. And when you represent your country, the desire is always to fight and do a great job.

"But it is hard as the opponents are always motivated to get a positive result against Brazil. It has been like that for a long time. Brazil have difficulties to beat some sides, perhaps because of their big motivation when they face Brazil. Anyway, every player will always try to represent the Selecao in the best possible way."

All eyes will be on superstar Neymar, who is carrying the hopes of a football-mad nation.

Neymar has scored 66 goals for Brazil, second only to Pele (77). Since his Brazil debut in August 2010, the Paris Saint-Germain forward has scored 47 more goals than any team-mate (Gabriel Jesus and Philippe Coutinho, 18).

In 2020-21, Neymar completed 5.6 dribbles per 90 minutes in Ligue 1 – the best mark of any player in Europe's top-five leagues to play at least 1000 minutes. Since joining PSG in 2017, he ranks third in France's top flight for goals (56) and fourth for assists (31), despite ranking 177th for appearances (70).

For all of Neymar's brilliance, Mineiro believes Brazil must learn not rely on the former Barcelona superstar.

"Neymar is a great player. His quality and potential are undeniable. On several occasions Brazil depend on his performance to show great football. In my opinion, Brazil should have a plan B just in case Neymar is absent for some reason," added Mineiro.

"Brazil must learn to play as a team and make the most of the individual quality of every player. That way we would become a stronger, more competitive side. Then we would surprise other teams who will be prepared to cancel our main players."

Neymar and Everton's Richarlison have formed an impressive relationship in attack for Brazil, though Mineiro has his collective concerns for the South American powerhouse.

"I have been following Richarlison. He is an excellent player with a big potential," said Mineiro. "He is growing and is an important player for Selecao. There is something I am a bit worried about Selecao. We have good players but they do not play together frequently or have enough time to train together as the European national teams do.

"Germany, for instance, a team that I am able to follow closely, they do have more chances to be together either training or playing matches. More than Brazil. They know each other well and have more opportunities to be together either in their clubs or in competitions. That is an advantage for the European national teams. Therefore, as many training sessions or games we can have with our good players can only be good for Selecao."

Philadelphia 76ers veteran Danny Green will miss at least the rest of the Eastern Conference semi-final series against the Atlanta Hawks with a calf injury. 

An MRI exam confirmed a right calf strain and Green will be re-evaluated in two weeks, the top-seeded 76ers said on Saturday.

Green left the court early in the first quarter of Friday's 127-111 victory over the Hawks, which gave the Sixers a 2-1 lead in the second-round series. 

The 33-year-old has started all eight playoff games for Philadelphia and is averaging 7.0 points in 24.9 minutes per game in the postseason. 

Green has played for the NBA champions the last two seasons, winning the title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 and the Toronto Raptors in 2019.

He spent the first eight seasons of his NBA career with the San Antonio Spurs, who he helped take the championship in 2014. 

While the timetable announced by the team leaves open a potential return should the Sixers advance, Philadelphia will have to a find a way to do so without one of their leaders in pursuit of a first champion since 1983.

"The next guy has to step up," head coach Doc Rivers said Friday. "Not sure who that is going to be yet." 

The 76ers face the Hawks in Atlanta in Game 4 on Monday.

Belgium full-back Timothy Castagne has been ruled out for the remainder of Euro 2020 after sustaining a double fracture of his right eye socket.

Roberto Martinez's Belgium opened their Euro 2020 campaign with a comfortable 3-0 win over Russia on Saturday but it came at a cost.

Castagne and Russia's Daler Kuzyaev collided in mid-air after 25 minutes and both went down holding their heads.

Belgium's Castagne was substituted immediately and Kuzyaev two minutes later in the Group B clash in St Petersburg.

"Really bad news, really sad news to see Timothy Castagne is going to be out of the tournament," Belgium head coach Martinez said. 

"He's had images taken, he's got a double fracture and now we'll take the necessary treatment."

While Leicester City's Castagne will sit out the rest of the European Championship, the news was better for Jan Vertonghen. 

Veteran defender Vertonghen was withdrawn in the 77th minute due to ankle injury, but Martinez said there were no major concerns regarding his fitness going forward. 

"Vertonghen has got just a typical football injury, an ankle knock that we're probably going to wait 48 hours to see the real extent, but I don't expect it to be too serious," Martinez said. 

Overall, Martinez was satisfied to see his side play the way they did in the opener. 

"The performance is very pleasing," he said. "It's never easy to start a tournament of this magnitude and I think it looked a team very concentrated for 90 minutes, kept a clean sheet in a very good way, and then obviously the win will allow us to grow and to get into the tournament."

Belgium are unbeaten in 10 games in all competitions (W8 D2) and have suffered just one defeat in their last 24 internationals (W20 D3), via a 2-1 loss to England in the Nations League in October 2020.

Russia boss Stanislav Cherchesov will have far more to worry about after an uninspiring performance but expressed optimism his side will bounce back against Finland on Wednesday.

Cherchesov's Russia have lost four of their last six competitive games (W2) after losing just one of their 13 before that (W10 D2).

"We are still in the tournament," Cherchesov told a news conference. "We chose our system, which worked partially but then started to break down. The Belgians scored and then it was difficult to get the ball off them."

"We will get out of the situation. We put ourselves there, so now we must find a way out."

Christian Eriksen has been in contact with his Inter team-mates as he recovers from a worrying collapse in Denmark's Euro 2020 opener against Finland, the club's CEO Giuseppe Marotta has said.

There were troubling scenes when Eriksen slumped to the ground with no one around him just before half-time of the Group B fixture in Copenhagen, with team-mates forming a protective circle around him as medical personnel rushed to his aid.

UEFA initially confirmed the fixture was suspended but a positive update from the Denmark Football Union later confirmed Eriksen was conscious and receiving further treatment in hospital.

The match would later resume, with Finland securing a 1-0 win in their first ever major tournament match, a result that was understandably overshadowed by the concerning events.

The world of football rallied around in their support of Eriksen, and Marotta offered further good news by revealing the former Tottenham star had messaged Inter's group chat on messaging service WhatsApp.

"We watched the images on TV that suggested something dramatic was happening, which unfortunately we have also seen on Italian pitches before," Marotta told Rai Sport, in quotes translated by Football Italia.

"The players are very close and we all immediately communicated with each other after seeing those images. We didn't want to be invasive and so tried to respect his [recovery] once we had been reassured.

"I can only say that 10 minutes ago Eriksen himself sent a message in our internal chat and this confirms the bond between the players."

Asked if he had an update on Eriksen's condition, Marotta added: "We're optimistic about Christian's condition, Denmark's staff told us that the situation is under control.

"I cannot enter into the merits, the player is under the control of the Danish national team. The best thing I can tell is that Eriksen responded positively, the intervention of [Simon] Kjaer and the doctors was very important."

Denmark team doctor Morten Boesen spoke about the incident with Danish newspaper B.T. saying: "We were called on the pitch when Christian fell over. 

"I did not get to see it, but it soon became clear that he had fallen over. When we got there, he was lying on his side and was breathing.

"We felt the pulse, but pretty quickly the picture changed, and then we started life-saving heart treatment."

Ecuador will be keen for a repeat of their sensational World Cup qualifying win over Colombia as they look to finally beat a South American rival at the Copa America.

La Tri remarkably won 6-1 in Quito in November, the last of three consecutive victories in an encouraging start to Qatar 2022 qualifying following an opening defeat to Argentina.

Led by Gustavo Alfaro, appointed three months prior to that match, Ecuador have waited a long time for a comparable result at the Copa America.

They have not beaten a CONMEBOL opponent at the tournament since 2001, their 4-0 defeat of Venezuela followed by a 13-game winless run in such matches.

Ecuador's only wins in the intervening period were against CONCACAF pair Mexico and Haiti.

The qualifying setback was particularly shocking for Colombia given their strong record against Ecuador, who they have beaten nine times at the Copa America – including the past seven meetings in a row.

La Tri's most recent Copa victory over Colombia was a 4-3 triumph in 1964.

Alfaro said: "We know the team that we are going to face – a team that have recovered their self esteem, their form, their intensity and have become one of the best.

"As they have been in the last two World Cups, they are one of the best in South America. We are in a process of wanting to occupy that place."
 

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Colombia – Luis Muriel

Atalanta forward Muriel scored a club goal every 80 minutes this season, the fifth-best rate of any player in Europe's top five leagues with five or more. He finished with 26 goals and 10 assists in all competitions. Muriel will now be determined to make his mark at the Copa America, too, having appeared in only 19 minutes across two previous editions. He was injured 14 minutes into the 2019 opener.

Ecuador – Angel Mena

Colombia will be well aware of the threat of Mena, who scored one and created two more as he was involved in half of Ecuador's six goals in Quito. With a knack for taking up dangerous attacking positions, Mena scored 17 goals for Leon in Liga MX in 2020-21 but could have boosted that tally further still with his chances worth 19.2 expected goals.
 

KEY OPTA FACTS

– Colombia have beaten Ecuador in their past seven meetings at the Copa America, keeping clean sheets in five of them. Ecuador scored only two goals across these matches.
– Colombia are unbeaten in normal time in their past five games at the Copa America, keeping clean sheets in each of them (W4 D1). In the previous tournament, they were eliminated without losing a game. Chile beat Colombia in a penalty shoot-out following a goalless draw.
– Colombia have made it through the group stage in 11 of the past 12 editions, although their sole title came at home in 2001.
– This is the second time Reinaldo Rueda has coached Colombia at the tournament. Previously, they finished fourth in Peru in 2004 (W3 D1 L2). Alfaro is coaching a side at the Copa America for the first time.
– The 2016 tournament was the only one of the past eight editions in which Ecuador advanced beyond the group stage.