The United States crashed out of the Copa America following a 1-0 defeat by Uruguay, who advanced to the quarter-finals as Group C winners.
The defeat at Arrowsmith Stadium – coupled with Panama's 3-1 victory over bottom side Bolivia – culminated in the Stars and Stripes falling at the first hurdle in their home tournament.
Though both sides were generally lacking a creative spark in the final third, Mathias Olivera's 66th-minute strike was enough to seal the hosts' fate.
Meanwhile, Uruguay ensured a 100% record as they marched into the last eight, where a showdown with the Group D runners-up, likely to be Brazil or Colombia, awaits them in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Each side lost a player to injury during a disjointed first half in Kansas City.
Uruguay's Maximiliano Araujo was stretchered off with suspected concussion following an aerial collision with Tim Ream in the 27th minute, while Folarin Balogun limped off for the hosts four minutes before the break.
The closest either team came to breaking the deadlock was when a quickly taken Uruguay free-kick released Nahitan Nandez, whose clipped effort was cleared away by Ream.
Just after the hour mark, news filtered through from Orlando that Bolivia had equalised against Panama to move Gregg Berhalter's side back up to second place in Group C.
However, the joy was short-lived as a Uruguay free-kick saw Matt Turner parry Ronald Araujo's fierce header straight to Olivera, who just about stayed onside to tuck home the rebound from close range.
Panama regained their lead soon after to leave the Stars and Stripes needing two goals to stand any chance of progressing.
Christian Pulisic and Haji Wright both saw deflected efforts blocked on the line, but that was as close as the tournament hosts came to finding a route back into the contest, as their stubborn opponents held out to inflict the defeat that ended hopes of home glory.
Unblemished Uruguay make Copa America history
When it comes to the Copa America, you write Uruguay off at your peril.
After all, La Celeste have won the competition 15 times – the most recent of these triumphs coming in 2011. It is a tally only matched by reigning champions Argentina. They have also only failed to progress beyond the group stages once in the last 25 years (2016).
And for the first time in their history, Uruguay have now registered a 100% record in a single group stage, while they have also started a single campaign with three straight wins for the first time since 1959.
Marcelo Bielsa was serving a touchline ban, but will return to the dugout for the quarter-finals. Having led Argentina to the final of this competition in 2004, he would love to go the extra step with La Celeste two decades on and get his hands on this trophy.
Unwanted history for departing host nation
For the first time at an international tournament, the USA have failed to advance from the group stage after winning their opening match, having progressed in each of the 23 previous instances.
Despite the defeat against Panama last time out, Berhalter stuck with continuity as his only change was an enforced one with Munus replacing the suspended Timothy Weah.
It meant 10 players had started all three group games for the Stars and Stripes in a major competition for only the fourth time (the feat also occurring at the 1950 World Cup, 1994 World Cup and 2016 Copa America).
Previously unbeaten against Uruguay, they had won their final group match at each of their last six tournaments.
However, their xG of 0.58 demonstrated the lacking of a clinical edge in the final third, with just three shots on target throughout the entire contest.
And despite the best efforts of the Kansas City crowd to rally the players, the hosts just could not get going, and you could not see a route back for them once they fell behind. That proved to be the case.
Messi a doubt for Copa America quarter-final, claims Argentina boss Scaloni
Lionel Messi is a doubt for Argentina's Copa America quarter-final tie against Ecuador, so says Lionel Scaloni.
With the holders having already booked their progression to the last eight, Messi, who is the record appearance maker at the Copa America, sat out Argentina's final Group A match against Peru.
His absence was not felt as Lautaro Martinez's double propelled Argentina to their third win of the tournament.
However, ahead of Thursday's knockout clash with Ecuador in Houston, Scaloni suggested the 37-year-old may miss out again.
"We will wait a few hours and make a decision. Another day is always better. We'll decide on the basis of the response we get today," Scaloni said on Wednesday.
"We'll try to get him to play and if he doesn't, we'll try to find the best thing for the team.
"I'm going to talk to him today, I think it's fair that he takes his time and trains as much as he can."
Should Messi not make it, then Scaloni will likely lean on the tournament's leading scorer Martinez, who has netted four goals so far despite starting only one match.
Regardless of Messi's fitness, Argentina, who beat Ecuador 1-0 in a pre-tournament friendly, are big favourites to progress to the semi-finals, with Opta's predictive model handing them a 68.4% chance of victory.
Yet Scaloni knows Ecuador must not be underestimated.
"Ecuador are a well-drilled side with good players and a good coach," he said.
"They are one of the best teams in the Copa America. They have a real chance of challenging for the title.
"Anyone can easily reach the final and compete with the best in the world.
"Yesterday's game between Colombia and Brazil was of a very high standard. Uruguay are also doing very well."
Argentina have won their last eight matches, including friendlies, equalling the longest winning streak under Scaloni.
A win over Ecuador will set a new record for La Albiceleste since Scaloni's debut as coach in September 2018.
Colorado Rapids v Sporting Kansas City: Vermes want players to take responsibility ahead of road trip
Peter Vermes urged his Sporting Kansas City players to take responsibility for their own position ahead of the upcoming MLS road trip to Colorado Rapids.
SKC ended a three-game losing streak with a 2-0 victory over Austin FC in their last encounter, just their second victory in 15 league games.
Kansas City are still bottom of the Western Conference and 11 points adrift of the playoff spots, though Vermes is desperate for fighting spirit ahead of a testing schedule.
"We can't wait, we have a lot of games that are important coming up," SKC head coach Vermes said at his pre-match media availability.
"Each game has its own importance to it, this all started last week but we need to keep going.
"We go in with a plan, we have an idea, it sometimes comes down to how the guys recover. Hopefully no one gets injured, but also just minutes – it's going to be really important.
"Each guy himself has to be ready for the responsibility of the position and knowing what we do when we have the ball, when we don't, they have to go into the game with that.
"We don't have a lot of training time in between games, so they all have to be ready for that."
The Burgundy Boys will be out to extend their home unbeaten run to five games in this clash, though they suffered a 3-0 defeat to Los Angeles FC last time out on the road.
Colorado are fourth in the West standings but nine points adrift of the top two, a gap they will hope to shorten at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Colorado Rapids – Rafael Navarro
Rafael Navarro has scored in each of his last five home appearances for the Rapids, and will fancy his chances of extending an impressive run this time around.
The only players with a longer streak in regular-season play in Colorado's history are Diego Rubio (six in 2022) and Mark Chung (also six in 2003).
Sporting Kansas City – William Agada
Goals have been hard to come by for the Kansas City side, with William Agada leading the way this season in MLS with five strikes.
Agada has managed that tally from 20 games, averaging a goal every four matches, but will hope to add to his scoring returns in Colorado.
MATCH PREDICTION – COLORADO RAPIDS WIN
The Rapids are the favourites for victory on home soil in this clash, owing to a remarkable head-to-head record in meetings between this pair.
Colorado are unbeaten in 10 straight regular-season home matches against SKC (W5 D5) and have lost only two of their 28 home league matches against them since August 2000 (W13 D13).
This will also be Colorado’s third Independence Day meeting with Sporting, having won in both 2003 and 2005, with the expectation that history will repeat itself here.
SKC are hardly in fine form either, having managed just their second win last time out in their previous 15 MLS matches (D2 L11).
However, they managed the club's first clean sheet since a scoreless draw at LAFC on March 9, and will hope to build on that performance here.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Colorado Rapids win – 48.2%
Draw – 25.9%
Sporting Kansas City win – 25.9%
Wimbledon: Sinner ousts fellow Italian Berrettini to battle into third round
Jannik Sinner battled his way into the Wimbledon third round after overcoming Matteo Berrettini in an all-Italian classic on Wednesday.
Centre Court was treated to a hard-fought spectacle between the pair as the world number one triumphed 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 7-6 (7-4).
The victory marked somewhat of a changing of the guard between the Italian duo, with Sinner rising to the top after a fine year that has also brought Australian Open glory.
Berrettini is no stranger to the SW19 stage, reaching the final of the grass-court major in 2021 and taking the first set before falling to Novak Djokovic, and proved a tough opponent for Sinner in an enthralling clash.
The 14-time ATP Tour champion struggled to assert his dominance early on, failing to snatch a set point in the first before eventually triumphing in a tie-breaker with a thumping backhand.
Sinner repeated the same dose in the second set, trading breaks to leave the clash level at 4-4 before the top seed's forehand exposed Berrettini in another tie-break decider.
Berrettini responded by breaking twice to take a 4-1 lead in the third, though, striking back to halve the arrears and offering his countryman a stark reminder of his quality on this surface.
The pair once again exchanged a break apiece in the fourth set before Sinner squandered a glorious match-point chance when 6-5 ahead.
Yet, as was the case in the first two sets, Berrettini skewed a forehand into the net as Sinner sealed victory on his third match point with another tie-break success, just before the curfew at Wimbledon.
Data Debrief: Super Sinner downs another Italian
Sinner, who reached the semi-finals at this tournament last year, is now 14-0 against fellow Italians.
The 22-year-old is just the third player in the Open Era to win his first 14 ATP matches against compatriots, after Australia's Bob Hewitt and Argentina's Guillermo Vilas.
Sinner hit 32 winners and committed 25 unforced errors en route to his 40th tour-level win of the season, teeing up a third-round meeting with Miomir Kecmanovic, who overcame Tallon Griekspoor.
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