Colombia crushed Panama, is in the semis and is a candidate for the Copa America

Colombia advanced to the semifinals of the America Cup after defeating 5-0 on Saturday Panama with a goal and two assists from James Rodriguezin a match in which they dominated from start to finish at the pace of their captain.

In the semifinal, to be played on Wednesday at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, Colombia will face the winner of the match between Brazil and Uruguay, which will be played later in the day.

In the match played at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, the Colombian team showed its superiority from the start and defined the quarter-final series in the first minutes.

The team led by the Argentine Nestor Lorenzo opened the scoring in the eighth minute with a header from John Córdoba after a corner kick from James Rodríguez.

Eight minutes later, Rodríguez scored the second goal via a penalty after a foul by goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera on John Arias.

Panama had a slight reaction to the disadvantage and tried to change its defensive stance, but wasted several approaches against Camilo Vargas.

Colombia’s third goal came in the 41st minute with a shot by Luis Díaz over the goalkeeper after a perfect assist from Rodríguez.

In the second half, Colombia scored again in the 70th minute with a long-distance shot by Richard Ríos and completed the rout in the 94th with a penalty scored by Miguel Borja.

With the victory, Colombia extended its unbeaten streak to 27 games since its last defeat in February 2022, when it lost 1-0 to Argentina in the qualifiers for the Qatar World Cup, for which it did not qualify.

For its part, Panama said goodbye with a heavy defeat after having reached the quarter-finals for the first time in its second participation as a guest in the Copa América, after its debut in the 2016 edition in which it was eliminated in the first round.