JOHAN VENEGAS and Celso Borges each scored and Costa Rica benefited from an own goal by Colombia in a 3-2 upset victory to wrap up Group A play in the Copa America on Saturday night.

    Colombia had already advanced before this match, earning a berth in the quarterfinals with a win over Paraguay on Tuesday and Costa Rica was eliminated from contention with the United States’ 1-0 victory over Paraguay earlier Saturday. The loss makes Colombia’s path in the tournament more difficult as the team will likely face Brazil in New Jersey because of the loss. The Los Cafeteros would have drawn either Ecuador or Peru with a win.

    But the United States did benefit from Costa Rica’s upset, with Colombia’s loss giving the team first place in Group A.

    Frank Fabra and Marlos Moreno scored Colombia’s two goals. Fabra scored Colombia’s own-goal in the first half to give Costa Rica a lead it would not relinquish.

    After failing to score in its two previous matches in the tournament, Costa Rica wasted no time getting on the board Saturday. Venegas put Los Ticos up 1-0 with a 20-meter strike to the upper left hand corner in the second minute. It wasn’t just the last two matches in which Costa Rica hadn’t scored. The goal by Venegas was the team’s first in Copa America play since it beat Boliva 2-0 in 2011.

    (SD-Agencies)