Uruguay beats Colombia 2-1 in Copa

Agencies, Peru

Vicente Sanchez rebounded from his decisive missed penalty kick in the semifinals by scoring the game-winner for Uruguay to beat Colombia 2-1 in the Copa America third-place playoff on Saturday.

Sanchez's blocked kick in the penalty shootout helped Brazil win their semifinal, but he made a beautifully weighted left-foot lob over Colombia goalkeeper Juan Carlos Henao for the winner nine minutes from the end.

Fabian Estoyanoff nailed a cross in the third minute for Uruguay, and Sergio Herrera leveled from a penalty in the 71st minute in Peru's historic capital, 500 kilometers inland from Lima.

Argentina and Brazil meet in the final on Sunday in Lima. Uruguay appeared to take the match less seriously than Colombia by retaining only two starters from the semifinals - defenders Joe Bizera and Carlos Diogo - but the Celeste dominated the first half and celebrated after the whistle as if they had won their 15th Copa.

The victory ended Uruguay's six-match winless streak to Colombia since 1995, including a 5-0 hiding just last month in World Cup qualifying.

"Without a doubt we have played better in Peru than in World Cup qualifying and that has made our Copa America worthwhile," said Uruguay defender Guillermo Rodriguez.

Osasuna forward Richard Morales announced it was his farewell match for Uruguay. Captain Paolo Montero and Sevilla striker Dario Silva have also hinted at retiring from international duty.

Colombia, the 2001 champion, started eight from the 3-0 loss to Argentina in the quarterfinals, resting strikers Tressor Moreno and Edwin Congo, and midfielder Oscar Diaz.

"We committed some errors that cost us the game," said Colombia midfielder John Viafara. "The game was wide open. We obviously would have liked to have won this one."

Separately, South American football confederation president Nicolas Leoz revealed on Sunday that the Oceania confederation (OFC) has requested to participate in the Copa America.

"For the moment we're sticking with the current format (12 nations) with, in addition to the South American countries, the CONCACAF (North and Central America and the Carribbean) and a guest country. But we don't rule out increasing the number of participants," said the Paraguayan.

Since 1993 the event has involved ten South American nations - Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia and Venezuela - and two guest nations - such as Mexico and Costa Rica this year.

The United States and Honduras have already participated in the competition as well as Japan during the 1999 event in Paraguay.