Klopas hails fighting spirit ahead of road trip

James Rodriguez stole the show with a goal and two assists as Colombia eased into the Copa America semi-finals with a 5-0 win over Panama on Saturday.

Colombia captain Rodriguez set up Jhon Cordoba's opener, then passed to Luis Diaz and converted a penalty kick in the 15th minute at State Farm Stadium.

Richard Rios scored another in the 70th minute in bizarre circumstances after the referee appeared to point to a penalty for Colombia, and Miguel Borja scored the second when Nestor Lorenzo's side were awarded another penalty in stoppage time.

After easily beating Panama, Colombia, who have reached the semi-finals in three of the last four Copa America tournaments, await a semi-final match with Brazil or Uruguay.

Colombia needed just eight minutes to open the scoring as Cordoba found space inside the six-yard box, slid in to meet a corner from the right which Rodriguez headed past Orlando Mosquera.

Jose Fajardo responded with a powerful shot over the bar but Lorenzo's side extended their lead just seven minutes after taking the lead.

Panama goalkeeper Mosquera brought down Jon Arias after a lengthy VAR review for possible offside in the build-up before the penalty decision was upheld.

But the stoppage did little to distract Rodriguez as the attacking midfielder unleashed a powerful shot into the top right corner from 12 yards, only for the ball to go the wrong way in front of Mosquera.

Panama almost pulled one back shortly afterwards, though, when Edgardo Farina's header from an Eric Davies free kick hit the left post before Camilo Vargas saved the effort off the line.

Thomas Christensen's side suffered further damage just before half-time as Rodriguez quickly passed the ball from a free-kick from inside his own half to Diaz who chipped it over Mosquera from the edge of the Panama penalty area.

Panama put in a fairly strong performance in the second half, but for the wrong reasons, as numerous fouls slowed the game down with Giovanni Welch and Farina booked.

Then Daniel Munoz went down as the referee looked set to blow for the penalty spot, but Reus fired a powerful shot into the bottom right corner from distance to make it a goal.

Christensen and the Panama bench were left frustrated by this bizarre refereeing sequence, and their frustrations were compounded when Borja converted a stoppage-time penalty into the bottom right corner after Jose Cordoba had made a terrible mistake on Santiago Arias.

Who can stop Colombia under Rodriguez?

Lorenzo's men have now made it 27 games unbeaten after their crushing win, although a huge test awaits them in the semi-finals against Uruguay or Brazil.

But neither team may be able to face Colombia given Rodriguez's stunning performances.

The Sao Paulo midfielder is the first Copa America player to score and assist in the first 15 minutes of a match since such records began to be set in 2011.

Rodriguez also became the first player in the 2024 edition to reach six goal contributions (one goal and five assists), ahead of Argentina's Lautaro Martinez and Venezuela's Salomon Rondon (both four).

The Colombia captain's five assists are three more than any other player so far in this tournament. Can these creative assists lead Lorenzo's team to glory?

Panama pain

The 2024 Copa America will be only Panama's second appearance, with this being the first time the team has reached the knockout stage.

Panama were probably confident going into this match too, having won four of their previous seven competitive matches this century against CONMEBOL teams (three losses).

In fact, two of those wins came against Colombia (both in the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup), and Christensen's team also put in an impressive performance this year in Group C to outlast the United States and finish second.

But they came back down to earth here, with no way back after a first-half assault by a dominating Colombia side.

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