Ten-men Colombia withstood Bielsa's warriors for the 23-year awaited final

It was worth waiting! After 23 years, Colombia is in the Copa America final! Jonathan Lerma's goal in the 39th minute was enough for the victory over the experienced Marcelo Bielsa and his crew. Los Cafeteros emerged triumphant despite Daniel Munoz's red card in the added time of the first half. Uruguay kept attacking throughout the entire second period but, in the end, fell short.

In front of more than 70.000 people at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, the two teams showed all the beauty of the most important secondary thing in the world and left everyone speechless with their fighting spirit, passion, energy, and determination. In the end, James Rodriguez burst into tears of joy, while Luis Suarez finished perhaps his last major tournament in the sky blue jersey angry as a bull. Colombia will face Argentina on Monday (3 am) in the grand final.

Ultimately, Darwin Nunez will take the biggest responsibility for the defeat, given that the Liverpool forward had two excellent chances in the first half an hour, but both times, his strikes from just outside the box went wide. The experienced tactician like Bielsa amazingly found all the holes in the Colombian defence and went on to exploit them, but it just wasn't Nunez's day. As it usually happens, La Celeste were punished in the 39th minute when Lerma sent a perfect header in the back of the net after Rodriguez's ideal cross, scoring his third international goal.

Maradona had Valdano, Messi has Julian: Argentina in a new final, Leo overtakes Batistuta

However, when Munoz punched Manuel Ugarte in the stomach and received a red card, it didn't seem that Colombia would withstand Uruguay and advance. As the end of the match approached, Bielsa's tactic became increasingly offensive. In the 71st minute, only four minutes after being subbed in, Suarez hit the post. Moments later, Mateus Uribe could have scored the second goal for Colombia but was denied by the crossbar.

Finally, Nestor Lorenzo's squad managed to defend the lead and book a ticket for the final - their only second and first since 2001, when Ivan Cordoba brought them the trophy, scoring the decisive goal in a victory over Mexico. In the final, the Argentinian Lorenzo will have to battle his compatriots, supported by the yellow wall of Colombian fans.

COPA AMERICA

Semifinals

Wednesday

Argentina - Canada 2-0 (1-0)

/Alvarez 22, Messi 51/

Thursday

Colombia - Uruguay 1-0 (1-0)

/Lerma 39/

Third place play-off

Sunday

03.00: (6.25) Canada (4.00) Uruguay (1.55)

Final

Monday

03.00: (2.30) Argentina (3.10) Colombia (3.40)

***odds are subject to change***