Almost exactly 20 years after the Malice at the Palace, the Copa America tournament has witnessed its own ugly incident between players and fans.
Uruguay lost to Colombia 1-0 during their Copa America semifinal match on Wednesday. The match took place at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., and things took an ugly turn after the full-time whistle sounded.
A number of Uruguay players entered the stands and began fighting with Colombia’s fans, going through a connecting stairwell that led up from the pitch. Here is the video that was shown on the FOX television broadcast.
Uruguay players have entered the stands and a fight has broken out between fans and players pic.twitter.com/XRbte2ibiy
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 11, 2024
Uruguay’s Darwin Núñez, who plays at the club level for England’s Liverpool F.C., was at the forefront of the altercation. Núñez had taken off his jersey at that point but could easily be recognized by his distinctive man bun. Take a look at another video angle from the stands, which showed Colombia fans hurling trash and liquids at the Uruguay players, who responded by throwing punches.
After defeat to Colombia, Uruguayan players entered the stands at Bank of America Stadium and began to throw punches. Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez amongst those at the forefront. pic.twitter.com/VE3unKObSa
— Kyle Bonn (@the_bonnfire) July 11, 2024
An additional angle aired on local television showed Núñez squaring up to fight (and then eating a shot to the dome).
I’m crying, Darwin Nunez wtf pic.twitter.com/yhNPWIvFgi
— TC (@totalcristiano) July 11, 2024
The semifinal match was a contentious affair that saw Colombia go down to 10 men late during the first half after Daniel Muñoz was sent off for violently elbowing Uruguay’s Manuel Ugarte. Muñoz had already gotten a yellow card earlier in the match and drew a second yellow with the elbow, triggering a red card and an automatic ejection.
Daniel Muñoz just threw an elbow pic.twitter.com/rOA3kZ41Bi
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 11, 2024
Four other yellow cards were shown between the two teams during the contest, and hostilities continued after the final whistle too. Players from both Uruguay and Colombia were seen exchanging shoves in a postgame scrum at midfield that was seemingly initiated by Uruguay forward Luis Suarez (who has a long history of issues with opponents).
Things got physical between Colombia and Uruguay after the final whistle pic.twitter.com/F3f8bR7SlP
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 11, 2024
Colombia now advances to play Argentina on Sunday in what will be their first Copa America final appearance since they won the whole thing back in 2001. Colombia also extended their national team’s undefeated streak to a very impressive 28 matches. But their victory over Uruguay on Wednesday may end up getting overshadowed by the ugly melee between players and fans that took place in the stands afterwards.
