This past weekend of Copa America Centenario action was filled with many intriguing and surprising stories. It all began on Friday with the reigning FIFA World Player of the Year, Lionel Messi, finally making his presence known. While he didn’t start for the second straight match, he did get 30 minutes off the bench. What did he do in his half of an hour? Only score a 19-minute hat trick, of course.

Messi’s treble led Argentina to a 5-0 rout of Panama. The pick of the three was a trademark curling free kick that crept over the wall and slammed into the back of the net. Every country was put on notice that arguably the best player of all-time is back and ready to lead Argentina to glory.

Shifting from the individual brilliance of soccer to the hard reality of a refereeing controversy, Chile also won on Friday thanks to some help from the officials. With the score level at 1 late in the match, the linesman flagged for this handball in the box on Bolivia. A questionable call to say the least.

Arturo Vidal stepped up to the spot and calmly slotted him his second of the match to win it for his side. Chile have pulled level with Panama at three points, while Argentina have clinched a spot in the quarterfinals with one matchday remaining in Group D.

Saturday night brought about a major upset that shook up Group A. The United States fought hard to outlast Paraguay, 1-0, to gain their ticket to the final eight of the competition. The U.S. played the final 40 minutes of the match with only 10 men after DeAndre Yedlin was shown two yellow cards in rapid succession. With their backs up against the wall, the Americans, led by John Brooks, held up under intense pressure and kept a clean sheet. Clint Dempsey notched a first half goal for the U.S. while the highlight of the night was Brooks snuffing out a 3 on 1 break by Paraguay.

With their ticket punched, the U.S. could only wait for the result of the Costa Rica-Colombia match to see if they’d finish first or second in Group A. For some mysterious reason, Colombia manager Jose Peckerman rested 10 of his starters in the match. The move would come back to haunt him as his side were upset 3-2 by Los Ticos to give the U.S. the top spot in the group.

With the U.S. and Colombia through in Group A, they’d have to sit back and watch a jumbled Group B play itself out to see who their opponents would be.

Ecuador made things a little easier by handling Haiti with a 4-0 blow out. This result meant that they’d finish runner-up in the group, thus matching them up against the USA on Thursday night in Seattle.
The real drama played out in the final match of the weekend between Peru and Brazil. Some believed that the ‘Samba Boys’ were one of the favorites of the Copa America despite bringing a watered down squad with them. 90 minutes and a horrifying refereeing decision later and the world-famous Seleção are on their way home, knocked out of the group stage.

Deep into a scoreless match, a Peru cross whipped into the box and was turned into the net for a goal. A chaotic sequence then occurred with the referee being accosted by both teams pleading their case on whether the goal was put in by an illegal handball and if it should be allowed or not. The referee conference with his linesman and the fourth official before finally allowing the goal. Replays clearly showed a clear handball on the play.

It was a wild and crazy weekend chalked full of upsets, controversies, and mayhem. Stay tuned for another week of more of the same.

Monday

Mexico vs. Venezuela, 8:00 p.m. ET – Fox Sports 1 and Univision
Uruguay vs. Jamaica, 10:00 p.m. ET – Fox Sports 1 and UniMas

Tuesday

Chile vs. Panama, 8:00 p.m. ET – Fox Sports 1 and UniMas
Argentina vs. Bolivia, 10:00 p.m. ET – Fox Sports 1 and UniMas

Thursday

United States vs. Ecuador, 9:30 p.m. ET – Fox Sports 1 and UniMas (Quarterfinals)