Liverpool signing set to officially join up with Arne Slot after Copa American elimination

Darwin Nunez is poised to face off against either Alisson Becker or Luis Diaz as Uruguay maintained their 100% winning start at Copa America.

The Liverpool striker was unable to extend his recent scoring run for his country, having scored 10 goals in his last seven international appearances, but it mattered not as Mathias Olivera’s solitary strike earned Uruguay a 1-0 victory over the United States.

Having won all three of their group games, Uruguay have finished top of Group C. They will face the runners-up in Group D in a quarter-final clash on July 6. They’ll find out their opponents on Tuesday night when Brazil lock horns with Colombia, with a square-off against one of Nunez’s Liverpool team-mates likely as a result.

READ MORE: Liverpool finally receive '£181m transfer green light' as Arne Slot 'eyes' three new signings

READ MORE: Liverpool and Newcastle already know when Anthony Gordon and Luis Diaz talks will happen

Colombia currently top Group D, having won both their matches against Paraguay and Costa Rica. Brazil are second with four points, having been held by the latter in their opening match.

Should Brazil win, they will snatch top spot with Diaz’s side facing off Nunez and Uruguay as a result. If the two sides draw, the Reds striker will meet Alisson instead.

Brazil should still finish second if they suffer defeat, and meet Uruguay next as a result, though they aren’t guaranteed progression just yet. A Costa Rica win over Paraguay would see the two nations finish level on points, with qualification then determined first by goal difference and then by goals scored.

Boasting a +3 goal difference in comparison to Costa Rica’s -3, Brazil are in the driving seat as a result. They have also scored four goals with their counterparts yet to even score at the tournament, ensuring it would require an unlikely set of results for Alisson and co. to suffer a shock group-stage exit.

With one of the three Liverpool stars poised to suffer a quarter-final exit as a result, Nunez has actually already sent one Red home early. Fabian Otte was named as John Achterberg’s replacement as the club’s new head of first team goalkeeper coaching last month, though he wasn’t due to start in his new role until after his participation in the Copa America.

The 33-year-old was head of goalkeeping with the USA national team, but their 1-0 loss to Uruguay sealed a group-stage exit. He is therefore free to start his new role when Liverpool report for the start of pre-season at the end of the week.

With Claudio Taffarel still away with the Brazil national team, and Jack Robinson joining Achterberg in leaving the club, the Reds had faced the prospect of starting pre-season without a first team goalkeeping coach for as long as both the United States and Brazil remained at the Copa America.

Elsewhere, Liverpool legend Didi Hamann has slammed Cristiano Ronaldo for his antics in Portugal’s Euro 2024 round-of-16 win over Slovenia.

The Manchester United legend started in attack ahead of Diogo Jota as Portugal were held to a 0-0 draw. Yet he had a chance to win the game in extra-time after the Liverpool forward, who came on as a 65th minute substitute was brought down by Vanja Drkusic in the box.

However, Ronaldo was unable to beat Jan Oblak from the penalty spot as the shot-stopper tipped his effort away, with the 39-year-old subsequently bursting into tears and needing to be consoled by team-mates, including Jota, throughout the rest of proceedings.

Ronaldo would step up to score Portugal’s first penalty in the shootout as Diogo Costa saved all three Slovenia efforts to clinch a 3-0 win. But Hamann was left furious with the veteran forward's behaviour.

"Thirty-nine-year-old plays 120 minutes, he misses a penalty and I've got to say, I bought into all that 'Ronaldo has turned into a team player because he needs the team more than he used to',” the German said on RTE. “I bought into that nonsense as well, but I think he showed his true colours again tonight.

"Missing the penalty, he starts crying on the pitch, he starts crying at half-time in extra-time. And I'm thinking: 'It's all about you'.

"There's a squad of 26 players, there's 20 staff, there's 30 or 40,000 fans in there, it's not about you. You try to be neutral, but I was cheering Slovenia on because I thought the reaction was embarrassing, I thought it was out of order.

"I've never seen anything like it, because once you show emotions, once you get emotional, it's the end of it.

"So that was the point where the manager had to say, 'You've got to come off because you're not in the right frame of mind to carry on playing'."

Ronaldo is yet to score at Euro 2024 despite starting all four of Portugal’s matches, with Jota only utilised as a substitute on three occasions. They will now face France in the quarter-finals on Friday.