After Colombia sealed a 1-0 victory in the Copa semi-final, Uruguay players climbed into the stands and exchanged blows with opposition fans.
Argentina’s undersecretary for sports Julio Garro was sacked on Thursday after demanding an apology from Lionel Messi for the racist chants during the national team’s celebrations after winning the Copa America.
"[The players] warmed up, cooled down, warmed up again, before the kick-off. Then we had 25 minutes of half-time, strange things for both teams," he said.
"We've had our players head-butted, we've had racial slurs thrown at our players live and through social media... We've been treated like second-class citizens."
Messi's 109th goal for Argentina also saw him surpass Iran's Ali Daei to take sole possession of second place on the all-time international scoring charts. Messi trails only Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored 130 goals for Portugal.
Julian Alvarez and Lionel Messi scored the goals as Argentina advanced to Sunday's final in Miami where they will face either Colombia or Uruguay.
The Copa America is down to the final four with a pair of fascinating semifinals and favourites Argentina hoping they can win their third straight major title.
Coming up against Uruguay, the standout performers of this Copa America so far, Brazil, missing their key player Vinicius Jr, will have a lot to fix in this heavyweight quarterfinal clash at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sunday morning.
Team USA, who suffered an upset 2-1 defeat to Panama last Thursday, went into Monday's final Group C game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City needing to match or better Panama's result against Bolivia to advance.
Lionel Messi trains alone on Saturday as Argentina continue their preparations for their Copa America Centenario opener against Chile.
Eight times champions Brazil are held 0-0 by Ecuador in the glamour game as the second day of the centenary Copa America tournament muster up only one, albeit spectacular, goal from three matches on Saturday.
Colombia wreck the United States' hopes of a winning start to the Copa America Centenario as goals from James Rodriguez and Cristian Zapata give the South Americans a comfortable 2-0 victory.
Lionel Messi must shrug off the gruelling demands of a globe-trotting schedule if he is to fulfill his dream of leading Argentina to a first major tournament victory in 23 years at the Copa America Centenario.
Rising teenage star Gabriel scores on his international debut as Brazil warm up for the Copa America Centenario on Sunday with a 2-0 victory over Panama.
Lionel Messi was taken to hospital after suffering an injury scare on Friday as Argentina defeated Honduras 1-0 in their only warm-up game before next month's Copa America Centenario in the United States.
Lionel Messi has been cleared of serious injury after hurting his ribs and back in Argentina's final Copa America Centenario warmup fixture on Friday.
Barcelona striker Luis Suarez is a doubt for next month's Copa America after hobbling off in tears midway through the Copa del Rey final win over Sevilla Sunday with a muscle injury.
Neymar says sitting out of the Copa America is worth it for the chance to lead Brazil to gold in front of a home crowd at the Rio Olympics in August.
Argentina captain Lionel Messi admits he would have liked play at the Olympic Games after he was left out of the squad in order to take part in the Copa America Centenario.
