Copa America Centenario: Group stage reflections

Copa America Centenario: Group stage reflections

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Brazil-based journalist Tim Vickery would have a lot to report about with the announcement of the sacking of coach Dunga after his second spell in charge of the national team.

The fact that Brazil has bowed out of two-straight successive Copa America tournaments from the group stages does not speak any volume at all. Neymar on the other hand, who was not selected in order to save himself for the Rio Olympics, has been filmed partying heavily in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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However the most productive of thoughts come from Vickery as the freelance reporter also highlighted key notes about how Arturo Vidal has been gearing the ship that Chile is directing towards defending their Copa title.

He notes that the slick passing game has salvaged Pizzi’s men after losing to Argentina in their opening fixture. How Alexis Sánchez and Vidal are simply not combining together and that they are resorting to individual brilliance.

Chile's title defence is looking good
Chile’s title defence is looking promising

Much of the same can be said about Mexico with their finishing up front courtesy of Javier Chicharito Hernández, Lionel Messi with Argentina (especially against Panama) and Colombia with playmaker James Rodríguez.

So no Brazil and no Uruguay in the quarter-finals in the showpiece continental American tournament.

That’s two of world football’s heavyweights packing their bags straight home.

Luís Suárez also came out to clear up ill-informed gossip and admit his wrongdoings in his fiery tirade on the touchline during Uruguay’s loss to Venezuela that basically got La Celeste eliminated.

“I knew I couldn’t play on medical grounds and my furor was pure impotence as I couldn’t play. This is what happened in the last World Cup in Brazil 2014 against Costa Rica where coach Tabárez would’ve put me on and things could’ve turned for worse,” the Barcelona forward said.

“And against Venezuela here, had he said yes to me, right now I’d be sitting in the corner in pain because unfortunately this injury I have is very tricky.”

As for Brazil, their exit goes down purely to a lack of creativity in midfield and finishing in the front third. Sure, one might say that Brazil scored seven past Haiti however do they need a reminder of Germany’s World Cup semi-final thrashing?

Dunga simply did not call up the required men to go further in the tournament and technically speaking, Brazil has lately not got the quality nor calibre to match it with the continent nor the world’s best anymore. They must go through a deep, hard look at themselves and rebrand their football, go back to their old jogo bonito, call up local-based Brazilian players or stick to only those overseas.

Perhaps Brazilian football has shaped up and resorted to too much speed and strength, as a result turning a blind eye to a more slower-paced, passing, dribbling and technical game that the Brazilians are known for.

There’s a number of serious tasks ahead that lie and with the 2018 Russia World Cup qualifiers restarting in September there’s not much time. Brazil absent at a World Cup is a serious possibility, and that in itself would be a serious national tragedy.

There are significant factors to consider about this tournament edition:

  • A Copa America tournament held in the United States 10 or 20 years ago would have been unheard of. Football or “soccer” as the North Americans refer to it, has grown in leaps and bounds and so has the playing standards – especially from Venezuela, Ecuador and the Central American and Caribbean CONCACAF teams.
  • Central American nations have also grown in leaps and bounds. For teams like Venezuela (a Caribbean South American nation) to defeat Uruguay and qualify to the quarter-finals yet again (since the Copa in 2011) show pedigree for a baseball-mad country, for instance.
  • The qualification of Haiti to the tournament – even though they were the ‘easybeats’. They did manage a goal against Brazil and take this experience as a valuable step moving forward. Jamaica are no strangers to international football on the world stage and can still hold their heads high despite an early group stage exit while Costa Rica defeated favourites Colombia even though now eliminated and were showing glimpses of their brilliant 2014 Brazil World Cup performance.
  • The crowds have been so far, enthusiastic, colourful, well behaved and immersed into a party atmosphere. The US demographic of Hispanics and Latinos shows exactly why this centenary edition has been a success.
  • The stadiums have been well chosen, with plenty of capacity-seating although the New Jersey East Rutherford (New York) venue that will host the final does show a rather poor playing surface.
  • The time zone viewing times across the Pacific over to Australian television viewers are rather favourable with live broadcasting during the day.

Colombian-born Panama coach Hernán Darío Gómez said after yesterday’s loss to Chile: “The differences between Central American and South American nations is very big. But I believe in a few years’ time we will reach a stage where we are considered a power.

“We were not downtrodden. We were more or less worthy of being here. The best game we played [Argentina] scored five against us.

“We have to position ourselves and look at what we came to learn and be conscious of the differences.”

Peru are to be cautious of Colombia’s attacking display. They cannot afford to dwell much on their controversial win over Brazil with Raúl Ruidíaz scoring with his hand but Colombia do need to improve from last weekend at the hands of the eliminated Costa Rica.

Twitter reacts as Brazil suffer controversial Copa America elimination

That loss was down to sheer complacency by José Pekerman as he preferred to field a more alternative lineup. It almost cost them a quarter-final showdown against Brazil – had they won.

So, the quarter-final pairings look very entertaining and intriguing.

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