Copa América 2011

2011 Copa America

If one is not familiar with this tournament, then that person is not a true football (In the U.S. & Canada – Soccer) fan. This tournament was founded in 1916 under the name of South American Championship but in 1975 it was changed to Copa America; the Copa America occurs every 3 years in alternating South American countries. The two most successful nations with the most titles are Uruguay and Argentina, with 14 each. Although the tournament is for South American countries, other countries outside the region have participated such as Mexico, United States and Costa Rica have been participants to fill out the current 12 team format.  The last 5 Copa America’s (past 15 years), Brazil has won 4 and Colombia has won (they won the 2001 Copa America which split Brazil’s 4 into 2 consecutive victories). However, the last two have been played by nation’s that have such a rich football history with 7 FIFA World Cup victories combined; for those who are avid football fans and even those who only watch to partake in the festivities know the 2 teams are Brazil and Argentina. For a tournament to be running for almost a century speaks volumes on the severity of the tournament for the players and the nations involved, especially that of the host nation. Many analysts, pundits and fans alike always have this notion, because of their exceptional and world-class Footballers, that either Brazil or Argentina will win “La Copa.” Where they right in giving either team the Cup?

Argentina had Uruguay in the quarter-finals of the Copa America. Many people seem to not give Uruguay the respect they deserve for reasons that are unknown to many avid football fans. Uruguay has won the World Cup twice (1930 and 1950) and as aforementioned earlier, have won the Copa America 14 times including the very first one. In addition, they reached the semi-finals of the 2010 FIFA Men’s World Cup in South Africa. The feats accomplished are equal to the feats accomplished in the history of the Argentinean National Team; the only difference being that Uruguay does not have the super-stars that those people are accustomed to hearing. If one were to ask an average fan or a fickle football fan, who would win between Argentina and Uruguay? Chances are that person would, without hesitation and with a look on their face vehemently saying – are you serious; would say Argentina. If Mike Tyson taught the sports world anything, it is that anyone no matter how great one is can be defeated; which is exactly what happened to Argentina against Uruguay. The game went into penalty kicks level 1 to 1 (gols coming from Argentina’s Gonzalo Higuain and Uruguay’s Diego Perez), with Uruguay prevailing – 5 x 4. The Argentinean who missed the penalty was no other than “El Apache” Carlos Tevez.  That being said, the host nation who anticipated bringing home the Cup is no longer bringing home the Cup but rather their gym bags full of disappointment.

Since the projected winner of the Cup got eliminated a day prior to the other projected Cup winning team, how did Brazil do? For starters, A Seleção or the Samba Boys played a game in which they showed their superiority for the whole entire game including overtime but had nothing to show for it. “Brazil should have won in 90 minutes,” [Gerardo] Martino [Paraguayan Coach] said. “We were lucky.” Brazil was playing a Paraguayan side that was playing good defense and the counter-attack, which made it difficult for the Brazilians to enter the goal area; but for a team with such talent and history that shouldn’t have been a problem but it was. The style that Mano Menezes instill is what the term “Joga Bonito” (Brazilian Portuguese for Beautiful Game) arose from which is their attack first philosophy, in which the Brazilians would create magic even when there is nothing that they can create it from but would find a way to score. The only beautiful game that happened during this game was not found on the pitch but probably found in the Brazilian section of the stands. Just like their rival - Argentina - Brazil was ousted in penalty’s in a manner that can only be mimicked by a video-gamer playing the FIFA game with their eyes closed.

Brazil lost the shootout 0 x 2, with the Brazilians missing 4 of them in humiliating fashion. "Of course if we keep raking over the four missed penalties that saw us go out then we will not talk about the game we played, which marked an evolution in the team and the squad," Menezes told a news conference. Brazil can be paralleled to the baseball team, New York Yankees, in a sense that if they do not win it all, the season/tournament is seen as a failure; that’s how high the bar is set for the 5x World Cup Champions.  "I know you live and die by results," said Menezes. "But these will come if we continue on the path we are on."

The 2011 Copa America Finals will mark 10 years since Brazil or Argentina have been in the finals. In 2001, it was Mexico vs. Colombia; with Colombia coming out victorious over “El Tri.” But before the finals can happen, the semi-finals have to be played. On one side of the bracket, Uruguay plays Peru on July 19, 2011 and on the other side its – Venezuela vs. Paraguay on July 20, 2011. One would think that Uruguay will defeat Peru and Paraguay would defeat Venezuela since both teams eliminated the 2 teams that were projected to win it all. As seen many times in sports, projections are merely words that can be said by anyone, no matter what title is bestowed upon because a game still has to be played to decide the outcome of an event. So will Peru play the role of Netherlands to Uruguay’s hopes in making it to the finals of a major tournament? Will Venezuela show the world that they also are a nation with a great Football National Team and not just baseball? The 2011 Copa America Finals will be held on Sunday July 24^th, 2011. Which teams do you project to make it to the finals?