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Copa America Review

18 games played, 49 goals scored and some surprises along the way. The Copa America has finished it’s group stage and we proceed onto the knock out stage which starts tomorrow in San Cristobal when hosts Venezuela take on Uruguay despite having already played them once before in the tournament. In fact this is one of many slightly strange facets to the tournament which meant that final group games weren’t played simultaneously (although in this edition it didn’t lead to any obvious advantage to teams playing later) and only 12 teams taking part with only a third of the participating teams being knocked out.

The group stages though have provided several thoroughly entertaining games and one or two shocks along the way. Four teams have been knocked out: Bolivia, USA, Colombia and Ecuador.

Group A

The group of the hosts Venezuela was the tightest of the three groups with all four teams still in contention to get through to the knock-out stages on the final match day. Match day 1 started with Peru surprising Uruguay with a 3-0 trouncing. Peru indicated their intentions right from the outset playing some flowing football, heights they haven’t scaled since, giving the lacklustre Uruguayans no chance. Later in the evening Venezuela let a lead slip twice to the Bolivians drawing the match 2-2. Match day 2 played in rainy San Cristobal was a much tighter affair with the Uruguayans getting their first points on the board beating Bolivia in a tense affair 1-0. Later Venezuela aided by an early dismissal against Peru virtually secured their passage to the knock out stage courtesy of a 2-0 win. Match day 3 and Peru wrapped up their qualification with a 2-2 draw coming from behind twice after being outperformed by Bolivia thanks to a brace from recent Chelsea signing Claudio Pizarro. Knowing that a draw would be enough to see them both through to another meeting against each other Uruguay and Venezuela played out a tepid draw, the match finishing 0-0.

We say ‘adios’ to Bolivia therefore who have reason to be optimistic about their future. New coach Erwin Sanchez has formed a good team that just let itself down at key moments, particularly in defence. They performed with credit and under great pressure in their opening match against the hosts who were roared on by vociferous backing despite going behind twice. Their inability to kill of Peru in the final game with their opponents down to 10 men was the deciding factor in not going through. Guablerto Mojica in midfield caught the eye particularly with his willingness to support the attack and get involved. Juan Carlos Arce currently on loan with Corinthians also showed himself to be an excellent striker with waspish pace and an eye for goal. With 2 points to show for their endeavours the Bolivians will be left to wonder what might have been if they had been a little more compact in defence.

Group B

Termed the group of death, group B was always going to be hard to predict, however a few surprises were sprung along the way in this group right from the first match day when Chile and Mexico both recorded wins against Ecuador and Brazil respectively. A late free kick saw Chile shock Ecuador late on as they came from behind to squeeze a 3-2 win out of the opening game in Puerto Ordaz. Later on Mexico clung on bravely despite some intense pressure to beat Brazil 2-0, some fine goalkeeping from reserve goalie Ochoa keeping the Mexicans in it at times. Match day 2 was a more straightforward affair although Chile made Brazil work to record a 3-0 win late goals from Robinho getting the first points on the board. Mexico wrapped up their qualification with a 2nd win against Ecuador 2-1 despite a late rally from the Ecuadorians. With Mexico already through in match day 3 and the Chileans knowing that a point would seal their passage through, an inevitable 0-0 draw was the result. Brazil despite not hitting any form managed to scrape a 1-0 win out of their final match against Ecuador after a soft penalty was awarded early in the 2nd half.

The Ecuadorians it is then who go home early despite being tipped by some to shine at the tournament - one feels they never quite recovered from the loss against Chile on the opening day, in what was arguably the most exciting game of the tournament so far. Ecuador who took a strong side to the finals played some neat and attractive football at times putting Brazil under some pressure in the final game. However, failing to get a result against Chile was always going to be put them in a difficult position having to get something against Mexico and Brazil. Like the Bolivians their defensive fragility and lack of cutting edge cost them ultimately and their poor Copa America form persists. How much will this failure set Ecuador back, if at all, remains to be seen?

Group C

The group which saw two teams knocked out was decided in reality as early as the first match day when both Paraguay and Argentina achieved big results against Colombia and the USA respectively. Match day 1 saw 10 goals fly in during two one sided games. Colombia failed to turn up in the opening match against Paraguay and even the Paraguayans, hardly the most attractive team in the world to watch, couldn’t fail to take advantage and knocked 5 past the hapless Colombians. Despite taking the lead against Argentina in the 12th minute the USA couldn’t hold onto their advantage and succumbed to a 4-1 defeat against the tournament favourites. In the second round of matches Argentina carried on the scoring trails knocking in 4 against Colombia in a one sided game despite the score line of 4-2. Paraguay continued their good form securing their passage through to the quarter final stage with a 3-1 win against the USA, although they were made to work hard for the result. With the two top teams through and the two bottom teams facing little realistic prospect of matching the other teams already occupying third place the final round of matches were muted affairs. USA slipped to a third consecutive defeat to Colombia 1-0 and the score line was identical later in the evening when Argentina achieved a perfect 9 points with Mascherano scoring to give his team all three points.

Neither the USA nor Colombia had any realistic hope of making it through to the knock out stage after suffering heavy defeats in the first matches. Knowing that only a win plus a draw would see them get 4 points the total required to put Uruguay and Chile under any pressure both teams looked a little jaded in their remaining games.

The USA despite being the only team not to score at least a point faired marginally better than Colombia in truth. They played well for large parts against Argentina and Eddie Johnson up front looks like a decent prospect. They were also unlucky to loose 3-1 to Paraguay a late goal from Cabanas allowing the Paraguayans to finish with a flourish and end any US hope of a fight back plus a couple of glaring misses in front of goal didn’t help. Bob Bradley was already impaired by the fact that the MLS teams weren’t obliged to release their players as this wasn’t an official tournament for the States. However, the reserve team showed some bright prospects, Jay Demeritt from Watford showed he has Premiership potential; will he still be plying his trade at Vicarage Road next season? Sascha Klejstan and Jonathan Bornstein also proved that their long term future should be in Europe. In that respect the tournament was a success for the States.

Colombia, on the other hand, will be returning from the tournament with their tails firmly between their legs. Their no show against Paraguay proved costly as their opponents helped themselves to 5 goals, which seriously impaired their goal difference and hampered their chances of making it into the knock out stage by virtue of being one of the 2 best 3rd placed teams. Despite acknowledging the tournament as being a chance to rebuild for the upcoming qualifiers for 2010 their defence had a solid and experienced look about it. However, it was this department that suffered the most; Mario Yepes should clearly not have been risked so soon after returning form injury. He was exposed countless times by Roque Santa Cruz, who scored more goals in the 90 minutes he was on the pitch for than in the entire Bundesliga season! Colombia got their attack going in the 2nd game but Argentina were in no mood to be charitable and the Colombians lost another 4 goals. Redemption against the US was never going to be on the cards given the poor tournament their opponents had just endured. The only player to really come out of the tournament with any credit is David Ferreira currently playing in Brazil. Jorge Luis Pinto, the manager, will have his work cut out to rebuild the shattered morale in time of the forthcoming qualifiers for 2010.

Posted by Walter Townsend on Friday, 6th July 2007

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