The football of summer continues with a tournament that no one can take their eyes off of. The passion, the flair & the the legends that grace the pitch at the Copa América make this tournament extra special.
This time around, they won’t be playing at La Bombanera or Maracanã, as the tournament will take place in the United States of America. Football (the American kind) stadiums will have every seat filled as stars like Lionel Messi & Vinicius Junior look to lead their nations to glory.
Despite that, there are several storylines to keep an eye on from this tournament.
This will be the first tournament to have guests from the CONCACAF nations. USA, Jamaica, Canada & Mexico will be joining the tournament looking to hang with the “big dogs” like Brazil, Argentina & Uruguay.
Argentina will be looking to win their second Copa América in a row, after going almost two decades without winning one. They will be doing this with the possibility that this will be Lionel Messi’s last tournament with La Albiceleste.
Now it’s time to take a look at the teams in the competition and who has the best chance of lifting the trophy come July 14th.
Group A
As for the winner of Group A, it’s very hard to picture a reality where Argentina doesn’t leave the group stages at the number one spot. They’ve won eight of their last nine (thank you Darwizzy) and have the best player of all time. Why wouldn’t anyone bet on their chances to top the group?
Peru’s form has sadly been pretty shocking. Only two wins in their last nine and those wins were against Nicaragua and Dominican Republic. They haven’t won a single World Cup Qualifier game and they’ve only drawn two out of six. Real ones remember the days of Jefferson Farfán (my FIFA 15 FC Schalke career mode legend), but it seems like they are long gone for La Blanquirroja.
The addition of Sheffield United striker Ben Brererton Díaz to the attack does bring something exciting, but I’m not that high on Chile in this tournament. The 2015 & 2016 champions of the tournament are hitting the twilight stage of the “golden generation” of players for La Roja that included Alexis Sanchez, Eduardo Vargas, Arturo Vidal & Claudio Bravo. They’ll always be remembered for beating Lionel Messi in that penalty shootout though.
Canada have their most talented roster of players, probably ever, in this tournament. Star player Alphonso Davies is ready to lead the line once again for Les Rouges, as he will be accompanied by Lille striker Jonathan David & Inter Milan midfielder Tajon Buchanan. They’ll be under new guidance though, as American (and former Leeds United manager) Jesse Marsch has been tasked with leading this group. It’s time to see how serious this nation is about their football. It’s put up or shut up time for the Canadians, and they know it.
- Argentina
- Canada
- Chile
- Peru
Group B
Man Mexico are hard to watch nowadays. Long gone are the days of Giovani Dos Santos and Rafa Marquez. El Tri used to dominate CONCACAF and now they’re getting embarrassed by Uruguay (thank you Darwizzy) and drawing against Uzbekistan. And against teams like Ecuador & Venezuela, who are both quality opponents, I don’t see them playing any better.
All eyes will be on the young talents of Kendry Paez, Moises Caicedo and Jeremy Sarmiento. La Tri were so close to a knockout stage appearance in Qatar, so I don’t think they’ll be scared of the bright lights of the Copa América. Expect them to show the world the talent they have, especially in defense with both Piero Hincapié and Willian Pacho.
This Venezuela team is sneakily underrated. The only team they’ve lost to in this tournament since last September is Colombia (they lost twice to them). They drew Brazil at the Arena Pantanal and beat Chile by a convincing 3-0 scoreline. A player to watch for them is striker Darwin Machis of Cadiz, who has scored or assisted in three of his last six appearances for La Vinotinto.
Jamaica have some good players like Leon Bailey & Michail Antonio, but I haven’t seen them show up against any sort of real competition. Every time they play a bigger team they crumble. So until they prove me otherwise, I’m not going to pick them to do anything unfortunately.
- Ecuador
- Venezuela
- Jamaica
- Mexico
Group C
As long as Gregg Berhalter is managing this team, they will not accomplish anything in big tournaments against better teams. They will make the knockout stages, but they will not win a game past the group stages. I love Tim Weah, Haji Wright & Yunus Musah as players, but this squad needs a better manager (also better defending) to become anything serious. I mean, did you see their last game against Colombia?
This Uruguay squad is talented man. And that’s not just my Darwin Núñez bias speaking, the results are proof. Consecutive wins against Brazil and Argentina, followed by a 4-0 drilling of Mexico show that La Celeste are serious under Marcelo Bielsa. Manuel Ugarte, Rodrigo Bentancur & Federico Valverde will be bossing the midfield while Faccundo Pellistri & Darwin Núñez will be flying across the pitch in attack. Can’t wait to see this team in action.
Both Panama and Bolivia are not really teams to be threatened by at the moment. Bolivia’s only won two out of their last nine (versus Peru & Andorra) and Panama are coming from CONCACAF where they are playing teams like Guyana and Montserrat.
- Uruguay
- USA
- Bolivia
- Panama
Group D
After losing three straight World Cup Qualifiers, Brazil have seemed to bounce back and get back to their winning ways. Beating England at Wembley, drawing Spain at the Bernabeu & then beating Mexico in Texas have the Brazilians poised for a revenge tour this summer. After losing the Copa América to Lionel Messi & Co. last time, they’ll need their star players to play to the best of their ability in these coming weeks. I just still can’t believe that Neymar went to Saudi Arabia man. He was the chosen one…
Colombia just dunked on the USMNT, as mentioned earlier, so I don’t think they’ll be letting off the gas anytime soon. Colombia have not lost any of their World Cup Qualifier matches and they’ve beaten Brazil, Mexico & Spain. The attack of Luis Diaz, Rafael Borré & Jhon Arias have been clicking on all cylinders. Now it’s time to bring that to the world stage.
Paraguay have only won one match since last September and Costa Rica have warmed up for this tournament by playing St. Kitts and Nevis & Grenada. Sound. I don’t expect either side to make it out of the group stages unfortunately.
Knockout Stages
Quarter-Finals
- Argentina 🇦🇷 vs Venezuela 🇻🇪
- Ecuador 🇪🇨 vs Canada 🇨🇦
- Uruguay 🇺🇾 vs Colombia 🇨🇴
- Brazil 🇧🇷 vs USA 🇺🇸
Semi-Finals
- Argentina 🇦🇷 vs Ecuador 🇪🇨
- Uruguay 🇺🇾 vs Brazil 🇧🇷
Final
Argentina 🇦🇷 beats Brazil 🇧🇷 (3-2)
Just like I said earlier, it’s hard to bet agonist a team that has Lionel Messi. And I don’t see why Messi & Co. wouldn’t be able to win the tournament. They’ll just have to hope and pray that they don’t face their kryptonite, a.k.a Darwin Nüńez.
I think Núñez or Vinicius Junior will be the tournaments top scorer. And I think that after lifting the trophy, Lionel Messi would obviously get player of the tournament.
The summer of football continues and I couldn’t be happier. Thank you all for tuning in to my picks.
This is YSN, until next time, signing out.
