Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Copa semifinal 1

Brazil and Uruguay will meet today in Maracaibo with a spot in Sunday's final at stake. Both teams have overcome shaky starts and are each flying into the semifinals.

Brazil lost to Mexico 2-0 in their first group stage game and doubts over coach Dunga's managing ability arose. Already, Dunga was criticized for taking players such as Vagner Love that few thought worthy of a Copa America call-up. But Brazil recovered after their pummeling to beat Chile 3-0 and Ecuador 1-0 to finish in second place in Group B. Saturday, Brazil looked like the Brazil we're all used to seeing as the Seleção routed Chile 6-1.

Uruguay, meanwhile, was a vast disappointment after losing to Peru 3-0 in the opening match. A match against a tricky Bolivia side awaited but Uruguay did what it needed to do and won 1-0. Then, the Uruguayans played for and got a draw against the host Venezuelans to secure a quarterfinal spot. In the quarters, Uruguay showed Venezuela what it was capable of and scored three second-half goals to beat the hosts 4-1.

Uruguay coach Oscar Washington Tabarez said Uruguay had an enormous task ahead of them.

"Brazil is an opponent who deserves respect. Their individual characteristics are difficult to overcome. For us, it is a challenge to play against them. Who doesn't want to play the best team in the world? That's the truth."

According to the previous link, these are possible starting lineups:

Uruguay: Fabián Carini; Diego Lugano, Andrés Scotti, Darío Rodríguez, Jorge Fucile; Diego Pérez, Maximiliano Pereira, Pablo García, Cristian Rodríguez; Diego Forlán, Álvaro Recoba.

Brasil: Doni; Maicon, Alex, Juan, Gilberto; Mineiro, Gilberto Silva, Josúe, Julio Baptista; Vágner Love, Robinho.

Here's another preview, this one in English.


My take: As much as Uruguay has improved over the course of this tournament, Brazil will be too much for Uruguay to overcome. Though Brazil showed weaknesses in their tournament-opening loss to Mexico, Brazil has displayed great attacking football throughout the tournament. Brazil wins 2-0.

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