Strikers Struck Down

Miguel Herrera, Mexico's ebullient coach, is in a bit of a quandary.  The double demands of Copa America and Gold Cup have, in my opinion, been part of a difficult test for Mexican players that helps them improve. 

But it's a strain to play both tournaments, so different rosters are often utilized. 

However, El Tri is getting really thin at one particular important position. 

What should Herrera do? What can he do? 

http://t.co/OXbv5ECgEv pic.twitter.com/P1LxcYKRpl kinda miss the wirld cup like badly!
— *sips tea* (@dianad307) February 4, 2015

The Case For Uruguay

Uruguay have done it and have won Copa America. It may not have come as much of a shock the way the tournament unfolded, with Argentina and Brazil nowhere near the final, but Uruguay still were third-choice at best to win this tournament before it began.

Now that los Charruas have won glory, where does this put them in terms of world rankings?

Now, I don't mean how high they will climb up in the ridiculous FIFA rankings. But rather, where does this place them among the rest of the national teams?

Are they a true world power? Are they in the second tier of nations, strong teams who have some history and talent but not quite in the upper crust? Somewhere in between?

Well, I'd like to think a championship of this caliber would thrust Uruguay back into the first class. Uruguay should be considered a world power, a global elite, now. Certainly they are better than Argentina at this moment and would have more of an argument over Argentina to claim a spot in the Global Elite Club.

It's not every day a nation breaks into such rare air but Uruguay have done it.

They have the recent and current success - World Cup 2010 semifinalists, Copa America 2011 champions.

They have the history - two-time World Cup champions.

They have the world-class players - namely Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan.

This is an elite team. Make no mistake.

Whereas in 2010, some did not give Uruguay as much credit entering the World Cup - Group A looked wide open with Uruguay, Mexico, France, South Africa - but in 2014 Uruguay will clearly be the best team in their group no matter how it turns out.

Paraguay - Brazil Copa America Penalties.

Yes, I'm just in time for the penalties.

Elano is up first. Versus Justo Villar - and DAMN if he doesn't sky it like Carli Lloyd. "Horrible!" gasps the announcer.   
Now Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar faces down Bareto - and  Bareto misses WIDE! Wow. 
Thiago Silva versus Justo Villar, and Justo Villar SAVES the weak low shot.
Estegarriabia nails his shot past Julio Cesar. 1-0 Paraguay. 
Andre Santo misses high! 1-0 Paraguay. Andre Santo looks accusingly at the grass of the penalty spot. 
Rivera makes it 2-0 Paraguay.
Fred jogs up slowly - he misses! High and Wide. All the Brazil PKs missed. 
Not that that's going to make the USWNT feel any better. 
Wow, Argentina and Brazil both out of the Copa America in the quarters. "Inconceivable!" as Fezzig would say. 
Robinho is a little teary in his exit interview, says the team now has to focus on the World Cup in 2014.

Eh, that didn't work out

Woah, that's embarrassing for the Copa America. The stadium sound failed at the start of Brazil - Venezuela, and now there are no anthems. So much for tradition. 

And embarrassingly for me as well, my cable died. 

Technical difficulties, they abound.  

Anyway, cable is finally back - I'm watching the Republica Deportiva highlights now of the scoreless draw right now. The most exciting part of the game was Neymar's rocking mohawk.

Fernando Fiore just referenced Tim Howard's objections to speaking in Spanish while interviewing Venezuelan and Brazilian fans. Heck, that's cool that he's laughing about the whole thing now.

Cue the Copa complaints

Ah, the Copa America! The South America competition is enticing to USA fans, partly because one year, 1995, the Americans actually did well in it. Also, who can resist the lure of matching up against the likes of Argentina and Brazil? Still, there are some very solid, though boring and tedious, reasons why the USA team shouldn't take part in the current format. I go over a few of them in my latest column for Goal.com, the Canales Corner.

Rest in peace

Que En Paz Descanse translated means Rest In Peace, which is how Argentine sports daily Ole tabbed Argentina's 3-0 Copa America final loss to Brazil.


Next to a stunned Roberto Abbondanzieri reads:

"The national team that played the best in Copa America died in the final; a cruel 3-0 against Brazil B. A generation's dream of a title instead ended in nightmare. What a shame. Still, Basile has a base for the future."

"Messico 86"

The cover from Argentine sports daily Ole from today.

The upper corner reads:

"The Maradona of the 21st Century scored a goal for the ages; Messi's great goal, Riquelme's class (a penalty ala Zidane); even Heinze scored a great goal!; we routed Mexico 3-0 and the Copa final will be against Brazil."

Mex-Arg highlights

In case you missed the game or you just want to watch the highlights again, here's a rundown of the Mexico-Argentina match.

Lessons learned

Already the excuses are starting. Mediotiempo.com is trying to explain away Argentina's 3-0 rout of Mexico. The site said that Oswaldo Sanchez made a bad charge off his line and called the penalty extremely doubtful. Still, the site did plead for Hugo Sanchez to one day let them celebrate.

I didn't come down too hard on Mexico in my final Tri reaction piece of the summer, but maybe that's because I understand that Argentina is clearly superior to Mexico. Any way you spin it, from results to players to whatever, Argentina's a world power and Mexico is not.

But that doesn't mean Mexico is garbage. Far from it, actually. Mexico showed well during this tournament and is headed in the right direction.

Anyway, Argentina moves on to face another titan in Brazil while Mexico will play Uruguay in the pointless finale otherwise known as the third-place match. Maybe it could serve as a send-off game for Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Oswaldo Sanchez, bring back a hobbled Jared Borgetti, throw in Ramon Morales. Thank them for their time and bid those guys farewell.

Broken crystal ball

I like to pick NFL games for the heck of it. I figure, how can I have a perfect week of picking games if I don't pick every NFL game every weekend? I'm still waiting for that perfect week of games, that 16-0 that I can point to as proof that I do know what I'm talking about, at least some of the time.

I usually stink, though. If I get into double digits, I'm happy. Usually I make a handful of horrible picks that I look back and think to myself "What the &$#!* was I thinking?"

My earlier pick of Mexico over Argentina falls into that category.

Copa semifinal 2

Mexico and Argentina will meet for the fourth consecutive year in an official competition. Mexico beat Argentina 1-0 in the group phase of the 2004 Copa America while Argentina knocked Mexico out of the 2005 Confederations Cup (on penalty kicks) and the 2006 World Cup (in extra time).

There's no reason to think tonight's game won't be right up there in terms of drama and intrigue and downright good football. Neither side has lost this tournament yet and both are coming off lopsided semifinal victories, as Mexico beat Paraguay 6-0 and Argentina trumped Peru 4-0.

For Mexico, one of its important players might not be able to go. Nery Castillo has a bum ankle and he might not be able to start.

Hugo Sanchez told Ovaciones that he is unsure whether Castillo will start even if the striker is able to maneuver without too much pain.

"Above all because I like players to be at 100 percent. If he has some discomfort or injury, it will affect the group. I think it will be difficult for him to recover."

Still, hope won't be lost if Castillo does not start. The squad is playing well as a unit and though Castillo is a part of it, he's not the whole of it. Mexico has received contributions from players all over the field as Juan Carlos Cacho, Jaime Correa, Gerardo Torrado, Rafael Marquez and Oswaldo Sanchez have all played well.

If Castillo is a go, he'll have to deal with one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. Javier Mascherano can disrupt any offense and will be a problem Mexico must solve. Argentina's talent runs deep as Leo Messi, Juan Roman Riquelme and Carlos Tevez are a formidable trio.

Here are possible starting lineups from peru.com:

México: Oswaldo Sánchez; Israel Castro, Rafael Márquez, Johnny Magallón, Fausto Pinto; Ramón Morales, Jaime Correa, Gerardo Torrado, Andrés Guardado; Nery Castillo/Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Juan Carlos Cacho.

Argentina: Roberto Abbondanzieri; Javier Zanetti, Roberto Ayala, Gabriel Milito, Gabriel Heinze; Juan Sebastián Verón, Javier Mascherano, Sebastián Cambiasso; Juan Román Riquelme; Lionel Messi, Diego Milito.


My take: Argentina is playing excellent soccer, and Messi hasn't yet taken off and played like the Messi we're all used to seeing at Barcelona. But I think this Mexico team has come a long way in a short period of time and is playing as good as any Mexico team has played in years. Mexico wins it 2-1.

PK highlights

They don't show the charge off the line by Brazil 'keeper Doni, but here are the spot kicks from last night's semifinal between Brazil and Uruguay.

One interesting kick is Sebastian Abreu's kick at 1:19 in. Abreu needed to convert the spot kick to send it to the sudden-death rounds and he chipped the ball in. Unbelievable.

Goalkeeper charge

In some ways, Uruguay got screwed against Brazil. But if they were on the wrong end of a call that is hardly ever enforced, did they really get the short end of the stick?

Uruguay and Brazil tied 2-2 and went to penalty kicks. With the score 6-6, Brazil's Gilberto converted his attempt. Then, Diego Lugano stepped up to take a make-or-break spot kick. Brazil 'keeper Doni saved it, but he clearly took a few steps off his line before Lugano ever made contact.

Brazilian players celebrated their apparent win. Uruguayan players protested to the referees causing the Brazilians to stop celebrating as an altercation nearly broke out. Once it was evident the refs weren't going to do anything about Doni's approach, the Brazilians danced again. Brazil won 5-4 on penalties after a 2-2 draw and will play Argentina/Mexico in the final on Sunday.

It's a tough way to lose and even tougher when you know that, according to the rule book at least, you deserved another chance to continue the match.

Two things need to be either changed or enforced during PKs: players shouldn't stutter-step on approaching the spot kick and goalkeepers shouldn't be able to move off the line before a kick is taken. Those rules should be consistently enforced.

Beloved Barquisimeto

I hadn't kept up with Neil and the Studio 90 gang, so I just caught their most recent edition, part of which focused on the team's move to Barquisimeto.

I'm not surprised, however, that people there were especially friendly and helpful (see how the equipment guys were amazed at how many people pitched in to help them unload).

My best friend is Venezuelan (Hi Becky!), and I went to visit her once in her home town of Barquisimeto. She lives in Florida now, but she still has family in Barquisimeto and was spending the summer there when I stopped by for a week.

When I was over there, Hugo Chavez was merely running for office and a lot of people didn't like him, saying he was a bully who wouldn't work together with other officials for the greater good.

Anyway, just like others around the world shouldn't judge all Americans by the fact that Bush was elected, neither should Venezuelans all be assumed to be fans of Chavez.

So props to the U.S. fans who went to Copa America - that took courage, an open mind and loyalty.

Money, too, yeah. I'd have gone if not for that.

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.

Copa America quarters

Intrigue and drama weren't a part of the quarterfinal round of Copa America, but blowouts were.

Uruguay started the party with a 4-1 rout of hosts Venezuela on Saturday, and Brazil followed suit with a 6-1 thrashing Chile. Mexico started Sunday with a 6-0 whipping of Paraguay while Argentina dropped a 4-0 win on Peru.

Now, Uruguay-Brazil and Mexico-Argentina will meet in the semifinals on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. Routs at this stage of the tournament are unlikely so it will be nice to have a bit of drama back in Copa America.

The best?

Every time the U.S. beats Mexico, which is often, U.S. fans point out how their side is better.

But every time Mexico pulls out results like Sunday's 6-0 win over Paraguay, it's hard to hear U.S. fans' arguments.

The U.S. does well against Mexico and poorly against other top-tier competition in competitive tournaments. Mexico does poorly against the U.S. but holds their own against top-tier competition in competitive tournaments.

So the debate rages on as to which side is better.

My answer: who cares?

U.S. thoughts

As I prepare for an evening of testing out a new recipe on the grill (beer-battered chicken breasts... mmmm) and U.S.-Colombia followed by Argentina-Paraguay, I wanted to put this here to get some feedback from U.S. fans.

Tonight's result matters, but very little. It matters because it's an official match in an official tournament but it matters very little beyond that because no result will get the U.S. (or Colombia for that matter) to the next round.

The U.S. took an experimental squad to Copa America and have lost by a combined 7-2 in its first two games and were promptly eliminated from quarterfinal contention.

My questions, then, are these:

* Do these results diminish your joy/pride/satisfaction with the Gold Cup win?

* Do these results diminish your view of Bob Bradley?

* Do you feel more confident about the depth of the squad or less confident about it now than you did before the tournament?

* Do you think the U.S. will get invited again to Copa America? Do you think the U.S. deserves to be invited to future Copa America tournaments?

(just a reminder, we approve the comments before they appear on the blog, and we usually approve like 98.45 percent of the comments)

Mexico's reward

Mexico stunned Brazil 2-0, beat Ecuador 2-1 and played in cruise control in a 0-0 tie with Chile to wrap up the Group B title.

Their reward: Argentina or Paraguay.

Argentina last met Mexico in Leipzig, Germany, on June 24, 2006 and eliminated them from the World Cup with a 2-1 extra-time win.

Paraguay last met Mexico in Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on June 5, 2007 and beat Mexico 1-0, thus becoming just the second team to beat Mexico in Azteca since 1981.

Some reward.

Brazil, meanwhile, gets Chile in a quarterfinal matchup.

Still, Mexico coach Hugo Sanchez seems more worried about his own team than his opponents.

"Any team that faces Mexico will have to play their best in order to beat them because we are improving and are very concentrated."

Crespo out

Anyone remember when Arizona Cardinals kicker Bill Gramatica tore a knee ligament after celebrating a field goal a few years back?

A celebration injury happened again.

Fellow Argentine Hernan Crespo is likely out for the rest of Copa America after he pulled a muscle after in his right leg after converting a penalty kick in a 4-2 win over Colombia on Monday.

From the story:

"I felt the sharp pain as soon as I jumped to celebrate the goal," Crespo said. "I'm angry, of course, but I know the rest of the guys can achieve our goal of winning the tournament."