Copa America

[Matra2]

Those Brazilian penalties against Paraguay were the worst I've ever seen. Naturally they all blamed the surface but Paraguay managed to score a couple why not brazil?

 

[Rebajlo]

What a joke of a "tournament" this has turned out to be, even by the Copa America's farcical "standards" - which include (since the 1993 edition) inviting two nations from other confederations to make up the numbers enabling three groups of four teams in the first round. Hell, there aren't even any qualifiers as COMNEBOL only has ten members - everyone simply turns up.

COMNEBOL initially invited Japan, who pulled out as a result of J League fixture rescheduling in the wake of the earthquake crisis and was replaced by semi-regular invitees, the imposing football superpower of Costa Rica. The other invitee - Mexico - sent a third-string squad after eight members of their original second-string U-22 squad were expelled following a whoring scandal.

But I guess that's the over-greased, "Latin lovers" from south of the "border" for You - in keeping with their customary public displays of hypocritical religious piety whilst engaged in wholesome church-approved activities like drug running et cetera, the tortilla-scoffers in question were probably crossing themselves several times and kissing various ostentatiously chunky gold crucifixes hanging from equally ostentatious aurous chains about their scrawny necks while waiting for their Viagra (oops, sorry, "hot Latin blood") to kick in. Livin' la vida loca...

The hilarity continues as Paraguay has managed to reach the final without actually winning a game, racking up five straight draws. In fact, 11 of the 24 matches to date have finished in draws, 5 of which have been scoreless. Paraguay has participated in three of those scoreless affairs, while fellow finalists Uruguay have drawn 3 of their 5 matches.

Just to confirm the traditionally sportsmanlike nature of Latin American football, the competition has so far yielded a remarkable 13 red cards, including 8 in the knockout stages...

Brazil, of course, have cemented their natural status as the "true" number one football nation by being knocked out on penalties in the quarterfinals - a shootout in which the "samba kings" managed to miss all four of their spot kicks. Now, that's pedigree with a capital P...

 

[frederic38]

What a joke of a "tournament" this has turned out to be, even by the Copa America's farcical "standards" - which include (since the 1993 edition) inviting two nations from other confederations to make up the numbers enabling three groups of four teams in the first round. Hell, there aren't even any qualifiers as COMNEBOL only has ten members - everyone simply turns up.

COMNEBOL initially invited Japan, who pulled out as a result of J League fixture rescheduling in the wake of the earthquake crisis and was replaced by semi-regular invitees, the imposing football superpower of Costa Rica. The other invitee - Mexico - sent a third-string squad after eight members of their original second-string U-22 squad were expelled following a whoring scandal.

But I guess that's the over-greased, "Latin lovers" from south of the "border" for You - in keeping with their customary public displays of hypocritical religious piety whilst engaged in wholesome church-approved activities like drug running et cetera, the tortilla-scoffers in question were probably crossing themselves several times and kissing various ostentatiously chunky gold crucifixes hanging from equally ostentatious aurous chains about their scrawny necks while waiting for their Viagra (oops, sorry, "hot Latin blood") to kick in. Livin' la vida loca...

The hilarity continues as Paraguay has managed to reach the final without actually winning a game, racking up five straight draws. In fact, 11 of the 24 matches to date have finished in draws, 5 of which have been scoreless. Paraguay has participated in three of those scoreless affairs, while fellow finalists Uruguay have drawn 3 of their 5 matches.

Just to confirm the traditionally sportsmanlike nature of Latin American football, the competition has so far yielded a remarkable 13 red cards, including 8 in the knockout stages...

Brazil, of course, have cemented their natural status as the "true" number one football nation by being knocked out on penalties in the quarterfinals - a shootout in which the "samba kings" managed to miss all four of their spot kicks. Now, that's pedigree with a capital P...

mexico had a bad young team , yes
and costa rica is ridiculously over hyped, i hear fans saying they are the surprise of the tournament, lol
venezuela is over hyped too, they just managed to beat chile, because chile is bad



i don't agree about paraguay, they have a great team, and they respect their identity, they play really defensively
but they have excellent fowards (haedo, barrios, santacruz, oscar cardozo, barreto ect)
in the future, they will have an excellent central defender : ronald renato huth candia, of german and italian descent

a funny fact, sad actually, a paraguayan player, estigarribia, who was very good in ths tournament, played in france during 3 and is officially still part of "le mans fc" this year
he played only 12 matches in 3 years! in second division!
in a team that has 2 haitians, 1 chinese, and countless blacks


i told you paraguay was one of the best in the world right now, there is no surprise, everybody know how they play, but they are simply hard to beat
spain didn't beat them during the 2010 world cup
they could have made the final
remember that pique got no red card for his enormous foul on cardozo, that gave paraguay a penalty kick
and the refused goal for paraguay


regarding brazil:
i dindn't liked neymar and ganso
but they didn't selected hulk, who is better than the two
i liked pato a lot
i still think, and know, that they will win in 2014
hopefully with pezzini leiva, murara neto, bruno uvini and pato

if you believe a player like elano blumer can miss a penalty like that, you are dreaming
he is one of the best free kicks specialist in the world, it's like when beckham missed a penalty because the ball moved just before


now, i hope that uruguay wins the final, as i said before the tournament started
it's the moment when this generation gets paid, a generation that got no respect from the world, the best example being forlan, but also recently coates (i wrote to several clubs to talk them about coates, when his agent was in europe, looking for a club, and no one gave him the respect he deserves, now he will play a copa america final as a titular)

forlan's match against argentina:

[video=youtube;vFara1TusIo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFara1TusIo&feature=plcp&context=C34f0191U DOEgsToPDskIfFZpOGbG6WU9j_jdsqbes[/video]

against peru in semi final:

[video=youtube;-pA_xp3-uU0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pA_xp3-uU0&feature=plcp&context=C334fe3cUDOEgsToPDskJIVRH efkN32qJ1xPFHwo1A[/video]

 

[frederic38]

also, so far, even if the matchs are usually very close, no team got robbed by the referee, no big mistakes, when they say there is offside there is usually offside, unlike in the last world cup

less politics

 

[frederic38]

uruguay won
two goals by forlan
sebastian coates elected best young player of the tournament
lugano took the cup
perfect

uruguay is now the best team in soccer history, with 15 wins in copa america, better than argentina and brazil, and 4 world cup, only one less than brazil

 

[frederic38]

the forlan - corazo family won the copa america for the third generation (grand father, father and diego forlan)

forlan became today the best scorer in history for uruguay

 

[Rebajlo]

uruguay is now the best team in soccer history, with 15 wins in copa america, better than argentina and brazil, and 4 world cup, only one less than brazil

I don't mean to be pedantic mate, but Uruguay has won two World Cups (1930 and 1950).

 

[frederic38]

I don't mean to be pedantic mate, but Uruguay has won two World Cups (1930 and 1950).

yes, i knew it would be polemical, but uruguay has 4 stars on his shirt, because they won 1930 and 1950 world cup but also the olympic games 2 times, that were world cups, even if the FIFA doesn't count them now
but it was really called the "world cup", and was organized by the FIFA, and jules rimet, amongst others

it's polemical, maybe one day the FIFA will aknowledge again these two world cups

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ylzMincG...CX4/WfIiMrRbUpU/s1600/medalla+de+oro+1924.jpg

"champion du monde" = world champ

it was a world champ, but the fifa organized it at the olympics at first

 

[Rebajlo]

yes, i knew it would be polemical, but uruguay has 4 stars on his shirt, because they won 1930 and 1950 world cup but also the olympic games 2 times, that were world cups, even if the FIFA doesn't count them now
but it was really called the "world cup", and was organized by the FIFA, and jules rimet, amongst others

it's polemical, maybe one day the FIFA will aknowledge again these two world cups

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5ylzMincG...CX4/WfIiMrRbUpU/s1600/medalla+de+oro+1924.jpg

"champion du monde" = world champ

it was a world champ, but the fifa organized it at the olympics at first

frederic38 - Yes, but those two Olympic Games gold medals aren't recognised as official World Cup triumphs, are they? :icon_wink: And I wouldn't bet on such recognition ever being granted - especially if the Argentines and Brazilians have anything to say about it. I knew a couple of Uruguayans who would always raise the subject of the 1924 and 1928 Olympic gold medals in every discussion even remotely touching upon the World Cup. You wouldn't happen to be of Uruguayan extraction, would You? :icon_wink:

All jokes aside, Uruguay's footballing record is astounding, given their small population. I'm glad that they won the Copa America (part of me, however, was hoping for a scoreless draw followed by a paraguayan win on penalties which would complete a freakish record :icon_wink - despite the fact that the Uruguayan team contained the blacks Alvaro Pereira and Egidio Arevalo (plus reserve striker Abel Hernandez, who got a run in the final stages of their opening group match and the semifinal). :thumbdown:

On the subject of refereeing, Uruguay were exceedingly fortunate in their quarterfinal against Argentina when Diego Perez only received a yellow card for his second minute foul on Javier Mascherano. Of course, Perez scored a couple of minutes later (and was sent off for a second yellow after 38 minutes).


The red card count finished at 14 for the entire tournament (26 matches) following Tomas Rincon's second dismissal in as many games during the third place playoff.

if you believe a player like elano blumer can miss a penalty like that, you are dreaming
he is one of the best free kicks specialist in the world, it's like when beckham missed a penalty because the ball moved just before

Players aren't infallible and can succumb to pressure, especially in shootouts. Michel Platini missed against Brazil in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal (after kissing the ball and all :icon_rolleyes as did Roberto Baggio in the 1994 final (once again, versus Brazil). I know both Platini and Baggio were carrying injuries at the time but that is immaterial - I don't think You can possibly argue that Elano Blumer is a superior player to those two...

 

[frederic38]

frederic38 - Yes, but those two Olympic Games gold medals aren't recognised as official World Cup triumphs, are they? :icon_wink: And I wouldn't bet on such recognition ever being granted - especially if the Argentines and Brazilians have anything to say about it. I knew a couple of Uruguayans who would always raise the subject of the 1924 and 1928 Olympic gold medals in every discussion even remotely touching upon the World Cup. You wouldn't happen to be of Uruguayan extraction, would You? :icon_wink:

All jokes aside, Uruguay's footballing record is astounding, given their small population. I'm glad that they won the Copa America (part of me, however, was hoping for a scoreless draw followed by a paraguayan win on penalties which would complete a freakish record :icon_wink - despite the fact that the Uruguayan team contained the blacks Alvaro Pereira and Egidio Arevalo (plus reserve striker Abel Hernandez, who got a run in the final stages of their opening group match and the semifinal). :thumbdown:

i still have trouble accepting uruguay "lost" against holland
i'm not uruguayan, but i liked how they played since i first saw them
i'm french, from near grenoble, with a little bit of northern italian ancestry by a woman, so i have a french name

On the subject of refereeing, Uruguay were exceedingly fortunate in their quarterfinal against Argentina when Diego Perez only received a yellow card for his second minute foul on Javier Mascherano. Of course, Perez scored a couple of minutes later (and was sent off for a second yellow after 38 minutes).

yes, it's a case where the referee doesn't want to take an important decision that could have changed the match
other examples are the final of the 2010 worldcup, with the black dutch kickboxer
or the referee of paraguay-spain in 2010 world cup (he should have given a red card to pique for his foul on cardozo that gave paraguay a panalty)
it would take a strong referee to give a red card in the first minutes of the match, collina would have given it

sometimes it's frustrating, because players know they won't get a straight red card, and they try to intimidate the other players

regarding perez, it was an unbelievable aggression, i think he was on coke in this match, or another drug

Players aren't infallible and can succumb to pressure, especially in shootouts. Michel Platini missed against Brazil in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal (after kissing the ball and all :icon_rolleyes as did Roberto Baggio in the 1994 final (once again, versus Brazil). I know both Platini and Baggio were carrying injuries at the time but that is immaterial - I don't think You can possibly argue that Elano Blumer is a superior player to those two...

i think elano is better than those two in some domains, like taking free kicks
but i didn't really saw these players, i was too young
but elano is typically the player that doesn't miss his penalty
i think too that brazil are one of the most difficult teams to beat on penalty shootout

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1cVXdbdTlQ

so it was really unbelievable to see them miss all penaltys
but overall, paraguay was better than them, they played really defensively, and they did it well
i don't know what brazil will do with ganso and neymar, they were horrible, neymar is not the new ronaldinho, he is the new robinho, and it is not a compliment
ganso was horrible
hulk is a lot better than those two


regarding coates, everybody want to buy him now, it's funny since i asked ol (lyon) to buy him (at a time when they wanted to by christopher samba:icon_rolleyes and now they want him
i hope lyon fail this year in everything they play

there are rumors about internazionale wanting him, or fc porto
beware of fc porto next year, barcelona should win the campions league, but fc porto will be dangerous
the team that buys coates will win the champions league the year they buy him, or the year after

 

[frederic38]

forlan's final:
[video]http://rutube.ru/tracks/4664403.html?v=e474a00ae7f9369198ba766025c7f66a[/video]
i am so happy for him
let's see if he is transfered now, after this great tournament
i would advise him to go to sao paulo

 

[Freethinker]

I was happy to see Uruguay win as they are the South American team I root for. The 3rd goal (though it was already when the game was out of hand) was a lightning quick counter-attach that displayed some pinpoint passing and a lovely finish by Forlan. In this tournament, he once again cemented himself as one of the world's most skilled players.

 

[Matra2]

I also predicted a Uruguayan win. Their match against Argentina was great. Messi can't be blamed. He set up Argentina's goal scored by Real Madrid man Higuain and scored his penalty.

I think Venezuela were impressive especially when you consider that it's always been a baseball country. They used to be the whipping boys but now they are competitors with a much whiter team than the country's demographics would suggest.

 

[frederic38]

I also predicted a Uruguayan win. Their match against Argentina was great. Messi can't be blamed. He set up Argentina's goal scored by Real Madrid man Higuain and scored his penalty.

I think Venezuela were impressive especially when you consider that it's always been a baseball country. They used to be the whipping boys but now they are competitors with a much whiter team than the country's demographics would suggest.

yes, venezuela is a baseball country

i predicted a uruguayan win before the competition started,remember this :icon_cool:
i said it here:
http://www.castefootball.us/forums/showthread.php?13414-sebastian-coates-the-future-best-defender

and i also said before the competition that coates was one of the best defenders in the world :icon_cool:

 

[Matra2]

Here's an interesting development:

http://blogs.thescore.com/footyblog...2016-a-concacafcomnebol-mash-up-for-the-ages/

A possible CONCACAF/CONMEBOL tournament.

 

[frederic38]

6 teams for concacaf?
there's going to be some bad teams obviously

 

[Jack Lambert]

6 teams for concacaf?
there's going to be some bad teams obviously

Yeah, that's way too many teams from CONCACAF. It should be just 2-4 teams at most from CONCACAF.