Copa America 2011

Who do you think will win the Copa America ?

  • Total voters
    38
  • Poll closed .
ALBICELESTE2010

ALBICELESTE2010

Champions League
13 July 2006
Watford
Argentina & Watford
Copa-America-2011-Argentina.jpg

The Copa America 2011. It has a great history. Argentina hold the most wins and will be looking to end a trophyless drought that began in 1993 on home soil.

In the long term it is also important as it can be seen as a stepping stone to a joint WC bid in 2030 with fierce rivals and neighbours Uruguay.

Now held every four years the tournament has become more prestigious if possible rather than the former two year cycle and will also act as a spur to the long CONMEBOL WC qualification cycle.

All the top players barring injury will be there. Mexico will send an u23 side and Costa Rica (nodoubt after the farce of the friendly against Argentina where Messi was not played and following Japan's withdrawal) also to make up the 12 team tournament.

The favourites are Brazil and Argentina but one must not dismiss the threats posed by a resurgent Uruguay who were unlucky not to make the WC final last year, Chile although no longer helmed by Bielsa are led by the capable Borghi and Peru welcome back several players left out for their partying antics.

Paraguay will once more be a tough nut to crack and Colombia also have a well balanced squad.

Even Venuzuela have shown a marked improvement over the years leaving the u23 sides of Mexico, Costa Rica and perennial strugglers Bolivia away from the high altitude of Sucre.


Each side can boast it's own star player all led by Lionel Messi. However there are stellar young talents in the form of Neymar and Gaston Ramirez to watch out for alongside more familiar names in Alexis Sanchez.

The u20 WC held in Colombia is a better place to look for the best young kids from CONMEBOL a month after the Copa.

The players arriving in Argentina look to be of an overall better standard than those in 2007 so hopefully it all points to an exciting tournament to showcase the South American style of play which has become too Europeanized as it were over the last decade or so.

Who will win ? I actually have a strong suspicion Uruguay will. Brazil are always dangerous and nothing would please the selecao more than to win in Argentina and Menezes will be using the Copa as preperation for the WC itself given they will not be in the CONMEBOL qualification cycle.

The pressure is really on Argentina to perform as they can. Given all the talent upfront and in midfield they could do it but the effectiveness of the manager, the defence and goalkeeping leave a lot to be desired.

The 22 man squads do not have to be announced until the 27th of June and as such they are all preliminary:

2011 Copa América squads - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Copa website for all the detailed information and history of the tournament is:
http://www.ca2011.com/

This festival of football kicks off on July 1st with Argentina against Bolivia. The AFA have made the conscious decision to showcase the seleccion around the country rather than just in BA.

In the UK ESPN will be showing the Copa this time around rather than Sky in 2007.
 
Copa America is massive and will have lots of debate in here I`m sure. Well done ALBICELESTE for the thread :SNACK: I know Argies are favorites ,but I can see a dark horse in Chile/Uruguay . Mexico n Costa Rica 2 tourney :BOP: US got battered doing 2 tourney last time(Confed.Cup n Gold Cup)
 
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Looking forward to many late nights watching this.

I voted for Chile but didn't realise that Bielsa is no longer in charge, do they still play that uber attacking formation?
 
i'm so looking forward to this cup! usually once the season is over i don't really like to watch more football (i guess i need to detox), but south american football is always a breathe of fresh air.
can't vote on who'll win the cup though as there are several teams i don't know much about.
... but being italian, i obviously have a soft spot for argentina, so i guess i'll be rooting for them :))
 
Are Sky, ESPN or BBC showing this live, or even highlights?

EDIT:
Oops! I didn't read the last line of the first post :BLUSH:
 
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I hope Paraguay win it, but it's hard to look beyond Argentina who are at home, or Brazil, who Mario Menenez seems to have drilled into a team that doesnt conceed any goals.
 
Excellent thread! Thank Albi for created it. Cup of the Americas - it is really a very good tournament, where participated as an average teams, so and the best teams in the world. To be honest, the first time I'll be watching this tournament directly, I had not surprised him irrelevant, but on the teams participating in it, I am of course very good representation. It is a pity, though, that I can not watch live broadcasts of matches because of the huge difference in time zones, but will try to maximize watch this tournament, as well as for the Gold Cup in North America. Hope for Chile, since I liked this team, how it played during the last World Cup in South Africa. One question: Mexico and Costa Rica will participate in this tournament after their participation in the Gold Cup? But it is a huge burden on the player to participate in two such big competitions in two months. :P
 
tobi said:
Looking forward to many late nights watching this.

I voted for Chile but didn't realise that Bielsa is no longer in charge, do they still play that uber attacking formation?
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Borghi does play a more conservative game than Bielsa but it is still forward minded. 3-5-2 over 3-3-1-3.

He has had some decent results against a Ronaldo less Portugual and utilizes attacking wingbacks even to the point of considering players like Mark Gonsalez for the role over Beausejour and Isla in the corresponding role on the right.

Mati Fernandez is the hub of his side and it should excite with all eyes on Alexis Sanchez after his season at Udinese and playing off the top striker probably Suazo.

Thanks for all the comments . Keep them coming. :TU:
 
If Argentina manages to be only a bit decent at deffesne and midfield and have Messi upfront, then it's theirs. But if they insist in the chaotical and nonsense formations of the last years they will even suffer to reach later stages. Then, Brazil will win it.

Though I would love any of the underdogs like Mexico or Chile to win it.
 
OK, sounds similar to Napoli's formation.

I haven't followed Mati Fernandez since he moved to Portugal, looking forward to watching him play.
 
Artem said:
Excellent thread! Thank Albi for created it. Cup of the Americas - it is really a very good tournament, where participated as an average teams, so and the best teams in the world. To be honest, the first time I'll be watching this tournament directly, I had not surprised him irrelevant, but on the teams participating in it, I am of course very good representation. It is a pity, though, that I can not watch live broadcasts of matches because of the huge difference in time zones, but will try to maximize watch this tournament, as well as for the Gold Cup in North America. Hope for Chile, since I liked this team, how it played during the last World Cup in South Africa. One question: Mexico and Costa Rica will participate in this tournament after their participation in the Gold Cup? But it is a huge burden on the player to participate in two such big competitions in two months. :P
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Well Im sure Mexico n Costa Rica will play different players. Same happen to the US in confed cup they face Brazil in Final, even led by 2 goals ,but lost it in the end :COAT: Then to come back home to play the Gold Cup w/ a whole different team and got battered by Mexico 5-0 in the Final !!! players need to rest and take holiday. I expect both team to bring a weaker side to the Copa America imo it`s easier to win a Cup in the Gold Cup than win it in La Copa America.
 
I don't think I've ever heard of anyone in Mexico's Copa America preliminary squad, barring Jonathan dos Santos.
 
Brazil squad for Copa América

GK
Julio César (Inter de Milão)
Victor (Grêmio)

SB
Daniel Alves (Barcelona)
Maicon (Inter de Milão)
André Santos (Fenerbahçe)
Adriano (Barcelona)

CB
Lúcio (Inter de Milão)
David Luiz (Chelsea)
Luisão (Benfica)
Thiago Silva (Milan)

Midfield
Ramires (Chelsea)
Lucas Leiva (Liverpool)
Sandro (Tottenham)
Elano (Santos)
Elias (Atlético de Madri)
Paulo Henrique Ganso (Santos)
Jadson (Shakhtar Donetsk)
Lucas (São Paulo)

Attack
Neymar (Santos)
Robinho (Milan)
Fred (Fluminense)
Alexandre Pato (Milan)

*facepalm* on Jadson, Fred, Andre Santos and Elias. Mano left out some good ones (Nilmar, Leandro Damião, Thiago Neves, Hernanes, Hulk and maybe Marcelo)
 
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Disappointed Marcelo, Hulk and Nilmar didn't make it.
 
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beboq said:
Well Im sure Mexico n Costa Rica will play different players. Same happen to the US in confed cup they face Brazil in Final, even led by 2 goals ,but lost it in the end :COAT: Then to come back home to play the Gold Cup w/ a whole different team and got battered by Mexico 5-0 in the Final !!! players need to rest and take holiday. I expect both team to bring a weaker side to the Copa America imo it`s easier to win a Cup in the Gold Cup than win it in La Copa America.
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Okay. Thank you for your help! Indeed, Mexico's most important still perform well in the Gold Cup and even win, and performance in the Copa America for them to be a secondary task. ;)
 
lukas_rod said:
Brazil squad for Copa América

GK
Julio César (Inter de Milão)
Victor (Grêmio)

SB
Daniel Alves (Barcelona)
Maicon (Inter de Milão)
André Santos (Fenerbahçe)
Adriano (Barcelona)

CB
Lúcio (Inter de Milão)
David Luiz (Chelsea)
Luisão (Benfica)
Thiago Silva (Milan)

Midfield
Ramires (Chelsea)
Lucas Leiva (Liverpool)
Sandro (Tottenham)
Elano (Santos)
Elias (Atlético de Madri)
Paulo Henrique Ganso (Santos)
Jadson (Shakhtar Donetsk)
Lucas (São Paulo)

Attack
Neymar (Santos)
Robinho (Milan)
Fred (Fluminense)
Alexandre Pato (Milan)

*facepalm* on Jadson, Fred, Andre Santos and Elias. Mano left out some good ones (Nilmar, Leandro Damião, Thiago Neves, Hernanes, Hulk and maybe Marcelo)
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Hulk could be real trouble for a defence like Argentina if the catastrophe that is Gabriel Milito was picked. Surprised Damião was left out but hey ho coaches do make odd decisions.

Re the Argentine midfield it is more than decent if Pastore and Banega are played together. And this reliance on Messi. The other players upfront like Kun or di Maria are pretty talented too and the coach instead of his Messi +10 idea needs to tell these players they must play their share.

If they all clicked it will be lethal. Messi will be double marked eevn triple marked at times but Batista never gets the side to utilize the space. Something appears broken aside from one half against the USA when the players seemed to decide to do their own thing with great flair.

Ecuador have not hit the heights which saw them reach the WC finals in 2006 as an older generation of players passed out of the ranks and the younger members of a fairly sucessful u20 side did not impress ie Felipe Caicedo.

However under Reinaldo Rueda the former coach of Honduras who managed to get the unfancied outfit to the WC finals in 2010 the side have tightened up defensively and will try and set themselves up to hit on the counter and score an upset in their group.

Surprisingly Edson Montano and Marlon de Jesus two of the newest crop of strikers have not yet been picked and look likely to miss out on the final selection as Rueda prefers experience.

Yesterday the side drew 1-1 with Greece in a creditable performance at Citi Field home of the NY Mets:

YouTube - Ecuador 1-1 Greece Friendly 08.06.11
 
A little viewpoint from someone living in Argentina:

In paper, Brazil must win, they're by far the best team, the others (sorry if someone gets offended) are pretty inferior, even Argentina, who has very good players, but they don't know what the hell they do in the pitch, since when a TEAM sport is based in only 1 player? He's the best in the world, I don't discuss him (even if I don't like him, I like Tévez more, but that's another discussion), but he alone can lead a team to the glory, plus if the coach is an alcoholic who lives in delirium tremens... First Basile, then Maradona, now his ex-partymate Batista, who's next? Bambino Veira? The freaks's show.

Chile and Uruguay are very goods teams also, but I don't know, they don't have that "special something" to be champion, plus their coaches ain't living their best moment: Borghi isn't Bielsa (even if Bielsa sucks), plus he comes from one of the worst Boca Juniors campaign in history (with him as coach, playing with weird and stupid strategies), and Tavares has a hell of a problem, he's married, 500k U$S dissapeared from his bank account and the responsible is his maid... who also is is lover, big scandal, big problem for him.

But in reality, is almost impossible to see Argentina don't being champion. Why? Simple: Politics.

We have (even if someone refuses it) a government that's pretty dictatorial, something like Venezuela, but not as dictatorial as Chávez, just 2 or 3 steps lower, and the time for the Presidentials in in October, just after the cup, funny, isn't?

There's already tons of rumors running here about briberies, pre-agreeded matches, etc... CFK needs the popularity boost to completely win the elections, because she isn't all accepted as the government says, we have really big problems: a great inflation, a lot of insecurity, tons of drug running in the streets, many corrupt government agencies, etc.. And the dictators are know to do everything to get what they want... From Barrick Gold to actual "Madres de Plaza de Mayo" big scandal, this government is all about s**t.

Plus, we have history buying matches... but, who doesn't have a dead body in their closet? (old saying, no offense)

Anyway, I hope to see some good matches, too bad that Japan don't come, I wish them the best, but I really wanted to see them playing here.

Again, my apologies to anyone who gets offended by my saying, but I needed to say it.

Also, excuse me for my poor english.

Cheers :P
 
Very nice to hear from you Deranzeef.

I agree with you about Cristina. The way they use football as a support for their politics ie sending barra bravas to South Africa, buying up the domestic TV contract , cuddling up to Diego in 2008 as PR.

The root of the problem is the AFA and they are symptomatic of many organizations across Argentina in being undemocratic and corrupt.

They've done nothing to get clubs better deals for kids exported abroad and stop a few investors benefitting, not managed to make many clubs follow best practice, improve coaching across the regions, work on programs to develop goalkeepers or laterals for instance.

You have this incident with Compagnaro yesterday which highlights just one of the many problems of the nation.

If Argentina had been run properly in the past it should be one of the most prosperous nations in the continent.

And all we see as coaches now in the AFA are puppets placed there by self interested concerns. No decent coach goes near the role because of interference from Grondona so no Bianchi, Diaz in the past, no Sabella or Martino now.

I disagree about Tevez over Messi. I know you are a Boca fan and this club rivalries do affect how certain players are seen ie Messi because he never played domestically for Newells.

Tevez needs to buckle down as a team player. I however see Batista not just as ineffectual but weak at the same time in climbing down to public opinion.

Argentina should breeze the group but I efar if the defence he is likely to select comes up against Suarez, Cavani or Neymar for instance well.....

Borghi did struggle with Boca but he has Chile playing very solidly and Tabarez the team itself wil not be distracted by their coaches off the pitch lovelife.

Regarding the match fixing. Nigeria ? You just don't know what may happen with certain betting syndicates across the world.

Argentina has an excellent midfield and strikeforce it's just the system does not help mask the weakness in defence because 3 DM's will not hold the ball to protect it as Pekerman did albeit only with a more balanced formation of 2DM's and a true enganche Roman whose set piece ability has not been replaced.

And there has been no attempt to get players like Silvestre who you will remember who has turned into a solid reliable defender week in and week out captaining Catania.

Or giving the oppurtunity to Ansaldi with real pace, two footed a modern fullback or the younger kids like Federico Fernandez.

When 2014 comes around Brazil will have blooded their kids our defenders will still be raw if this carries on.

And the problem extends to the under age sides. Tocalli and Pekerman did a wonderful job but now you have had clowns like Batista in charge and Perazzo.

It is a vital stage for these kids as more leave Argentina too early for my liking but they are badly coached like the seniors and some of the players chosen are more political choices than ones based on ability.

I hope we win. It has been too long but then that means the useless Batista gets to take charge for the WC cycle.

Uruguay meanwhile underlined their credentials drawing 1-1 with Holland.Liverpool team mates Luis Suarez and Dirk Kut were the scorers with Uurguay winning the penalty shoot out 4-3:

YouTube - Friendly - Uruguay 1-1 Netherlands | Luis Suarez Goal (8/6/2011)

They are playing some really attractive attacking football with a dynamic but robust midfield and a gritty defence.

It can all be traced to age group results and the reformation of youth football as I have discussed in the Argentina thread.

Players like Suarez, Lodeiro , Santiago Garcia are just a few to have come through this route and once again they shone in the CONMEBOL u20 event this spring.

Other sides like Venuzuela have also shown an improvement in youth football as well. However despite this the senior lost their friendly with Spain whose players do not seem to be tired unlike some I could mention 3-0.

YouTube - Friendly - Venezuela 0-3 Spain | Highlights (7/6/2011)

Still they are starting to produce real talents such as former street footballer from Maracaibo Yohandry Oroczo who will be plying his trade with Wolfsburg next season.

YouTube - Actuación de Yohandry Orozco en el Suramericano Perú 2011

He has great dribbling skills, an eye for a pass and knows where the goal is.

The other bright spark is Jose Rondon of Malaga who despite playing in a struggling side managed an impressive 1 in 2 goals ratio this season.
 
ALBICELESTE2010 said:
Very nice to hear from you Deranzeef.
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Thanks for the compliment, do we know each other?

ALBICELESTE2010 said:
I disagree about Tevez over Messi. I know you are a Boca fan and this club rivalries do affect how certain players are seen ie Messi because he never played domestically for Newells.
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I didn't said that Tévez is better than Messi, because Lionel is by far more skilled... and Boca isn't Newell's rival.

The reason why I like Tévez more is because I appreciate more the self sacrifice, the heart, the guts, the "always forward" kind of mentality over any other trait. Maybe you remember Tévez career this far, why he triumphed in Argentina, in Brazil, and now in England in 3 different teams.

ALBICELESTE2010 said:
Tevez needs to buckle down as a team player.
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I believe that this is completely wrong, just the opposite, Messi is the famous "I +10".

ALBICELESTE2010 said:
Argentina should breeze the group but I efar if the defence he is likely to select comes up against Suarez, Cavani or Neymar for instance well.....
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They will rape the Argentina defense, moreover if Carrizo is the keeper... Why Batista chosed Carrizo? He doesn't have hands, nor head...

ALBICELESTE2010 said:
Borghi did struggle with Boca but he has Chile playing very solidly and Tabarez the team itself wil not be distracted by their coaches off the pitch lovelife.
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Borghi took a decent Boca and destroyed it... give him some more time with Chile, he hasn't proved anything yet, the friendly matches are that, friendly.

Tabarez, well... I doubt that won't affect his head, or his future career, remember that those kind of acts are really bad seen in South América.

ALBICELESTE2010 said:
Regarding the match fixing. Nigeria ? You just don't know what may happen with certain betting syndicates across the world.
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No, I didn't mean that one, I mean the whole 1978 championship (Argentina 6 - Peru 0) almost all of them except the final, that was epic, specially the ball bouncing in the line. Also, the matches against Australia for the World Cup '94, etc....

ALBICELESTE2010 said:
Argentina has an excellent midfield and strikeforce it's just the system does not help mask the weakness in defence because 3 DM's will not hold the ball to protect it as Pekerman did albeit only with a more balanced formation of 2DM's and a true enganche Roman whose set piece ability has not been replaced.
Click to expand...

Pekerman's teams was one of my favourites, too bad we didn't get to the end of that cup... but, the actual team, I don't know, why to imitate Barça? Why don't develop an unique and OWN style? We don't have that kind of players, plus in Barça, Messi isn't the only one who plays well or scores goals, there's also Villa, Xavi, Iniesta, etc. In Argentina we don't have that.

ALBICELESTE2010 said:
And there has been no attempt to get players like Silvestre who you will remember who has turned into a solid reliable defender week in and week out captaining Catania.

Or giving the oppurtunity to Ansaldi with real pace, two footed a modern fullback or the younger kids like Federico Fernandez.

When 2014 comes around Brazil will have blooded their kids our defenders will still be raw if this carries on.

And the problem extends to the under age sides. Tocalli and Pekerman did a wonderful job but now you have had clowns like Batista in charge and Perazzo.

It is a vital stage for these kids as more leave Argentina too early for my liking but they are badly coached like the seniors and some of the players chosen are more political choices than ones based on ability.
Click to expand...

That's completely true and I agree with you 100%

ALBICELESTE2010 said:
I hope we win. It has been too long but then that means the useless Batista gets to take charge for the WC cycle.
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Well, leaving all the bad things apart, I also want to be champion of something for a change.
 
Deranzeef said:
A little viewpoint from someone living in Argentina:

In paper, Brazil must win, they're by far the best team, the others (sorry if someone gets offended) are pretty inferior, even Argentina, who has very good players, but they don't know what the hell they do in the pitch, since when a TEAM sport is based in only 1 player? He's the best in the world, I don't discuss him (even if I don't like him, I like Tévez more, but that's another discussion), but he alone can lead a team to the glory, plus if the coach is an alcoholic who lives in delirium tremens... First Basile, then Maradona, now his ex-partymate Batista, who's next? Bambino Veira? The freaks's show.

Chile and Uruguay are very goods teams also, but I don't know, they don't have that "special something" to be champion, plus their coaches ain't living their best moment: Borghi isn't Bielsa (even if Bielsa sucks), plus he comes from one of the worst Boca Juniors campaign in history (with him as coach, playing with weird and stupid strategies), and Tavares has a hell of a problem, he's married, 500k U$S dissapeared from his bank account and the responsible is his maid... who also is is lover, big scandal, big problem for him.

But in reality, is almost impossible to see Argentina don't being champion. Why? Simple: Politics.

We have (even if someone refuses it) a government that's pretty dictatorial, something like Venezuela, but not as dictatorial as Chávez, just 2 or 3 steps lower, and the time for the Presidentials in in October, just after the cup, funny, isn't?

There's already tons of rumors running here about briberies, pre-agreeded matches, etc... CFK needs the popularity boost to completely win the elections, because she isn't all accepted as the government says, we have really big problems: a great inflation, a lot of insecurity, tons of drug running in the streets, many corrupt government agencies, etc.. And the dictators are know to do everything to get what they want... From Barrick Gold to actual "Madres de Plaza de Mayo" big scandal, this government is all about s**t.

Plus, we have history buying matches... but, who doesn't have a dead body in their closet? (old saying, no offense)

Anyway, I hope to see some good matches, too bad that Japan don't come, I wish them the best, but I really wanted to see them playing here.

Again, my apologies to anyone who gets offended by my saying, but I needed to say it.

Also, excuse me for my poor english.

Cheers :P
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Your English is pretty good mate. Good read as well.
 
Would be nice to watch something like Uruguay vs Chile in the final, but not that good for Mano Menezes i think. He hasn't proved yet that he deserves to be our coach, just see our last results against our big rivals (Argentina and France): Argentina (lose), France (lose) and the last one vs Holland (draw), this Copa America is the final test for Mano.
 
It sounds like the tournament is going to be live on Youtube but certain countries wont have access to it.

Channel link
 
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