Oct 12, 2015 by Alex Baker
Uruguay vs. Colombia (6:55pm ET, beIN Español)
Both sides are coming off wins in their World Cup qualifying openers, with Colombia having beat Peru 2-0 and Uruguay beating Bolivia by the same scoreline.
But Colombia will have to make do without their star man, James Rodriguez, with the Real Madrid midfielder having picked up a thigh injury last month.
Uruguay will also be without its key players with Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez both ruled out by injury. Uruguay will also be without coach Oscar Tabarez who is still serving a touchline ban from the Copa America.
History is not necessarily on Colombia’s side. The only time they’ve won previously at the Estadio Centenario was 42 years ago when they beat Uruguay 1-0 ahead of the 1974 World Cup... Read More
Jul 06, 2015 by Alex Baker
Although he’s the most decorated modern player in club football terms, Lionel Messi remains a nearly-man at international level following Argentina’s loss to Chile on penalties in the Copa America final. As the tournament concludes with Chile being crowned deserving winners, there’s a pervading sense of déjà vu from last summer’s World Cup hanging around both Messi and Argentina.
Once again, the Albiceleste entered the tournament with a star-studded squad built around the recently restored “Best Player in the World”; Once again, they reached the final through a series of mostly middling performances; And once again, they fell to a team that was the best in the competition. Like Germany last summer, Chile are deserving winners, having played the best and most consistent football throughout the nearly month-long tournament.
... Read More
Jul 02, 2015 by Alex Baker
Having fallen just short of the final hurdle at last summer’s World Cup, Saturday’s Copa America final represents a second chance for Lionel Messi to finally lead Argentina to major silverware. On Wednesday in the semifinals, the Barcelona man was on-song as Argentina handed out a 6-1 thrashing to a very good Paraguay side.
For the first time we saw Tata Martino’s team open up and play the kind of expansive, attacking football we’ve been longing to see from the Albiceleste. While not finding the back of the net himself, Messi notched a hat trick of assists as goals rained in from Angel Di Maria, Javier Pastore, Marcos Rojo, Gonzalo Higuain, and Sergio Aguero. The fact that Argentina could have five different goal-scorers in a match where Messi doesn’t... Read More
Jun 30, 2015 by Alex Baker
It looked like smooth sailing for Argentina at the end of the first half of its opening Copa America match, up two-nil against Paraguay. But as has so often been the case throughout this tournament, Paraguay had other ideas. Two second-half goals from the un-fancied Paraguayans saw the tournament’s favorite held to a draw.
Argentina coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino will be determined to avoid a similar fate when the two sides meet again in a semi-final clash Tuesday. Martino has the best squad in the tournament at his disposal and the manager won’t want to let Paraguay, the team he coached all the way to the final four years ago, level the playing field by drawing Argentina into a penalty shootout.
Both teams reached the semis by progressing on penalties... Read More
Jun 15, 2015 by Alex Baker
Chile vs. Ecuador
They may have struggled at times in their 2-0 opening win against Ecuador, but of all the pre-tournament favorites, it looks like Chile who are off to the best start. While it admittedly took a 67th minute penalty won and converted by Arturo Vidal to open the scoring, Chile were largely successful at containing a formidable Ecuador attack led by Enner Valencia. Ecuador however, came close on a number of occasions, particularly in the 82nd minute when Valencia rocketed a header off the crossbar that could have leveled the score and changed the game.
But two minutes later Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez played in Eduardo Vargas who slotted a shot past Ecuador keeper Alexander Dominguez from the center of the box to make it 2-0. It... Read More
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