Copa America 2011

Draw imminent. Some very stirring footage and music on Fox Sports Vivo right now.

will both Japan ánd Mexico send u23 teams? cause if Japan sends a senior team I'm rooting for their win.

Mexico are sending an u23 team + 5 senior players I believe - which must be just about a full-strength squad, they're a pretty young team. Don't know about Japan.

last time Japan participated they were v. shitty though, even losing to Peru.

When was that? Japan were certainly much better at the world cup than I'd ever seen them before.

This dancing is pretty great.

1999

they'll do better this time for sure. i never catched the Copa on Eurosport though, as far as i can recall. maybe it's a time zone thing. Asian Cups can be pretty cool (Uzbekistan!)

It's kind of frustrating the USA sent a roster of scrubs and n00bs in 2007 and basically screwed our chances of ever being invited again.

I never see them either xp, except one year - I think it was also 1999, though I don't remember Japan. I do remember it for one of the greatest displays I've ever seen though, Argentina outplaying hot favourites Brazil for 45 minutes in one of the semis or quarters (before getting skelped in the second half)

with the arrival of the interwebz i guess there are plenty of opportunities to catch some coverage.

in my memory, but i might be making this up, the only Copa stuff is always sort of gritty/chaotic/cheap looking images of the goals in pouring rain, shown in the afternoon sports tv journal.

That was the most underwhelming display of samba I think I've ever seen

I mean, aiui samba queens do not in general wear long, baggy white dresses

classic overblown sound on the stream of this that I've turned on

finally

This manner of revealing and displaying the teams is pretty stylish, or would be if they just let the women get on with a flourish and kept the fat guy from spoiling the moment

That guy's blazer reminds me of David Byrne in Stop Making Sense

A: Argentina, Colombia, Japan, Bolivia
B: Brazil, Paraguay, Ecuador, Venezuela
C: Uruguay, Chile Mexico, Peru

See y'all in July

C = El Grupo del muerte?

woah, excellent mascot

Preview of Copa dream final (apologies to Chile and Uruguay) Brazil vs. Argentina tonight. Excellent first 20 mins here. Only the second time I'm seeing Football Manager 10 'wonderkid' Neymar play, rocking a rad mohawk btw, he's looked good so far. Alves has hit the bar and Mascherano has almost scored an own goal. Brazil look more offensive than the Dunga model thus far.

Thanks for the tip - where are they playing at this hour? Dubai or somewhere?

xp Doha
Just showed a shot of Fergie and Zidane on what appeared to be thrones chatting up a storm.

Last 20 mins hasn't been as good although Messi rocketed a sweet half volley off the post.

Strange decision there - Neymar upended on edge of box, it breaks for Robinho to shoot so ref gives advantage, only to give him offside.

worst streaker ever

great goal

Oh Messi, how I love thee. Lavezzi (sp?) was good down the right for Arg I thought. Robinho selfish and wasteful. But yeah, what a goal.

it really was maradonaesque, he was even being bundled over as he finished. The four defenders converging on Messi was like his assist in Caniggia's goal against Brazil in 1990

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X3p0_R0Y5E

great piece of commentary on that clip too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS8Y27O42LY

sorry to clog thread, but this one is even better

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/soccer/wires/04/04/2080.ap.soc.copa.america.japan.out.1st.ld.writethru.0255/

ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) -Japan withdrew from this year's Copa America on Monday, leaving the 12-nation tournament with only 11 teams just three months before it is due to start.

sucks. someone on twitter said that costa rica would be the replacement.

aren't they in the gold cup this summer? USA did both the last time around but sent the lowliest scrubs to the copa

Is that tsunami-related?

Actually reading the story indicates that it is. Other sides should be falling over themselves to step in imo.

ah such a pity.

hope there will be a replacement, what about.. Togo! New Zealand! Canada!

spain?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/feedarticle/9581149

would be cool, but also would be a difficult group for argentina

That would set some benchmark, being World, Euro and Copa America champions simultaneously.

nevermind, Japon is back on

deja vu
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/920708/japan-officially-withdraw-from-2011-copa-america?cc=5901

There are no fewer than 7 Mexican players who are being sent home because of having prostitutes in their hotel rooms while in Quito. 7!

lol u23 team

wonder if they'll be allowed to replace them like they did with the gold cup team grumble grumble

http://theoriginalwinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Mexico-Prostitutes.jpg

Damn really wanted to see Jonathan dos Santos.

Mexico is/are fucking crazy

When does this start?

Tournament will stream live on youtube starting this Friday.

this tournament isn't fitting round my work schedule well. doesn't help that all the games are pretty late at night if you're in britland. i think i'll get to see one of chile's group matches live :/

although surely the story here has to be messi running the show and leading argentina to glorious victory at home?

I hope brazil don't win. I like that they have a relatively poor record in this, and them winning it a few times recently is threatening to ruin that.

Getting psyched for this.

The whole tournament is going to be streamed on Youtube (in some countries anyway) and they've got the 2007 knockout matches archived there. Watched some of the 2007 final last night, if I were an Argentina fan I'd find it worrisome that 6/11 of that lineup are set to start tonight.

This channel is not available in your country :(

jonathan wilson on twitter saying arg will start levezzi on the left, tevez on the right and messi as a false 9

Well he would say that wouldn't he?

What time are the matches on at? I found a handy full schedule earlier with kickoffs like 23:45, but no indication what time zone it was for.

this schedule is US eastern time, GMT -4

Group A
July 1
Argentina vs. Bolivia (TeleFutura, 8:30 pm ET)
July 2
Colombia vs. Costa Rica (Univision, 2:30 pm ET)
July 6
Argentina vs. Colombia (TeleFutura, 8:45 pm ET)
July 7
Bolivia vs. Costa Rica (TeleFutura, 6:15 pm ET)
July 10
Colombia vs. Bolivia (TeleFutura, 3 pm ET)
July 11
Argentina vs. Costa Rica (TeleFutura, 8:45 pm ET)

Group B
July 3
Brazil vs. Venezuela (Univision, 3 pm ET)
Paraguay vs. Ecuador (TeleFutura, 5:30 pm ET)
July 9
Brazil vs. Paraguay (Univision, 3 pm ET)
Venezuela vs. Ecuador (TeleFutura, 5:30 pm ET)
July 13
Paraguay vs. Venezuela (TeleFutura, 6:15 pm ET)
Brazil vs. Ecuador (TeleFutura, 8:45 pm ET)

Group C
July 4
Uruguay vs. Peru (TeleFutura, 6:15 pm ET)
Chile vs. Mexico (Univision, 8:45 pm ET)
July 8
Chile vs. Uruguay (TeleFutura, 6:15 pm ET)
Mexico vs. Peru (Univision, 8:45 pm ET)
July 12
Chile vs. Peru (TeleFutura, 6:15 pm ET)
Uruguay vs. Mexico (Univision, 8:45 pm ET)

Quarterfinals
July 16
A1 vs. 3rd 1 (#1) (Univision, 3 pm ET)
A2 vs. C2 (#2) (Univision, 6:15 pm ET)
July 17
B1 vs. 3rd 2 (#3) (Univision, 3 pm ET)
C1 vs. B2 (#4) (Univision, 6:15 pm ET)

Semifinals
July 19
#1 winner vs. #2 winner (#5) (Univision, 8:45 pm ET)
July 20
#3 winner vs. #4 winner (#6) (Univision, 8:45 pm ET)

Third-Place Game
July 23
#5 loser vs. #6 loser (TeleFutura, 3 pm ET)

Final
July 24
#5 winner vs. #6 winner (Univision, 3 pm ET)

i'm rooting for chile who realistically have a shot of taking this tourney down.

doubt it! i'd be happy with semi finals.

bizarre opening ceremony bullshit on as we speak.

i really hate opening ceremonies.

Lionel Messi (Barcelona-España), Gonzalo Higuaín (Real Madrid-España), Sergio Agüero (Atlético Madrid-España), Carlos Tévez (Manchester City-Inglaterra), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Nápoli-Italia) y Diego Milito (Internazionale – Italia).

pretty bitching strike force tbh.

I'm going to predict Di Maria takes Tevez's starting spot by the end of the tournament.

anyone else finding this youtube feed incredibly choppy?

ref with a measuring tape to measure out the 10 yards for the free kick!

Yes, the Youtube feed sucked, had to look elsewhere.

pretty shitty first half.

Beats the hell out of the Gold Cup though. Bolivia look like they have some guys who can play, and Ever Banega is great.

bolivia can't string two passes together.

Hmm, in that case my stream may be worse than I'd thought. Jim what happened to Alexis Sanchez's Barcelona move, I thought that was supposed to be finished before the tournament?

bolivia score!

As.com saying that sanchez and fabregas will be announced on tuesday when sandro rosell returns from argentina (he was invited to opening game).

bolivia should've had their second. that would've been too much.

kun off the bench and on the score sheet. lovely volley.

Yeah that was a sweet shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=defP602-tzA&feature=player_embedded

Nice.

I know this is super tuomas but who won last night? I left the bar in the 70th min. Could jot believe Bolivia blew that dead breakaway

not**

1-1

Ah, fogures

FIGURES**

Time to go back to sleep J0rdan. Your typing fingers aren't awake yet.

Only just caught up with the game as I recorded it last night but would like to say
BANEGA YOU FOOL
KUN-WOW!!!!!!

oh and Di Maria should start.

i dont know why but fogures is killing me right name

watched the game last night at a bar with a bunch of realllly stressed argentinian dudes

Thought Fogures was some Bolivian player I didn't know and J0rdan was lamenting the concession of an equaliser with a philosophical "ah Fogures" referring to the hapless player who was sure to be at fault.

A.H. Fogurés, right back

The best part of waking up, us fogures in your cup

us fogures = old fogies?

I've had some bad typing runs on my phone, but this might take them all

I want to see Pastore

Is this next match in 14 minutes, or 1 hour and 14 minutes? I've seen both in print.

I was reminded today how nice it is to hear horns that are not vuvuzelas at matches.

From what I've seen so far all these players are either tired from last season or holding themselves to 60% effort with an eye on next season.

Brazil have looked dangerous at moments though, esp. when Ganso is in possession. And their back four is a lot better than Argentina's.

Do the yt streams not show how much time has elapsed?

A graphic with the score and clock pops up every 5 or 10 minutes, I forget which.

Brazil: rubbish

Chucho Benítez one poor touch away from a Messi-like goal, running w/ the ball from the halfway line between several defenders and nearly around the keeper.

First time I've seen Ganso and wasn't impressed at all aside from one through ball to Robinho. Neymar was okay and more unselfish than I expected. Women's World Cup >>>>>Copa America so far. Hopefully Uruguay and Chile will change that.

Anyone able to post a schedule for England times?

well today's games are 11.15pm - Uru-Peru and 01.45am Chile-Mexico. If you get the rest of the games of ESPN UK website (who are showing all the games) you should be fine.

of = off

http://www.ca2011.com/jogos_todos.php?Lang=2
Has the times in GMT so add +1 hr for British Summer Time.

oooooooh tybg! totally up for both of these matches!

So last night's matches were pretty good. Uruguay played a good first half, Lodeiro with a lovely turn and pass for Suarez to bag an equaliser. Forlan missed a good chance in 2nd half and Peru missed an even better chance in stoppage time for what would have been the winner.
Chile looked good against Mexico Reserves/Under 23's although they had to come from behind to win. Sanchez missed a good chance but his link play, awareness, balance, and first touch were all excellent imo. Was a bit disappointed in Vidal but he ended up getting the winner so what do I know? Isla was great.

had to get up at 6am britland summer timing and i can't be so dedicated as to forego most of my sleep for international football, even if it is la roja, just watching extended highlights now, looking not bad at all, otoh it's mexico's u23 side, severely depleted by prostrigate.

also virtually a home game, chile game in western argentina.

argentina turner

narrrshty from aguilar on tevez

veetlesportshd.blogspot.com/2011/07/channel-1.html

narrrshty from aguilar on tevez

this isn't your milksop european football, son. seriously hurting people and feigning being seriously hurt are what it's all about.

argentina no better than at the WC. even after getting rid of daft d10s.

chance

lol milito you are a mug.

burdisso should be off and there should've been a penalty.

colombia have missed two sitters (this for any cunt reading this tomorrow, i know you all know this. well you all one or two)

Comment from the chat window on my stream. "messi u need to use ur dribble to run through defender then shoot." Sage advice.

Has this been good, worth a trip out for the second half? (Internet too spotty right now to handle a stream.)

Fuck i though he might do it there. Not very good no.

nah definitely not good. colombia should be winning. had two clear chances, second was a total sitter.

messi just put in a xaviesque pass for lavezzi and he fucked the one on one.

game has woken up now, lot better.

i love my stream.

oh, messi had an awkward turn and might be injured :/

i love my stream even more! a budweiser advert with chente!

Got the stream going - Messi looks really distraught.

he exemplifies the impotence of argentina, the skill is there but nothing comes off. in contrast to playing for barcelona and scoring for fun/winning everything it must be pretty bad. suppose added to that he really isn't popular with his countrymen.

Argentina looked better under Maradona.

colombia definitely the better team tonight.

surely they'll beat costa rice u23 tho and probably get through to the quarter finals???

yeah colombia impressed me a lot. Ramos missed when unmarked from 6 yards but was stretching so can be forgiven. Moreno's miss on the other hand was scandalously bad! Arg so poor first half and ended the game with Higuain, Tevez, Messi and Kun all on the pitch! Their entire back 4 not even average let alone good and Masch the only decent midfielder they have. Not sure that it's the tactics as much as them having seriously inadequate players in a number of positions and lots of excellent ones in the same positions. If it was a club team no way would you construct the squad along these lines.
Falcoa was good for Colombia as were the 2 full backs imo. In fact alongside Chile, Colombia the best I've seen so far.

I'd never've thought an Arg-Bra final a disappointment, but if that's what it still boils down to after all this.

Arg might well struggle against Costa Rica u-23s on yesterdays evidence. Well, probably not, but Campbell up front for Costa Rica was fantastic yesterday and should be able to cause Milito et al plenty of problems.

If it was just top two go through Argentina might be in a bit of trouble, but it's so easy to progress you'd think not. Though a Bolivia win in the last match would make it interesting.

I forgot about the 2 best 3rd place teams thing tbh. If Brazil get their act together could mean an ARG/BRA q-final tho!

stoked for the game tonight. hopefully chile win but i expect a good game for the neutral in any case.

God, let's hope so

i actually enjoyed the argentina columbia nil nil the other night!

VAMO CHILE!

What does it feel like, having a team worth supporting?

Man, if it's your country then it's worth supporting

ah see, number none, i'm pretty much totally against that thinking, in a way, seeing as i hardly give a fuck about scotland, despite the fact that i am from here and live here and am half scottish. i support my club team and then anything else is kind of just up to my fancy.

it's a weird one, they're both a likeable team and a bunch of dirty bastards, total underdogs with players from second-tier european teams alongside players who play domestically with one of the most highly hyped players in the world. they're playing football "as it should be played" but also definitely going to be punished for playing 3 at the back and being so gung-ho. also i'm from scotland and don't really care all that much about that national team but for whatever reason prefer la roja (probably because i don't have their drunken, unruly hoardes infesting my city in national dress when chile play - and because there's no rangers players in the squad).

i think uruguay will win this, looking a bit all over the place, uruguay are as well, but they're having better chances.

near golazo there

the near freak goal rebounding off the clearance would have been amazing.

then palmatoria had a decent effort from a tight angle.

Decent half by this tournament's standards. The 2007 Copa averaged over three goals per match.

I wish Uruguay would drop Forlan already, move Cavani to CF and bring in Abel H on the wing opposite Suarez.

i've came to hate forlan over the last year. just let his success go to his head, did nothing for atleti. he had one extremely sweet move there just before half time where he picked a short pass out between two defenders.

i remember watching the final of 2007, had been loving argentina throughout the tournament, and then they got destroyed. i was getting drunks (drunk by myself) through the game and after it finished i remember watching some of you've got male and then having the room spin round me and having to crawl upstairs to bed.

halcyon days.

"you've got male". oh my.

oh for fuck sake, alan henson would be expiring in a paroxsysm of defensive rage.

You can understand Suarez's footwork causing some ball-watching, but that was too much.

ALEXIS!!!!!!

Quality finish. Nice to hear a crowd erupt, finally.

ok that game was also shit, i apologise on part of my forefathers.

la copa de empates.

Chile goal was pretty sweet.

Man, if it's your country then it's worth supporting

― Number None, Friday, 8 July 2011 23:40 (Yesterday)

lol

I was drunk when i posted that fwiw. I guess i can't really imagine what being an England fan is like

who would want to

That Paraguayan LW was great against Alves. He should be a fun impulse purchase for some club next month.

Yeah he gave him a torrid time. Alves was terrible for the second goal.

Argentina v Costa Rica ... ARG's new formation (Aguero & Higuain ahead of Messi) looks more coherent but their finishing is still crap. I think Messi is really fucking tired. He'll always have a step on anyone in close quarters but he's watched much of the game esp. without the ball, Higuain looks like a pressing dynamo in comparison.

1-0, Fernando Gago hits strong volley, keeper lucky to save w/ his feet, Aguero has easy rebound tap-in. HT.

Now 3-0, Messi & Aguero running the game, but it is just Costa Rica U23s, they *ought* to. They're fun to watch with Jav Masch at the top of the center circle and five dangerous attacking players ahead of him.

Yeah they looked better last night. No way should Tevez get in ahead of Aguero. 3rd goal esp. sweet I thought.

Looks like I missed the game of the tournament so far earlier, Paraguay 3-3 Venezuela with two goals after 88'.

Brazil-Ecuador now. This pitch is in horrible shape, Brazil are knocking passes back and forth and looking startled when they hop a foot in the air without warning.

holy shit that's a header

95% Andre Santos, 5% Pato for me - perfect cross, all he had to do was connect.

Robinho hits the post, on the next possession Caicedo shoots straight at Julio Cesar and it slips through his hands for 1-1. He'll get all the blame but Lucio should have cleared it before it reached Caicedo.

2-1, Neymar scores from a nicely-timed Ganso through-ball. I can see why reaction to Ganso at this tournament has been mostly negative, he doesn't seem to have much speed and he's been creeping too close to his strikers, but his passing vision is great.

2-2, Caicedo scores a second, great finish after turning Thiago Silva, made him look slow which is no mean feat. Ganso's pathetic attempt at a tackle allowed the chance to appear though.

Brazil 3-2 less than a minute later, Pato scuffed rebound from a so-so Neymar shot the ECU keeper spilled, after more good Ganso-Neymar short passing.

4-2 final, Neymar got a second from good Maicon cross, smart to play him ahead of Alves he was good down the right. Ecuador were decent though, good match.

Julio Cesar was awful last night, thought both Ecuador goals were his fault. Last 10 mins of Paraguay/Venezuela were insane! So your QF line up is
Colombia v Peru
Argentina v Uruguay
Brazil v Paraguay
Chile v Venezuela

Last night was better but I've still enjoyed Women's World Cup way more than this so far but Arg/Uruguay should be good and a Brazil/Chile Semi-Final would be great.

Re Brazil, Ganso hasn't overly impressed me with the important caveat that he has still created 7 or 8 good goal scoring chances in 3 games which is more than good enough imo. He just doesn't run the game which is perhaps not his responsibility.

he ran the game for santos in the liberatadores, maicon looked great last night, seemed to always be able to get past his man

I'm not sure Ganso can run the game when it's played to the tempo preferred by Neymar and Robinho - half the time they blow by him at midfield and when the key pass is needed he's not even in the frame. Yet he's not a true deep-lying playmaker I don't think, his killer passes are shorter than Pirlo's so he needs to be closer to the action. Put him in a slow-building offense and he might be great.

i just like that brazil have ganso and pato in their squad. goose and duck.

'peru' means 'turkey' as well iirc - could get a proper medieval feast with just a few more

The melodic horns of the group stage have been replaced by vuvuzelas in Córdoba today, for some reason. Too bad.

Both right wingers in this Colombia-Peru match have been good. Dayro Moreno hit the post and was also pulled down after latching on to a long ball, but Falcao missed the penalty. 82', heading for extra-time as of now.

Match was mostly dull but the extra time has been better, and the (hopefully winning) goal for Peru just now was fantastic, one of those 'still rising as it hit the net' piledrivers.

arg-uru game off to quite a start

yah it's been pretty sweet

www.streamhub.tv/ch/V4.php

gago should really leave real. he's a good player. i wonder how many cm's they've bought since he got there.

What a save from Muslera just before the end of the game!

watching soccer on univsion is so bizarre

it's so fun! sigue sigue sigue

what happened to tevez's neck

there are PKs coming up, right?

yeah

univision is messing w/ everything i believe to be true

Tevez is a twat.

is uruguay's keeper a big deal? dude has been superman tonight

wow

he plays at lazio iirc. amazing game for him tonight.

the fuck is wrong w/ argentina

what happened to tevez's neck

Childhood scalding

seemed like they got kinda unlucky tonight but also they weren't smooth with the ball around the box, like they dominated possession at least in the second half & extra time but squandered a lot of that. uruguay's D did seem pretty good tho. not that i know much of anything...

how long until the brazil game

oh it's tomorrow lol

About 17 hours

dammit

what happened to tevez's neck = things i never need to read on a thread about "soccer" ever again.

what's the difference between an argentinian and a terrorist?

terrorists have sympathisers.

why does an argentinian smile when lightning flashes?

he thinks god is taking his picture.

etc.

watching soccer on univsion is so bizarre

srs wtf lols

Oh Argentina. You are England plus a line of actual geniuses.

i am going to be absolutely destroyed for the game tonight. and i'm in a house with a crap internet connection and no espn.

God, Brazil are uninspired

Whoa

Great save.

I still think the unevenness of the surface deserves much of the blame for the poor play in this tournament.

Keep wondering why Verón is on the field when I thought he retired from International Football and Argentina has gone out.

God, Brazil are uninspired

― Number None, Sunday, 17 July 2011 21:22 (11 minutes ago)

they've mostly been like that since 2005

'king boy pato

If you could graft Ganso's feet onto Ramires' legs you might have the world's best midfielder.

Andre Santos is so bad, I can't imagine what Marcelo is feeling having to watch this shit while possibly being replaced at club level.

It's a shame about Sandro's injury b/c Lucas Leiva was just red-carded, this would have been his chance to establish himself in the Brazil side, assuming they go through.

would suck from an entertainment standpoint if argentina & brazil both went out this early

That assumes a lot about Brazil suddenly finding some ability to entertain. Chile's the team you want to be watching, just ask jim.

They've gone and picked the end with a dodgy spot

The whole pitch is like that, dirt clods flying all match.

T. Silva is a very technically able CB but should he really be among Brazil's first five penalty takers?

It's kind of farcical though. There was an Anderlecht vs Partizan CL qualifier last August where the same thing happened.

It's certainly entertaining, though

looool

I bet that was a higher-quality football match all around, xp.

Wish Neymar was here, he always does something interesting taking PKs.

Elano, Andre Santos, Fred, and a centre-back: this is what Brazil have to offer? Bring on the Shakhtar brigade already.

these cunts couldn't have given my fav player a worse sendoff

my computer froze and i had to restart it. i arrived just as brazil missed their third penalty. and then fred's vv entertaining miss. who were the first two penalty takers?
xp ah ok there's my answer

Surely the ref has the authority to change the end if there's a problem like that?

the way argentina and brazil are shunted around lucrative friendly venues and dislocation of home/european based players are likely significant though, it's difficult enough for european national teams to find any coherence these days (unless 7/11 of them play for the best club in the world)

Has Lúcio announced int'l retirement? I feel like he could keep playing at a top level past 35.

Anderlecht-Partizan went to penalties. Partizan won the toss and selected one end. Anderlecht's captain protests vigorously but no-one knows why. They go up that end anyway. When Anderlecht's first kicker steps up the spot gives way and he skies it a la Beckham in Turkey. The same thing happens to their second kicker. Anderlecht then manage to sneak their third and fourth in while their keeper makes saves to put it into sudden death. Inevitably, Anderlecht's guy steps up, the spot gives way again and he skies it. Partizan go through.

btw, the other reason the penalties was such great drama last night was that the teams had adopted totally different styles. Anderlecht were taking as normal and basically trusting to fortune that the ground would hold, whereas Partizan were tiptoeing up to the spot in a straight line to keep their balance. As a consequence Partizan's were quite weak kicks hence the two saves, and while Anderlecht scored two good ones, three went vertical

This is what I wrote about that Anderlecht - Partizan game at the time. It's almost exactly the same. Can't believe Brazil didn't research this ffs.

i'd assumed he would retire after this xp

Brazil did have a couple of bizarre trotting run-ups

oh btw, is it just me or does ganso have a bit of a shia labeouf look to him? that's probably the one thing that entertained me the most during this game (apart from the penalties of course).

he is a strange looking fellow

there's a little bit of shia labeouf, maybe a bit of frank lebeouf too

Chile killing it right now, still down 1-0 though.

wow chile hit the woodwork twice and had a header saved on the line by a Venezuelan defender in the space of 3mns!

Finally!

even when they score they hit the bar lol

Suazo such a baller, scores when he counts. I bet he could get 15+ goals in the EPL.

it should be 5-1 right now.
the movement of the ball from chile is a joy to watch.

suazo turned down wigan last summer if i recall.

omg what a fucking disaster

if Chile lose, that means all the supposedly better teams lost, right? also lol chile playing with 2 defenders!

That's a pretty awesome finish + goalline clearance within 5' for Cichero.

XP Uruguay are a very good team & Paraguay have decent Europe-based players but Peru & Venezuela are big upsets.

yet, arg-uru is the only one where you could argue that the better side won. honestly brazil really should have beaten paraguay.

my yet is a yes, dunno what happened there. really sad for chile who had so many near chances. really entertaining team.

Yes, that's true.

I've watched most of this tournament but I would struggle enormously to put together a best XI so far. Chile would definitely feature, I'm sorry for them (and for 'j in g').

yeah was looking forward to a chile-uruguay final after brazil lost. now it'll probably be peru v venezuala.

well there goes my 100 bucks. what a weird tourney it has been. imagine if peru had farfan and pizarro in the squad.

this is the first time the copa america semis are played without either of the two bigs, argentina and brazil (well except for two of them in the 40s and 30s where one of those teams didn't take part or something). i may be mistaken though.

also, i'll support peru from now on, just because. well by support i mean i'll root for them from my TV- and internet-less situation in the upcoming week.

VEN will play without Tomas Rincon, one of their most established players, in the semifinal due to harsh late red-card decision.

the way argentina and brazil are shunted around lucrative friendly venues and dislocation of home/european based players are likely significant though

it's difficult enough for european national teams to find any coherence these days (unless 7/11 of them play for the best club in the world)

enjoyed that match, still not exactly sure how venezuela won

chile's goalie kinda fucked it up on the second goal

This is what makes me excited for next summer, because Germany could start somewhere from 6 to 9 Bayern players (Neuer, Lahm, Boateng, Badstuber, Contento, Schweinsteiger, Kroos, Muller, Gomez) plus two more whose year-round objective #1 is to beat Barcelona. That might make for a great tournament and final.

― boxall, Monday, 18 July 2011 02:02 (16 hours ago)

shit yeah this is exciting!

And don't forget liverpool's monopoly on England

Newcastle have basically only been buying French players recently. The resurgence of Les Bleus could begin there

Passed out during the chile game :( golden generation,squandered a real chance to win this thing.

<3 Luis Suarez.

I was about to make some comment about how he's done little in this Copa except argue with every single opposing player - he's world class at that - then I checked ESPN, completely forgot there was a match tonight! Was it good?

It was okay I guess. Peru had a couple of good chances and Uruguay tried to make the play more than they have in previous games. Suarez finishes were both simple but predatory.

it seemed like he really scuffed his shot for the second. nasty elbow from vargas too.

more PKs

instead of "kinda lol mostly sad", PKs are "kinda ! mostly :-/"

These were at least well-taken. Match was very dull though.

yeah

So Paraguay are in the final without having won a single match? All draws?

yours, outraged PSV fan

lol

The match indeed was dull. And my sky+ recording finished after the third Paraguay penalty. So I sat through 120 mins of tedium without the pay off of a penalty shootout. Bah. That's me and you through forever Copa America!

Another thing that's Murdoch's gault

fault ffs. Also, I feel a bit cheated that it turns out you haven't been watching live - had been imagining all sorts of glamorous soirées topped off by some Costa Rica v Ecuador

Haha. I set off to work at 1am most days so have to watch when I finish mid morning. The other day I had 2 Copa games and 2 WWC games to get through. I watched both women's games and one Copa, but cheated on the last and started it at the beginning of the 2nd half.

the only good thing about paraguay is how crazy dr francia was.

ok in fact lucas barrios is pretty cool, was playing 2nd division football in argentina at 21 years old, five years later is one of the highest rated strikes in europe's 3rd biggest league.

http://www.ole.com.ar/copa-america/argentina/imagenes-eliminacion-argentina_OLEIMA20110717_0083_8.jpg

Great start to the final. Fantastic header from a corner by Diego Lugano well-saved, but a PAR player got away with slapping the rebound shot away with his hand. Led to a lighting counter-attack finally stopped by Forlan defending in his own area.

Slapped it away with both hands, I should say.

Suarez looks as dangerous as ever.

game is tight

LUISITO!!!!!

GOL!

Fucking amazing touch to set up that shot.

awesome celebration

PARTIDAZO

forlan <3

Oh gosh, that finish was nice.

Yeah, Arevalo teed him up nicely too though, real soft touch, he's not just a reducer.

well, that'll do

Beautiful goal

Really happy for them, they're a terrific side.

AHI ESTÁ LA GLORIOSA CELESTE
COMO HACEN ESTO
3 MILLIONES
PERDIDOS EN EL MAPA

amazing that Forlan joins his father and grandfather in winning the Copa America

Announcement coming tomorrow of Copa America Centenario 2016, to be played in the US with CONMEBOL + CONCACAF teams. This seems like it could be really good.

http://americansoccernow.com/articles/copa-america-centenario-could-be-a-game-changer

June 3-26, 2016
10 CONMEBOL teams
6 CONCACAF teams

Interesting that it will overlap with Euro 2016. Gonna be some big big days of game-watching.

Have just been blithely assuming that this year's Copa would be showing on Eurosport, BT, or Sky only to find out that it's exclusive to Premier Sports which I don't have a subscription for. Gutted.

ah but you do

YouTube? I dunno if they're doing it eveywhere but I think they're live streaming the whole thing in some countries, could use a proxy if it's not happening where you are?

Cheers Windsor, I'll catch the odd game like that but was hoping to record and watch later as I'm at work during most of the games.

youtube thing not happening at all it seems, misinformation in the press, bullshit. reduced to watching a stream of the American coverage... Ray fuckin Hudson man, what does "parabolic vision" even mean? He's calling Vidal "King Arthur" tonight.

that guy is a fucking nut

pands, reviving a thread from the last copa is taking new thread parsimony a bit far

Ended up getting a 2 month minimum subscription for a tenner.

New thread started Nakh.