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Archive for the ‘Copa America’ Category

By Rex Gowar

BUENOS AIRES |
Mon Jul 25, 2011 8:10am IST

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Diego Forlan scored twice after Luis Suarez’s opening goal as Uruguay beat Paraguay 3-0 to win the Copa America on Sunday and be crowned South American champions for a record 15th time.

Suarez, voted player of the tournament, put Uruguay ahead in the 12th minute of the final at the Monumental when his low, left-footed shot from the right beat the diving Justo Villar and went in off the far post.

Forlan, the 2010 World Cup’s best player, made it 2-0 three minutes before halftime when he ran onto a ball from midfielder Egidio Arevalo Rios and blasted left-footed past Villar from just inside the box penalty box.

In the last minute, Forlan made sure of the title with his second goal at the end of a fine counter-attacking move, steering the ball past Villar and in off the post.

“This squad were very united, they showed that what they did at the World Cup was no fluke and we showed we’re the best in (the) Americas,” Suarez told reporters.

“I think Uruguay have achieved many things and needed not to forget how to win titles.”

Uruguay now have one more title than hosts Argentina, whom they upset on penalties in the quarter-finals, to crown a fine 12 months after their fourth place at the World Cup.

Twice champions Paraguay finished the tournament without a victory having reached the final with five draws and two penalty shootout wins.

Suarez scored four goals in the tournament, one less than top scorer Paolo Guerrero whose hat-trick helped Peru beat Venezuela 4-1 for third place in La Plata on Saturday.

FORLAN RECORDS

Forlan, who won a Uruguayan record 82nd cap, ended a year without scoring for his country with his two goals and equalled the national record of 31 held by Hector Scarone.

Uruguay laid siege to the Paraguay goal from the start, winning four corners in the opening eight minutes with the defence clearing one chance following a header from Diego Lugano which was parried by Villar.

Paraguay created their first chance on the quarter hour when midfielder Enrique Vera’s right cross to the far post was a bit too long and striker Nelson Haedo Valdez’s effort went wide.

Past the half hour, Forlan had his first chance but Villar saved and minutes later Suarez hit the side-netting from a tight angle on the right.

Haedo Valdez volleyed Paraguay’s best chance onto the bar from midfielder Nestor Ortigoza’s chip forward early in the second half.

Ten minutes later, Paraguay right back Ivan Piris took a ball out wide and crossed low with keeper Fernando Muslera diving at centre back Paulo da Silva’s feet to save.

Then Villar made a good save from midfielder Sebastian Eguren after taking a pass from fellow substitute Edinson Cavani.

(Additional reporting by Luis Andres Henao and Damian Perez)

(Editing by Justin Palmer/Patrick Johnston)

Article source: http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/07/25/idINIndia-58426920110725

LA PLATA, Argentina (AP) — Striker Paolo Guerrero scored three goals and set up another Saturday as Peru defeated Venezuela 4-1 to finish third in the Copa America.

Guerrero set up William Chiroque’s goal in the 42nd minute, then got his hat trick with goals in the 64th, 89th and two minutes into stoppage time.

“I have to help the team and my job as a striker is to score goals,” Guerrero said. “I got help from everyone and thank God I got the three goals.”

Venezuela pulled one back through Juan Fernando Arango in the 77th, but it could not overcome going a man down in the 58th when midfielder Tomas Rincon was sent off for a hard sliding tackle.

“We are happy, but we know it doesn’t mean much, we haven’t won anything,” Uruguayan Peru coach Sergio Markarian said.

Uruguay and Paraguay will play the final on Sunday. Host Argentina and defending champion Brazil were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the South American competition.

The fourth-place finish remains Venezuela’s best result in the Copa America. Its surprising run ended with a loss on penalties to Paraguay in the semifinals. Saturday’s defeat marked the team’s only loss in regulation in the tournament.

“Peru was a great team and it deserved the victory,” Venezuelan coach Cesar Farias said. “Venezuela gave all it had and it was unfortunate that we couldn’t take advantage of our scoring opportunities.”

Peru, which was the worst team in South American World Cup qualifying just a year ago, was the other surprise of the South American championship. It finished third despite the absence of its top two forwards, Jefferson Farfan and Claudio Pizarro.

“This is a very important result for Peru,” defensive midfielder Rinaldo Cruzado said. “It’s a third-place finish that nobody thought we could get.”

Peru lost 2-0 to Uruguay in the semifinals.

Venezuela created some of the most dangerous scoring opportunities throughout the match but Peru capitalized on its chances on counterattacks. Peru only became more dominant after Rincon received a straight red card for a sliding tackle with his feet first on Peru’s Carlos Lobaton, who had to leave the match with an injury.

Chiroque opened the scoring on a counterattack just before halftime. He fed the ball to Guerrero on the right and rushed into the area to meet the cross, easily finding the open net with a left-footed shot.

A similar move led to the second Peruvian goal, but this time it was Chiroque who made the pass for Guerrero’s hard shot into the top of the net from close range.

Venezuela pulled one back with Arango’s left-footed shot from near the penalty spot, and he almost equalized in the 81st with a free kick saved by Peru goalkeeper Raul Fernandez.

Guerrero secured Peru’s victory on two other counterattacks, easily scoring in front of Venezuela goalkeeper Renny Vega.

The goals made Guerrero the tournament’s leading scorer with five, two more than Uruguay’s Luis Suarez and Argentina’s Sergio Aguero. Guerrero had also scored Peru’s winner against Mexico in the group stage.

___

Lineups:

Peru: Raul Fernandez, Renzo Revoredo, Aldo Corzo, Alberto Rodriguez, Christian Ramos, Adan Balbin, Carlos Lobaton (Michael Guevara, 60), Rinaldo Cruzado (Luis Advincula, 78), Yoshimar Yotun, William Chiroque, Paolo Guerrero.

Venezuela: Renny Vega, Roberto Rosales, Jose Rey, Oswaldo Vizcarrondo, Gabriel Cichero, Luis Seijas (Franklin Lucena, 45), Tomas Rincon, Yohandry Orozco, Cesar Gonzalez (Juan Fernando Arango, 67), Giancarlo Maldonado, Nicolas Fedor (Jose Salomon Rondon, 61).

Referee: Wilmar Roldan (Colombia).

Article source: http://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/Peru-beats-Venezuela-for-3rd-place-in-Copa-America-1556434.php

Behind Suarez’s two goals, Uruguay looked like the class of the tournament.

However, Paraguay knocked off a South American goliath of their own. In two matches with Brazil, Paraguay finished with results of 2-2, and 0-0. In the quarterfinals, Brazil gave what probably was their worst ever performance in a penalty shootout. It was a rather fitting way to go out, as it appeared that Brazil’s failure to score was more of their own doing, than Paraguay’s success in holding them off.

With a determined defense that also shut out Venezuela in the semifinals, Paraguay boasts versatile and hard-nosed defenders such as Paulo da Silva and Marcos Caceres.

The attack managed only nine shots against Venezuela, and only four against Brazil. So, in 240 minutes, Paraguay only took 13 shots. Still, Paraguay has talented forwards such as Lucas Barrios, and Roque Santa Cruz. Finding them the ball has proven to be the challenge, though.

Both squads have received solid performances from their goalkeepers. It will be interesting if Uruguay’s Fernando Muslera and Paraguay’s Justo Villar will be tested in a penalty shootout. 

Article source: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/185709/20110723/copa-america-2011-argentina-uruguay-paraguay-forlan-live.htm

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Sergio Batista seems to be on the way out as Argentina coach following the team’s exit in the quarterfinals of the Copa America.

German Lerche, a top-ranking official of the Argentine Football Association, said in an interview Friday that Batista’s future was in doubt. He said the situation could be taken up at a meeting Monday of the AFA.

Lerche, who is also president of the Colon club and AFA’s technical secretary, called the Copa America a “sporting failure” for Argentina, which is the host for the South American championship which ends Sunday.

“This situation, which smells like a failure, invites us to analyze the subject in depth. And it has to do with the coach continuing or not,” Lerche said Friday in an interview with TyC television.

Argentina has not won a major trophy in 18 years and last won a World Cup 25 years ago. The Copa America was seen a perfect chance to break through, playing as the host nation and led by Barcelona star Lionel Messi.

Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino — an Argentine — and Alejandro Sabella, former coach of Argentine club Estudiantes, are seen as the favorites. Also being mentioned is former Boca Juniors and Atletico de Madrid coach Carlos Bianchi.

Any switch would be made before Argentina begins play later this year in South American qualifying for the World Cup. Argentina may have a tough time with countries like Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Venezuela all having played well in the Copa America.

Batista took over after Diego Maradona was dropped as coach just weeks after Argentina was defeated 4-0 last year by Germany in the World Cup quarterfinals.

Both were favored by the AFA president Julio Grondona, who now is being blamed for failing to do a serious search for a coach.

Argentina was knocked out of the Copa America quarterfinals last weekend despite fielding a team led by Messi and a cast of some the world’s best players including Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria and Javier Mascherano.

Argentina won only one match of four, a 3-0 victory over Costa Rica, which was fielding its second team as a guest entry in the Copa America. Argentina drew 1-1 with Bolivia, 0-0 with Colombia and was knocked out in the quarterfinals by Uruguay 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in extra time.

The sports daily “Ole” on its front page Friday showed a photo of Batista waving as he walked across a football field. The headline said: “They don’t support him.”

A headline on the inside read: “A coach without support.”

Batista, who played on Argentina’s 1986 World Cup winning team with Maradona, led Argentina to the gold medal in the 2008 Olympics. Like Maradona, he lacks acumen as a football tactician and has been unable to organize the country’s vast array of talent.

Jose Pekerman stepped down after Argentina was beaten in the quarterfinals of the 2006 World. He was followed by Alfio Basile, Maradona and Batista.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

Article source: http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/6793804/argentina-coach-sergio-batista-job-doubt-copa-america

There’s something slightly comical about the fact that Sunday’s Copa América final will feature Uruguay and Paraguay. In the past two Copa finals, Brazil have met Argentina, and the organisers did everything in their power to ensure a repeat. Even with both underperforming there was almost no possibility of them meeting before the final, something they ensured by both going out in the quarter-final.

Whether the rise of the less-fancied nations represents the increasing strength in depth in South American football or the lessening quality of the Big Two (or, more likely, both) is a question only time can answer. What we have now is a final between two sides noted for their pragmatism who, between them, have a goal difference of plus three for the tournament. Never mind whether goals are overrated; this tournament has suggested that winning is hardly worth the effort.

It would be easy to be scathing about Paraguay, to mock them as bruisers and brawlers who play dreadful negative football. They have, after all, reached the final of the Copa América without winning a game, and have drawn three of their five matches 0-0. They’ve had players sent off in each of their past two games, and their semi-final win over Venezuela climaxed in a mass on-field punch-up.

At the World Cup they were a case study in tedium, the grinding last-16 win over Japan so dull that it was only the sense that it was such over-the-top dullness that it must be self-aware, almost ludic, like some piece of post-Le Corbusier brutalist architecture, that prevented the game challenging the Ukraine-Switzerland stalemate from 2006 as the worst game ever played in a World Cup knockout stage. So it would be easy to condemn them, and in many ways it would be justified.

But let’s at least make a case for the defence. Paraguay is a country of 6.5 million people. It has no great natural resources. That it’s qualified for the final stages of four successive World Cups is remarkable; that it’s in the final of the Copa América after an absence of 32 years even more so. The modern era of its football was essentially shaped by Sergio Markarián, the Uruguayan who coached Peru at this tournament, when he was in charge of the national side in the early 90s. He imbued them with the characteristic Uruguayan virtues of toughness and organisation – an export that, 20 years later, could come back to haunt La Celeste on Sunday.

In the group stage Paraguay were far more expansive than they had been at the World Cup. That they drew 0-0 in their opener against Ecuador was mystifying (this is more generally true; the goals per game ratio of this Copa is dire – 1.92 – but that is not only down to defensive tactics; there have been an awful lot of chances missed, the woodwork seems to have taken a pounding and a number of goalkeepers have been inspired. Certainly this has felt far less negative than the Africa Cup of Nations in Mali in 2002, which yielded only 1.5 goals per game).

Paraguay then conceded in the last minute to draw 2-2 against Brazil and conceded two in the final two minutes to draw 3-3 with Venezuela.

Marcelo Estigarribia sparkled on the left wing. Roque Santa Cruz played as a second striker with composure and intelligence. And at the back of the midfield, the hunched, rotund figure of Néstor Ortigoza mixed crunching tackles with eye-of-the-needle passes. They were second-top scorer in the groups.

The concession of those late goals, though, has taken a toll. The coach, Gerardo Martino, removed Ortigoza for the quarter-final with Brazil and replaced him with the far more defensive Victor Cáceres. Against Venezuela in the semi-final, it was Estigarribia who missed out, Cristian Riveros moving to the left as Jonathan Santana shored up the midfield. In both knockout games they rode their luck: Brazil missed a preposterous number of chances; Venezuela hit the woodwork three times. But when it came to penalties, they were the side who held their nerve, and the excellent Justo Villar was the goalkeeper who saved the crucial kick (although given Brazil missed the target with three of the four they took, he hardly needed to).

Even Villar seems a little stunned by how it has gone. “It feels like a miracle,” he said. “But after two lots of extra-time we arrive at the final with almost no oxygen, with five or six injured and one suspended. Uruguay is in a different state. Their key players are rested, but we will fight to the utmost.”

The absence of Santa Cruz through injury has cost Paraguay creatively.

Although Nelson Haedo Valdez is a sympathetic figure – early in his career, he left home for a club 200km away, initially sleeping under a stand until he started collecting pay cheques – he lacks finesse. It hasn’t helped, either, that both first-choice left-backs were injured for the Venezuela game, leading Martino to select Ivan Piris, more naturally a right-back, on the left, which in turn presumably contributed to his decision to play a more defensive player in front of him.

So they have been negative, but there are reasons. Under duress it’s only natural that they should return to the familiar safety-first industry that has served them so well over the past two decades. That might not be to everybody’s taste, but it’s reassuring to know it’s there, that in an era in which international football is decreasing in importance, there is still a nation so determined to succeed at it that it will risk opprobrium for the way it goes about attempting to prosper in it. Paraguay’s football may be brutalist, but football itself would be duller if everybody played the same way.

Difference, almost in itself is a good thing: there were campaigns, even, to save the Trinity Square car park in Gateshead when the bulldozers moved in last year. Paraguay, following the principles of Markarian – Le Corbusier dressed as Sergeant Bilko – are football’s equivalent. Ugly, but effective and ultimately strangely admirable, if only for the two fingers they have waved in the face of the marketers by failing to lose to Brazil.

Article source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/jul/22/copa-america-uruguay-paraguay

Liverpool Manager Kenny Dalglish Praises Luis Suarez for Play in Copa America

by Elliott Davis on Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 11:13PM    

Liverpool star forward Luis Suarez has been playing exceptionally well for his home country of Uruguay in the Copa America tournament, and Reds boss Kenny Dalglish isn’t letting his play go unnoticed.

Suarez is currently tied for the lead in goals scored in the tournament, and Dalglish didn’t hold back in singing his praises on Thursday.

“We’re all absolutely delighted for Luis,” Dalglish told LFC.tv. “He has done really well over there. He’s taken his goals well and showed what a big threat he is.

“We’re looking forward to him winning the final and then coming back to us. Hopefully he will be back with a winners’ medal.”

Liverpool coach Steve Clarke has made it clear that they will not rush Suarez in his return to the club following the Copa America.

Suarez’s Uruguay team will play Paraguay in the Copa America final on Sunday.

Article source: http://www.nesn.com/2011/07/liverpool-manager-kenny-dalglish-praises-luis-suarez-for-play-in-copa-america.html

The Argentinian newspapers are full of Estudiantes transfer stories and pre-season friendlies. Boca Juniors have used the same first XI in training for the past two days. River Plate, as though doing penance for their relegation, trained in driving rain on the beach. On television the 24-hour sports channels show Racing playing a practice match against Acassuso while a horse chews hay dispassionately in the background. Diego Maradona slags off the national manager Sergio Batista; Batista’s brother points out Maradona’s Argentina lost 6-1 to Bolivia. And somewhere, very much in the background, the Copa América goes on.

“We’re going to win like in 1983,” chanted Uruguay‘s fans in La Plata on Tuesday night, recalling their semi-final victory over Peru and subsequent win over Brazil in the final. Back then the semis were played over two legs, and Uruguay progressed 2-1 on aggregate in part thanks to Franco Navarro’s missed penalty in the first match. There was little such drama this week.

“We gave a dignified performance,” said Sergio Markarián, the coach of Peru, but the truth is that Peru threatened Uruguay only after they were 2-0 down and down to 10 men (and how much dignity was there, really, in the elbow Juan Vargas planted in Sebastian Coates’s face?)

The first semi-final was the story of one team being very much better than the other. Peru battled, but even after the barely explicable events of the weekend there was rarely a sense that they could upset La Celeste. “We controlled the game, we deserved the goals and we won fair and square,” said Maxi Pereira.

Luis Suárez got both goals in the 2-0 win, Diego Lugano was as aggressive and solid as ever, Diego Forlán produced his usual blend of creativity and effort, and Alvaro Pereira was excellent on the left, setting up the second goal with a typically aware clip over the top of Peru’s square back four. But the key man for Uruguay was their coach, Oscar Washington Tabárez. In the group game against Peru he had used a 4-3-3; with Edinson Cavani injured and – anyway – out of sorts, he opted for 4-4-2 in the second half of the final group game against Chile and the quarter-final against Argentina.

Faced with Peru again, he switched to a back three that allowed Uruguay to counter the leftward skew of Peru’s attack. Lugano could mark Paolo Guerrero as he drifted left, with Coates covering Vargas as he cut in from a notional left-centre position, with Martin Cáceres covering.

The two Pereiras at wing-back dominated Luis Advincula and Victor Yotun, and Uruguay had three against two in central midfield. Poor goalkeeping from Raúl Fernández, spilling a Forlán shot and then chasing crazily out of his area as Suárez bore down on him, contributed to the goals, but pressure brings mistakes, and Uruguay were in complete command.

“I still feel joy,” said Marakarián, whose team exceeded all expectations by reaching the last four. “But we have a responsibility; we must be self-critical because we are not quite right. But we achieved our main goal which was to build players.” Certainly Peru, having finished bottom of qualifying for the last World Cup, can expect better this time round.

Uruguay have more immediate concerns: a final on Sunday against Paraguay. If they win they will become the most successful side in Copa history, with 15 titles to Argentina’s 14, a remarkable statistic given Uruguay’s population is around a 12th of that of Argentina’s and under a 50th that of Brazil. They will go in as favourites after Paraguay stumbled through on penalties in a dismal semi-final victory over Venezuela.

It had begun as though Paraguay would be dominant, and in the first half they completed 141 passes to Venezuela’s 44. The Vinotintos, though, are tenacious above all else, and did not merely hold out but had the two best chances of the half, Oswaldo Vizcarrondo’s header being ruled out because it brushed the offside José Salomón Rondón on its way in, and Alejandro Moreno thumping a header on to the bar.

The second half lapsed into a dull shapeless slog but in extra time, Venezuela were much the better side. A drive from Giancarlo Maldonado – a marvellous provocateur with the name and facial hair of the Spanish villain in a Victorian novel – was deflected off the shin of Nicolas Fedor against a post, and within two minutes Juan Arango had bent a free-kick against a post. When Jonathan Santana was then sent off for a second yellow card, it was suddenly all Venezuela.

So rattled were Paraguay that their coach, Gerardo Martino, and his assistant were sent to the stands in separate incidents. Perhaps the fairy story of the minnows of Venezuela reaching the final might have redeemed a desperate game, but Paraguay don’t do sentimental favours.

They held out. That’s what they do, like a footballing Weeble that can never be knocked down. Paulo da Silva, his forehead corrugated in concentration, was doggedly excellent. Justo Villar, the goalkeeper, was a beacon of stability and saved Franklin Lucena’s poor penalty in the shoot-out. In truth, they are not far from being a very good side; as Martino admits, they just lack a little spark of quality. Nelson Haedo Valdez works hard but has the creative output of a hamster on a wheel. Roque Santa Cruz might have provided it, but he succumbed to a hamstring injury six minutes after coming off the bench. There is an issue of balance, too: Paraguay, after all, were second top-scorers in the group stage.

Martino has reverted to Paraguayan stereotype since then, though (Markarián may have lost out to Tabárez with Peru, but it is a team whose philosophy he shaped two decades ago that will face Uruguay in the final), first by bringing in Victor Cáceres for Néstor Ortigoza against Brazil, and then by replacing Marcelo Estigarribia with Santana last night. Results, if not the aesthetic, have vindicated him: Paraguay have reached the final without winning a single game in the tournament, and have been ahead for only 59 of the 510 minutes they have played.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Capital Federal, a horse is watching one of Argentina’s Big Five playing a friendly against some amateurs.

Article source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/jul/21/copa-america-paraguay-uruguay

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Article source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/dcunited/maradona-blames-batista-grondona-for-argentinas-copa-america-flop/2011/07/19/gIQAo0XhOI_story.html

But certain weaknesses were exposed. Unlike in years’ past, Argentina were without the services of an elite goalkeeper. Sergio Romero did a solid job in the net, but he is not up to the standards of past goalkeeper stars like Sergio Goycochea, Pablo Cavallero, and Roberto Abbondanzieri.

Another spot that has been somewhat of a concern, dating back to when Maradona retired, has been attacking midfielder. Javier Pastore appears to be the best player at the position, but he went into the tournament with limited experience, and head coach Sergio Batista didn’t appear to use him right, even bringing him off the bench, when he probably deserved to start.

In fact, a great deal of the blame could fall on the shoulders of Batista. After replacing Maradona, the new coach didn’t seem to understand his team’s strengths, or how to develop chemistry.

Argentina sputtered against hapless Bolivia, and managed only a tie against Colombia. To advance to the knockout rounds, they defeated a weak Costa Rica team that lacked their best talent.

Against Uruguay, Argentina appeared sharp on offense, but the defense was terrorized by forward Diego Forlan’s freekicks from near the half line and into the penalty box.

However, when Diego Perez received his second card in the 38th minute, Argentina had the man advantage and had the opportunity to pounce on Uruguay until the 87th minute when Javier Mascherano received a questionable second yellow card. Argentina’s inability to capitalize against 10 players for nearly 50 minutes proved that the South American giants lacked the great passing and attack style to be mentioned with the likes of European powers Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Argentina did receive quality play from Barcelona star Lionel Messi. The overly criticized forward did not score in the tournament, but was a great facilitator against both Costa Rica and Uruguay.

Messi made his presence felt, and Uruguay was certainly aware of his positioning on the field. On a play that was correctly ruled offsides, Messi gave a pinpoint pass to Gonzalo Higuain who headed the ball into the net only for it to be taken back. It looked similar to the assist Messi gave Higuain in the 17th minute which led to the lone goal.

Meanwhile, forward teammate Sergio Aguero struggled for most of the match, and normally reliable Angel Di Maria was rather ineffective against Uruguay.

To Argentina’s credit, they still managed a goal, were impressive in the penalty shootout, and appeared to be the stronger team against a talented Uruguay squad. The 2010 World Cup semifinalists played with great poise, and did a fine job of executing on their limited opportunities.

While Argentina had a few bright spots in their quarterfinals loss, the same probably cannot be said for Brazil.

Head coach Mano Menezes took a curious lineup into the tournament, and Brazil seemed to lack the creative flare that they’ve been known for in the past.

Brazil had two draws, and managed only one win over hapless Ecuador. Even in that victory over Ecuador, Brazil conceded two goals, and were tied with two-thirds of the match complete.

Against Paraguay in the quarterfinals, Brazil dominated most of the match, but was stymied by a tough defense. Brazil also showed that they no longer have a superstar forward, as Alexandre Pato, Robinho, and 19-year-old Neymar proved that they are not up to the former standard of Brazil strikers.

In particular, Neymar may have proved that he’s more hype than anything. The young forward scored two goals in the tournament, but both were against Ecuador, who were not expected to advance.

Neymar has talent, but he didn’t appear to show the seasoning needed to carry a bulk of the scoring on his shoulders. He often went down due to a lack of balance, and didn’t seem to know how to create chances for his teammates.

With zero goals after 120 minutes, Brazil’s penalty shootout was nothing short of pathetic. Not only did they not convert one shot, their shots were dreadful.

Menezes’s job security is probably very shaky at the moment. Brazil remains strong at defense and at goalkeeper, but the midfield and forward positions proved that they lack high-quality attackers and playmaking skills. Menezes failed to find the right unit to put more pressure on opponents.

For Brazil and Argentina, it’s time to pick up the pieces. Brazil will host the Confederations Cup in 2013, and then the World Cup in 2014.

With the world watching South America, the two most prominent nations on the continent are expected to rise to the occasion or risk even more criticism.

Article source: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/183160/20110719/copa-america-brazil-argentina-neymar-messi.htm

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