Copa America 2007

[bedir than average]

CONMEBOL's National Championship has two invitees this year (USA and Mexico) and is hosted in Venezuela. With Powerhouses Argentina and Brazil as the obvious favorites, this could be a good test for the Americans. Brazil's Group B is considered the toughest in the Reuters peice on the draw announcement.

Group A
Venezuela
Bolivia
Uraguay
Peru

Group B
Brazil
Ecuador
Mexico
Chile

Group C
Argentina
USA
Paraguay
Colombia

Top 2 from each group advance as well as the best 2 3rd places advance.

So I would love to think that the US will advance to the next round. This competition should be a good test for the team with plenty of World Cup quality matches.

[Cali Ed]

I saw the results of the draw on Fox Soccer Report this A.M. Group B is the "group of death", but we've not been given an easy draw. We know about Argentina's might, but Paraguay is 30th and Colombia is 31st in the latest FIFA rankings, just behind U.S. at #28 (BTW, U.S. at #4 was ridiculous, but the free fall of the last few rankings based on nothing has been quite ridiculous, too). Arguably, our group is just as tough (Mexico, for instance, was #19 in the latest poll, yet I think the U.S. is better).

In any case, this will be a good competition for the U.S. to measure their development vs. the other sides in South America. I think it's an honor to have been given the invitation, too.

[bravesmasta]

I love the Copa America..Cali don't base your opinions off of the FIFA rankings.I'm Colombian and I can tell you Colombia is the weakling of the group,right now we are going thru a tough transition stage.We do have great young players like Rodallega,Renteria,and Farias but they are all too young.Colombian soccer has not been the same since Valderrama retired,along with some of the other great players we had.To think that in 1994 we were a good candidate to win the World Cup.
Anyways there is a rumor that Ronaldinho will not play because he wants to take a break.Brazil usually takes a "B" team to the Copa America,don't forget this is basically where Adriano kinda made a "name" for himself..
It will be shown on Univision BTW..

[Cali Ed]

Originally Posted by bravesmasta

I love the Copa America..Cali don't base your opinions off of the FIFA rankings.I'm Colombian and I can tell you Colombia is the weakling of the group,right now we are going thru a tough transition stage.We do have great young players like Rodallega,Renteria,and Farias but they are all too young.Colombian soccer has not been the same since Valderrama retired,along with some of the other great players we had.To think that in 1994 we were a good candidate to win the World Cup.
Anyways there is a rumor that Ronaldinho will not play because he wants to take a break.Brazil usually takes a "B" team to the Copa America,don't forget this is basically where Adriano kinda made a "name" for himself..
It will be shown on Univision BTW..

I'm sure it'll be shown on one of the stations here (Fox Soccer Channel or GolTV) in the States. Last time, I think I watched a couple of matches on Univision, but now we have TWO English-language stations, so who knows?

As for the "FIFA rankings" comment: LOL! That's my usual reaction to those rankings, and here I used them to support my argument. Is Columbia's team that different from last year's team, though? I don't remember watching any of their qualifying matches, but they finished just one point behind Uruguay in the last WC qualifier, and Uruguay got a favor from an under-determined Argentina side in the last match. (Of course, it was amusing to watch Uruguay throw away that chance vs. the Socceroos in the "play in" match).

I just wanted to point out that there is plenty of strength in the U.S. group as well, not just in Mexico's group.

[bravesmasta]

Originally Posted by Cali Ed;
As for the "FIFA rankings" comment: LOL! That's my usual reaction to those rankings, and here I used them to support my argument. :uhh: Is Columbia's team [I

that [/i]different from last year's team, though? I don't remember watching any of their qualifying matches, but they finished just one point behind Uruguay in the last WC qualifier, and Uruguay got a favor from an under-determined Argentina side in the last match. (Of course, it was amusing to watch Uruguay throw away that chance vs. the Socceroos in the "play in" match).

I'm hoping it is.I want some new young players to give the team a new feel.For some reason over the past few years we have been inconsistent with our players,you can always expect a ton of new players(in the qualifiers and stuff).Our players never seem to mold together even though we have players that have been succesful in Europe.

I'll finish my post later ,I have to go