I remember watching the Euro Cup in Portugal. I didn't know what to expect but It was amazing. I remember finding in as exciting as the WC. So after supporting England and watching them get eliminated against Portugal I thought to myself this is an amazing torunament. After finding out that in about 2 weeks the the South American counterpart was going on I got all excited again. And yeah when Mexico beat Argentina it was amazing. It was exciting But after a couple of games I realized no one really wanted to win the cup. There wasn't this fire you see in the European Cup. You could see teams like Brazil brining their B teams. Can anyone answer why?
Read some of the other threads around here and you will soon find out. It has to do mainly with European teams putting barriers when S.American players want to go and play for their countries...
It has a lot to do with the summer vacation of some players that play in Europe and of course the main reason is $$$, Copa America doesn't give as much money as EuroCup. Now, I believe that Copa America 2007 is going to be better than the one in Peru in 2004: - Brazil: Had the worst performance in the WC in a long time. Keep in mind that they had played the previous 3 finals (94,98,02). Should be bringing a good team - Argentina: Had an extremely dissapointing WC in 02 and hoped to improve things this time, they got eliminated by Germany a little early in the tournament. Don't know if they are going to bring a good team. - Ecuador: Did great in the WC. Should be bringing a good team - Paraguay: Had a bad WC. Should be bringing a good team - Mexico: Last Copa America played very good Should be bringing a good team - US: Had a dissapointing WC, coming back to Copa America after 12 years (???) Should be bringing a good team - Uruguay: Barely got the 5th place in the qualifiers and then got beat by Australia. Besides, right now Venezuela is Uruguay biggest rival (believe or not) Should be bringing a really good team The rest are teams that didn't make it to the WC and should be bringing good teams: Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile.
My question is why don't they always schedule the Copa America during the same summer as the Euro (i.e. on a 4-year cycle, two years off the WC)? I realize clubs don't want their players playing in internationals and that rubs off on the players themselves (who want more vacation time), but if it was the same summer as the Euro, the clubs can't complain - they release all of their Euro guys, no questions asked. I think by establishing a 4-year cycle, it would help establish more of a tradition, which would lead to countries caring more about the tournament, which would lead to them sending their A squads. Why isn't a cycle firmly established with this tournament?
This is something I don't understand myself. Personally I would prefer Copa America every four years, every year after a World Cup (like this year, 2007).
i agree. i personally believe it could make the tourney more glamorous since we'd have to wait for so long. that way, all the Euro stars would jump at the idea of playing for their country instead of asking for a "break" like they do now.
I play soccer twice a week all year long. Those guys can't play more matches? I have a question. If pro golfers take a vacation, what do they do? Work?
Now that gave me a good laugh. This Copa America promises to be a good one. This is not a WC year...so all countries will be bring their best... add that to the fact that some of the poorer countries are now competing on par with Brasil and Argentina... It will be a very competitive competition.
Believe me European players aren't playing for money. They bit of cash they would get for playing well there is usually pretty small compared to their normal wages. If the European Championships were played every two or three years with no qualifying then it wouldn't be taken as seriously either. With four years between each one and a hard qualifying campaign, it means a lot more.
Exactly. I wish they'd change to every four years just so it would be more special. Obviously there wouldn't be qualifying, as there are not enough teams, but it would still be a larger, more prestigious tournament if it happened less often.
An event like confederations cup is great but it would be cool to have it two years before the world cup and with more countries participating.
No I actually think that making it the same year as the Euros would not help the situation. The clubs would be even less willing to let players go becuase there would be more of a chance of them getting injured since the competitions would be going on at the same tiime.
This happened in 2004 (Peru 2004, Portugal 2004) and everything went well. I don't see the problem. I even see it more as an incentive from the euro clubs to let the players go as they will be busy with their own tournament. If the Euro is not going on at the same time as the Copa America, I see the clubs protesting more since they want the players to take part in the preseason and all that.
Exactly what I was thinking. Here's why: South American (CONMEBOL) WC qualifying begins in September 2007, and news media in Chile reports that teams are taking this copa america very seriously as it is the optimal way in getting themselves prepared for the qualifying matches in september. There is no doubt in my mind that we wont see the best squads out there trying to win this tournament. Now if CONMEBOL took this approach every four years from now on, maybe they'd bring back the prestige that copa america has been losing over the past decade n some. VAMOS MATIAS FERNANDEZ! and thru copa america lets show the world how good you truly are!
can someone confirm for me....I heard on the news a few days ago that CONMEBOL has now agreed to hold the tournament every 4 years. Regarding team strengths. I'm not sure about most of the teams, but the Mexican and US teams have already stated they'll be bringing a depleted squad. I'm sure Brazil and Argentina will be depleted as well. Either way I hope it's a great tournament.
I was just coming onto here to ask this exact question. It would be great to have it every 4 years, right after the WC, so that it doesn't interfere with WC qualifying and isn't simultaneous with the Euro Cup.
Actually I would like that too. I think teams would take it a little more serious. And making it between the WC and EURO Cup would help.