X Date: June 18, 2019 Location: Estádio Fonte Nova, Salvador - BA Injury List: Ederson, Militão Doubtful: Arthur The 3 x 0 scoreline from the opening game vs Bolivia while looking good on paper, was a let down for most. Tite for the first time since taking reigns of the Seleção heard boos from the fans at half-time. It's a big change from the only coach that has had his name chanted by the crowd back in WCQ 2018. The pressure is certainly starting to build on Tite and, having taken a roster that is supposed to fight for the title, needs to turn public opinion fast. Tite will have to decide wether to stick with the Fernandinho and Casemiro pairing in the midfield or go with a more attacking setup. On a good note, it looks like Arthur may be available. Up front Firmino (who everybody wanted to start in the WC) did not impress again. He had an assist but it was too little to convince he should be the starter. Although it may be too soon for a change. Neres and Richarlison did well but Everton came in and scored a nice goal. So Tite has some more decisions to make here. Venezuela has improved a lot (oh the times when they were the beating bag of CONMEBOL) over the years and should provide a tougher challenge than Bolivia. However they did not impress much vs Peru in their opener even if they snatched a point, so I'd expect them to play defensively like Bolivia but more organized. The Nordeste typically has a less critical fanbase. But just as a curious note, in 1989 Copa America Brasil played Venezuela and Peru at Fonte Nova. Brazil and Lazaroni were heavily booed before the match because Charles, who played for Bahia and was a local fan favorite, was cut in favor of Baltazar who was a Lazaroni player from Vasco days. Brasil won 3 x 1 but played badly. It was Venezuela's 1st ever goal vs Brasil. Baltazar also missed 2 of the most ridiculous chances you will ever see giving more reason for the fans to feel frustrated. I've read attendance was 13,000 (in an 80k capacity stadium) but wiki says it was 35k. In the 2nd game, we played terrible again and tied Peru 0 x 0. Attendance was an embarassing 8,200 and Renato Gaucho famously got hit by an egg as the team entered the field.
One would think that Venezuela – the only CONMEBOL nation never to qualify for the World Cup and like Bolivia, a victim of more than one goleada at the hands of Brazil, would be a pushover. But the Venezuela of 2019 is not the Venezuela of 1999, for example. Then, Brazil scored 7 goals easily (with Ronaldinho Gaúcho’s first-ever goal for the senior NT). Since then, while Brazil’s record against Venezuela has remained overwhelmingly positive, Venezuela did defeat Brazil 2-0 in a friendly held in the United States back in 2008. And while Venezuela finished 2018 WCQ in last place, Venezuela did show some signs of improvement. In four pivotal occasions, Venezuela ended drawing matches it started out winning. Had it won those 12 points and all other results held, Venezuela would have finished with 24 points – too few to qualify even for the playoff vs. New Zealand, but only 2 points below playoff winner Peru and 3 below 4th-place Colombia. 3/24/2016: Peru 2 Venezuela 2 (Venezuela up 2-0 until 61st minute) 9/6/2016: Venezuela 2 Argentina 2 (Venezuela up 2-0 until 53rd minute) 3/23/2017: Venezuela 2 Peru 2 (Venezuela up 2-0 until 46th minute) 9/5/2017: Argentina 1 Venezuela 1 (Venezuela scored first and Argentina’s goal was an own goal) After 2018 WCQ ended, Venezuela has had some mixed results. It lost to Spanish regions like Basque Country and Catalonia 4-2 and 2-1 respectively. But in 2019, Venezuela defeated the United States 3-0 (less than 2 weeks ago) and in March, a historic 3-1 win over Argentina (the match which marked Messi’s return to national team duty after Russia 2018). Another arguable sign that Venezuela has improved is that in the fall of 2017, it visited Argentina and once again did not lose. The draw vs. Venezuela drew the ire of many Argentines, as defeating Venezuela was seen as a matter of honor for the locals. Tite's full-backs will definitely need to pay close attention to Rondón, Venezuela’s all-time top scorer, who was loaned to Newcastle United for 1 year in August 2018. Rondón scored 2 of his team’s 3 goals vs. Argentina this past March, and at over 6’ tall, he can score off his head in addition to his feet. Of note is the fact that the last time Brazil faced Venezuela (10/11/2016, 2018 WCQ at Venezuela), Neymar was out due to a yellow card received in the previous match, and that the 0-2 win put Brazil in first place in WCQ – a position Brazil did not relinquish for the rest of the tournament.
No "Opponents Watch" thread? I'm watching Peru vs. Bolivia, unimpressive game. I think Uruguay was the most impressive team of the first round, right? However I didn't watch their 4-0 victory.
Attendance to Peru vs. Bolivia at Maracanã is a disgrace. Soccer, no longer the people's sport, but rather, the elite's sport with CONMEBOL following the footsteps of FIFA's outrageous pricing policies.
I thought of it but the last post was Sunday morning. Pretty dead place. Edit: OK, I checked again; actually, Sunday evening. Still. I remember passionate multi-national discussions in the previous Copa Americas, both the regular one and the Centenario. Things look pretty dead, now. What's wrong? Is soccer popularity dropping in South America, with people paying more attention to politics? Or is this just a Big Soccer phenomenon, given that the language here is English and South Americans don't necessarily gather here? In any case, since talking to oneself is not fun, I posted here, knowing that at least, more people will be chiming in for the Brazil vs. Venezuela game. Sorry for being off-topic. Peru 2-1.
It's Peru x Bolivia. That's never gonna attract that many Brazilian neutral fans even with lower prices.
Look at my opening thread for Copa America 89. This is not something that new. To be honest, I'd say a lot of Brazilian "football fans" only tune in for the WC and if Brazil makes it to CA final. Having said that, we should have been able to fill the Morumbi in the opener. But that's not necessarily a demand issue for ticket prices from 190 to 590. My guess is a lot of tickets died in scalpers hands.