Copa America 2020 (in 2021) not in Colombia & Argentina, but maybe Brasil? (Pre-thread)

It will be interesting to see how thing go down in March and in the Copa.

Guys Queiroz has depended upon the last few friendlies are not getting any playing time. Mendoza has not even been on the bench lately and Roger has not played a minute in 2020.


Diaz has sometimes started and sometimes been a bencher.

I like Villa and hope he gets a chance but he has underwhelmed.

Even a guy like Muriel who I think should start has not been getting as many minutes at Atalanta as I thought he would.

And then we all know about the James and Juanfer situations.


I just have no idea what I would do in this situation let alone what our defensive minded Manager will do.
Hopefully he figures things out.

 

As for Suarez I would like to see him play in a friendly before the Copa.

I doubt he will be called up for March and be thrown into the fire. But I would not mind it. He seems like a good forward prospect to say the least.

 

It is very, very difficult for me to think of a list of 23+ players to call up quite frankly.
Especially since I pointed out in another thread that Tesillo is not playing LB, Jairo Moreno has been playing LB and is injured currently.

Arias is also injured (I think).

I would basically have to call up the base nucleus that was called up in October & November and add guys like Villa and Jhon Cordoba.

I have a soft spot for James and JuanFer so I would personally call them both up because they are still great passers and the best we have on set piece distributions and set piece shots on goals. But I would not argue with anyone who says they both may not be called up. Especially since Queiroz seems to be going another route tactically.

I will have to think more about my 23 to give you a complete answer...

.

 

Assuming Arias and Yairo are healthy I guess I would go with:

Ospina
Montero

Arias
Fabra
Jeison/ C. Zapata (either veteran, whichever one has looked better lately)
Davinson
Mina
Medina
Tesillo
Lucumi

Cuadrado
Barios
Lerma
Uribe
Yairo
James
JuanFer

Muriel
Diaz
Duvan
Santos Borre
Sinisterra/Villa
Jhon Cordoba

 

----------------Ospina-------------

Arias-----Mina----Davinson---Fabra

-------------------Barrios
--------Cuadrado------------Uribe

Diaz/Muriel-------------------Diaz/Muriel
-------------------Duvan-------

 

Awful team. And that's what's going to start.

 

We probably will have to just hope that Diaz and Muriel are hustling down each flank like crazy men with their speed and find ways to cross it to Duvan who does his thing as the Giant Target man.


That, or hope that James and/or JuanFer come in off the bench and do some sort of magical free kick / corner kick for us to eek out close victories.

It will probably be like last cycle in which we have to grind out some victories except we don't have Cardona to save us in certain circumstances. We would need someone else to.

 

Replace Sinisterra for Cucho for the summer if he keeps up his good form.

Maybe Carrascal if he gets playing time in River.

Morelos if he gets hot again.

 

Cassacal is Pino #2 until proven other wise

at best case scenario he will be Rodallega #2

 

That is you speculating.


I am speculating if he gets playing time for River there is a good chance he will be called up for the Copa America assuming the other options continue bad form or are injured. He was one of our best in the Sub23 and Queiroz probably took note of that.

 

He would've also taken note of how poor he played after the first 3 matches. He was downright awful, losing nearly every ball he touched.

That said, a good season for River could easily get him a ticket. Not too confident in that seeing how even Juanfer is not a starter atm.

 

True but he was playing through injury from what I hear and against better teams in such a tight timeline.
Let's see how it goes.

 

I keep forgetting we have another one of these damn tournaments

 

Actual tournament news:

As I speculated months ago Tite has publicly confirmed that he will bring a younger Brasil team to this tournament and rest his main squad.

I would say it will be a "B" team in our Group but it may not even be that. It may be a mix of players going to the Olympics, domestic stars and guys they just want to cap-tie playing in foreign leagues who never get a chance otherwise.

We have no excuse now not to win our side of the tournament and make it to (AT THE VERY LEAST) the Semis.
That said, Brasil has so much talent that they will still be very dangerous no matter who they bring.

They can pull a Germany "C" Team type victory in the Confederations Cup for all I know.
Hopefully we take care of business at home.

 

I understand that sentiment.

However, if we win no one is going to be like well this Copa does not feel as good because Brasil did not send their best.

We are going to all be very happy no matter if they send a bunch of Sub 17 players.

 

A team of domestic Brazilians who are hungry to get to the next level can be just as dangerous as an established Brazil team. I could see a kid like Viniscius being on this team and he’s very explosive

The way we have grinded out results in recent years make any team a tough opponent for us.

 

Latest update I am hearing is the the Brasilian Federation want Vinicius, Rodrygo and Neymar to play in the Olympics.

Neymar supposedly wants to play in both the Copa America and the Olympics but will probably only be allowed to play in the Olympics if he skips the Copa.

 

Exactly.

 

they would if he tells them they don’t need to pay him for a month

 

Or (more likely) he will say okay I will play in the Olympics and skip the Copa America.

Like he did 4 years ago.

 

You cant quit to your salary never....