The USA accepts invitation to play in Copa América tournament

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUJhkEot23U

 

ciao italia 90!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdjMCla1APc

 

Hey, this isn't the official Brazil-Argentina shit slinging thread. Take it elsewhere.

 

I personally see Argentina playing with more class than Brazil who are currently having serious problems penetrating like they used to in the last quarter of the field. Paraguay and Uruguay look very solid in the back, with Paraguay having a little bit of a faster-pace in their counterattacks. Chile and Colombia look very technical and skilled in their midfields, with Chile having more colectivity and passing abilities but Colombia having better pace. Ecuador has a solid back with a kind of pacy yet offensive game that looks very promising. Peru has world-class forwards and has a very skilled midfield, yet they lack colectivity. Venezuela are very solid in the back and play a lot like Paraguay yet they don't keep as much of a possesion game. Bolivia has not had a lot of preparation for the Copa America yet because of their goalie(Fernandez), Spain-based defender Pena and Pumas's Joaquin Botero they could surprise some teams.
Mexico has trouble playing quickly, they are very good at keeping possesion and creating options, if they play quicker and increase their solidity in the back they could go far. The US plays a very physical game based on speed and wing play but their offensive mids lack better field vision and creativity, this could hurt them. They are also good in the air.

 

Nice and concise analysis!

 

It would have been better if you found a way to alphabetize the team names, but now im just nitpicking

 

Well that depends on what players are on the field. If you have old, experienced players like Blanco or Borguetti then yes, the game is going to be very slow.

I think they might be a surprise this tournament. I'm not saying that they'll win anything but they are a very well-composed team in which all the players know each other very well.

I don't think Botero is with Pumas anymore, he might be in Argentina, maybe Rosario Central.

 

Botero was last with San Lorenzo (Arg.); a Peruvian friend of mine told me that Cienciano (Peru) was interested, but I have no idea where he ended up. Other key players for Bolivia: Raldes (Rosario Central), Lorgio Alvarez (Cerro Porteno), Arce (Corinthians).

Metro

 

props. great analysis.

 

wow this thread was a great read.
Now a quick question. Why no invite for T&T I mean we're a stones throw away and I mean I could literally get up off my azz right now and throw a stone and hit Venezuala.
I know we are by no means near the quality of ANY of the teams in the tornament but we would give a good fight and I think a 16 team tornament would be better than a 12 team.

Simple solution get rid of the gold cup. Have qualifying rounds for the Copa America similar to the world cup. Let the best 16 teams play. This could be the first step towards unifying the 2 confeds. Concacaf would get the exposure of playing better opposition and Conmebol would get more world cup spots if their teams are really so superior. Realistically a combined confederation should get more than the combined 8 spots in the world cup, 10sounds more resonable. World Cup qualification would be similar to Europe. I know this has been said countless times before but that's just cuz it makes sooo much sense. anyways I'm getting outa here before I get killed.

 

no offense but we could do an American cup if NA allows us to play them for there 3.5 slots... but then teams like canada,jamica, costa rica, trinadad and honduras who have chances of goin to a WC will ahve 0 possiblities. MExico and US will still make it .. they will struggle but with 8 spots open it will be intersting... adding mroe teams just makes the tounie bad... I mean Mex and US are the real only 2 good teams in the concacaf and are the power houses and are as good as the otehr SA countries other than BRa and Arg.. and make the tournie intersting adding 4 more teams would prob be costa rica,panama, trinadad and guatamala or honduras... u do that and big teams will jsut not take it seriously and send youth players to take these teams

think chile is playin haiti and cuba this month and have just been bringin 2nd division and 4th string players

 

ppl seemed to take the world cup serious enough even with "minnows" like T&T playing. I guess I just will have to disagree with u on that point.

Oh and I think most teams in Concacaf still would have the same chance of qualifying to the WC as they do now if they were to merge the conferences and maybe add 1 or 2 spots to the WC but that's just me.

And you're not offending me I know we're seen as small fry to u guys and rightfully so but the only way we can improve is by playing better opposition. Thats the main reason CONCACAF is as weak as it is.

 

You already have tough oposition with Mexico and USA. Those are very good teams, right now I would say they are better than most S.American teams. I know you would prefer Argentina and Brazil but do you think they would like to play with much weaker concacaf teams when they already have solid S.American teams about?

I like CONMEBOL qualies because they are certainly the most competitive and fair in the world, everyone gets to play everyone home and away, its the best system and there are no weak oponents anymore. Venezuela used to be poor but they have cought up with the rest, ever since their 0-3 victory over Uruguay in Montevideo. Bolivia is always dangerous at the hight of La Paz, so is Ecuador in Quito. Some teams are better matchups for other teams, others have difficulty playing against certain nations. All in all it is a fun and very exiting competition.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

that's why CONMEBOL gets pretty much nothing out of a merger. CONCACAF does, but CONEMBOL...I guess more WC spots. That's about it.

 

not that some concacaf teams will never make it... it will just take them a very very long time... look venezulea has never made it yet... and they are to me at least 100x time better tahn trinadad,Panama or guatamala.... but they wont make it for a while because most the nations in comenbol have been playin soccer as their #1 sport for the past 100 years... and their leagues and youth systems are way more advanced... but u are right the only way to get better is to play better teams

another huge huge problem with concacaf teams is you have god like players but then they choose not to play for ur NT and play for a european team... I remember there was an amazing Jamacian or Triadadian palyer who played for england and now Canada's best player is on the english NT too... it just sucks... also ur countries dont really have that big of a pop... its really hard for a country that has 1-2 million people to face a country that has 30 million... which is the problem in the concacaf u have 3 huge countries facin off with litle tiny island that really have no national leagues...

 

You guys are all forgetting one very important thing. If the 2 conferences were to merge smaller teams would not havce to beat ALL of the teams like Brazil Arg etc. There may be only one super strong team per group. Now if lets say the first place team qualifies automatically then 2 or 3 of the best
2nd place team, as per europe, qualifications for these smaller teams would technically not be much more difficult than it is now.
Also what would conmebol gain? Well the thing u guys seem to want most of all, an easier road to the World Cup. I.E. the solution to the same problem u guys keep complaining about. Seems like a win win situation to me. Just my opinion.

p.s personally I think we could take Venezula it could be a good rivalry.

 

You are however right about the population issue and the resulting lack of depth of most concacaf teams but still if a relatively small country like holland can be a world power why can't some of the concacaf teams someday. A pipe dream maybe but it could happen

 

Personally, I think it would be neat to have the top 4 finalists of the gold cup and copa america go at each other in a tournament.

I'm not too sure about the Gold cup, but the Copa America is played every 2 years, so there could be a tournament in between Copa America years (with exception to the World Cup, of course)

 

They've changed that now. Starting the next edition, it will be every 4 years.

 

any word on USA and next copa america?

Concacaf just regulated Mexico's participation to a team of U23 plus 5 any age players.

will that goes to USA too? any word from the usian federation?

 

I have not heard anything, I am guessing we will not be invited back, even though I would like the USA to go.

 

CONMEBOL only invited 2 teams this year, and they are Mexico (duh) and the most surprising team ever invited...Japan.

Yes Japan and Mexico will be the 2 invitees to Copa America 2011. should be interesting.

 

Its not surprising, they have played Copa America before

and considering Toyota and Nissan have sponsored plenty of CONMEBOL events before it shouldn't cause shockwaves

 

you make a good point.