Argentina was duly given a dose of déjà vu on Sunday, playing second fiddle to their South American neighbors yet another time. It only took 4+ minutes for Brazil to inflict another Argentine title wound in the Copa America Final in Caracas.

Julio Baptista, the wayward Brazilian attacker, was on the end of a quick and early counter to blast the under-performing Brazilians into the lead, and Brazil never looked back.

Coming in on high style and goals, Requilme, Veron and Co. could not unlock a stingy Brazilian defense on the day—bringing back the stale taste of defeat for Alfio Basile and the crew. The momentum and class of the previous matches unfulfilled once again as Argentina came up short of answers when it mattered most.

Brazil grabbed some opportunistic insurance as defender Roberto Ayala was forced to put through on his own net—as Argentina scrambled back to try and stop another effective Brazilian counter right before halftime.

In the 2nd half nothing changed as Brazil continued to disrupt and cancel out Argentina’s attacking rhythm. Brazilian defender, Dani Alves then heaped up all the laurels for Brazil when he scored in the 69th min., ending all hope for the finally defeated Argentineans.

Brazil needed the luck of penalties on Tuesday to defeat a head-strong Uruguay side as the Semifinal ended 2-2 with Uruguay twice coming from behind to force penalties. Tied after the first round of spot kicks, Brazil snatched the Semi victory again when Doni saved Uruguayan skipper, Diego Lugano’s weak attempt.

Argentina had an easier time defeating Mexico 3-0. Both teams looked dangerous from the beginning, and Mexico can consider themselves unlucky as they tinged the post several of times throughout the game.

It was actually the unlikely Gabriel Heinze who opened the scoring at the death of the 1st half. The Man. United defender was able to connect with a Requilme free-kick to the back post, beating Mexican keeper Oswaldo Sanchez to the ball, with a jumping redirect using the outside of his boot.

But it was the 2nd half where Argentina continued to ooze its class as Lionel Messi scored a sensational chip for the 2nd goal, and Requilme soon answered with a floating, cheeky spot kick down the middle for the 3rd one.

Still undefeated, Argentina will now be looking to reverse the trend of recent Copa Americas on Sunday when they look to avenge their last Copa America Finals defeat, losing out to Brazil on penalties in 2004.

Despite their current run of form, Argentina will know they have their hands full when they kick-off against the Samba boys, who have won 3 of the last 5 Copa America titles.

Alfio Basile will be looking to quell the mind-demons that can expose themselves at times like these so that Argentina can throw of their recent mind-shackles of losing to Brazil when it matters most.

 

All the Copa America Quarterfinal games were one-sided goal slams this past weekend (a neutral’s dream) with the victorious teams finding it far easier to rout their opposition’s defense then in the group stage games.

Uruguay, who struggled through the opening stage, defeated the host nation Venezuela 4-1 on Saturday. Diego Forlan’s much needed brace helped to set up a traditional Semi match-up Tuesday with Brazil.

It seems Dunga’s men finally found their scoring movements on Saturday in a 6-1 pegging of Chilean pins. Robinho also scored twice in this one as he inches closers to Pele’s record of 8 tournament goals.

Sunday’s games were no different as Mexico defeated Paraguay 6-0 in the first match. Of course, Paraguay helped defeat themselves as they gave away a penalty and a keeper red card in the first minutes of the game. Neri Castillo continued his run of form for the Mexicans as he forced and scored the penalty while also netting a 2nd.

Argentine, in a more true fashion, trounced Peru 4-0 to set-up a Semi with Mexico on Wednesday. Requilme continued his scoring touch as he finished 2 and orchestrated another for the champions in waiting.

Uruguay seems the weakest link of the 4 remaining teams, but should be able to keep it tighter against Brazil then the Chileans. On the other side, Argentine will have a tougher time against Mexico, but still look to remain undefeated.

So, another Argentina, Brazil final on the cards!

With the group stage ending on Thursday, the Copa America quarterfinal stage gets underway on Saturday with a couple of rematches as the home nation Venezuela confronts the old guard Uruguay while a Dunga-burdened Brazil look to defeat Chile again.

The final two matches on Sunday look much more appetizing as the in-form teams, Mexico and Paraguay, look to lock horns in the harshest of the matches, and undefeated Argentina looks to continue its winning streak against modest Peru.

At the moment, Argentina looks classes above and is on an obvious mission to reclaim a much needed trophy. Basile has used all his guile, doing what others have said could never be done–winning with Veron and Requilme in the same midfield.

Don’t look for Brazil to start clicking any time soon—so far Robinho is the only one on cue—as it seems their Coach and defensive maestro miss-tuned his berimbau before the tournament, which has put Brazil off their cup winning rhythm.

Anybody who followed the US through the Copa America will finally realize the numskull decision-making of the USSF.

Satisfied with an inferior cup win (thanks to highly biased refereeing) a few weeks ago, USSF returned the majority of their regulars back to their MLS squads, foregoing a trip to Venezuela and a real test of International quality.

I guess that Bob Bradley, the USSF, and red journalists like ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle, can offload the blame for the poor showing to letting the Greater Chicago U19s get a run in on the International stage, but for true soccer savages, it must go down as the biggest farce thus far in American Soccer.

Of course you can’t really blame the players, Beckermen, Gaven and Co. were basically thrown to the wolves by the time the final match with Columbia was concerned, battling it out for last place horrors–Ecuador in Group B was also in a no-win situation, but at least they were in all their games; in the end, edging out US for 2nd to last place on goal difference–the Americans with -6 and Ecuador -3.

Over the span of these most recent tournaments the only player to give some glimpse of hope in the years to come would be Ricardo Clark, who we hope will continue developing despite the trappings of MLS Soccer. The rest had no business being out there. From coach’s son to former Chivas USA players, it seems Bradley will blanket his selections to “a number of factors” before ever giving the actual answer.

I just hope that youth is not the reason given for our Copa America debacle, especially with the U20s currently being played in Canada. Surely, American fans can no longer be glossed over by commentary of our “outplaying” opponents at certain times in the game—I guess two touches for a central midfielder in 45 min. constitutes astonishing possession for somebody.

Well, I would say it’s back to the old drawing board, but in American Soccer it’s really back to the player/parent auction.

Venezuela opened the Copa America on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 with Group A–Uruguay giving up 3 goals to Peru while Venezuela and Bolivia played to a 2-2 draw.

Group B followed on Wednesday with Chile out-blasting Ecuador 3-2 and the real shock of Mexico defeating Brazil 2-0.

The press has slated Uruguay’s opening loss as a shock, but, in truth, the land of Francescoli has lacked a traditional edge for a number of years now while Peru, with players like new Chelsea-man Pizarro, might just make a name for themselves.

The Bolivian draw was more the surprise as it was the recall for the MLS striker, Jaime Moreno, to pull the National jersey on once again, and the DC United striker paid back his country’s faith by providing the 1st goal in Bolivia’s persistence to equate the game as they came back each time from a goal behind. There were shouts of penalty at the end for Venezuela that made the Gold Cup affair look like the touch of a feather.

After the Gold Cup, only so much can be said of all the media upheaval and speculation about Hugo Sanchez and the failures of Mexico.

It looks like the Mexican expatriate knows how to show the class when it really counts. Of course he promised a Copa de Oro medal, but that was down to horrible officiating, rather than team class.

For some reason I think that for the Mexicans it is a sweeter win [against Brazil] than a victory over the United States would have been if it meant the Gold Cup Champions. At least for Neri Castillo and Co., the quality and class in each strike outweigh almost the sum of all the goals produced in the Gold Cup.

Ecuador was looking to build off their success in the World Cup in Germany last summer, but fell in high-power action to Chile and will have to climb in the next two games to have a chance for progression.

In Group C it was raining goals in the opening 2 matches. Paraguay totalled ripped to shreds Columbia behind the hat-trick of Santa Cruz. The US also felt the pain as Argentine outshined the stars-and-stripes 4-1 even after going behind to Eddie Johnson’s penalty strike.