With the COPA America tournament now firmly underway and all teams having had a chance to show us what they have to offer, now is a good time to review the competition and make some predictions about who is likely to win.
Before the tournament began, early previews were suggesting that Brasil would win. Not only do they have the advantage of being the host nation, more importantly, they also have the best squad of players and with only one defeat in their last 25 matches, it’s a brave person who would gainsay their position as favourites.
However, having now seen all of the teams in action, Brasil are not quite as well fancied as they were before the off.
In their opening game, Brasil faced Bolivia. Without Neymar, who is unavailable because of a ruptured ankle ligament injury he picked up in a friendly against Qatar in the run-up to COPA 2019, the current South American champions (won the competition seven times to date) looked out of sorts and were booed off at the of a goalless first half.
Brasil went on to win the game 3-0, but in playing lowly Bolivia, it was no more than expected. Their second game saw them facing Venezuela, but with VAR cancelling out the three goals they thought they had scored, they disappointed again.
The other team in their group are Peru. Brasil are yet to play them, but it would be considered a major disappointment if Tite’s side did not qualify from this group, especially as it is the top two teams from each group that go through to the knockout stage.
You cannot ignore Argentina in any football competition they participate in – especially when they have Lionel Messi to call on. But as with the FIFA World Cup last year, Scaloni’s men are coming up short and Messi, in particular, is again coming under heavy criticism. So much so that tongues are wagging about replacing him.
Having been beaten 2-0 by Colombia in their opening game, Argentina really are in danger of bowing out early, despite their manager saying that their competition won’t have started seriously until they play Paraguay.
The two other front runners to lift the COPA crown are Chile and Uruguay. They are both paired in Group C, and after their opening matches, both teams are on three points. The other teams in their group are Ecuador and Japan.
Uruguay are the tournament’s most successful side having won it 15 times since the competition’s inauguration back in 1916. Their opening trouncing of Ecuador by four goals to nil could signal that 2019 will see them collect their 16th title. But Chile are sure to have something to say about that.
Chile have won the COPA America trophy on the last two occasions. In 2015, Chile beat Argentina on penalties by four goals to one, and they met again in the 2016 centennial competition in which Chile won again, this time by four goals to two.
Given Argentina’s poor form, they are not likely to appear in the final for a third time of the trot, so it looks like Brazil, Chile and Uruguay will be there or thereabouts. As the host nation, even without Neymar, you have to fancy Brazil, and at this relatively early stage, it looks like they will meet Uruguay in the final in two weeks time.
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