Finally. This is the moment I've been personally been waiting for. The election of the BEST BRAZILIAN FOOTBALLER OF ALL TIMES. And your vote will decide it.

In a quick recap, last time I posted I gave you 8 names to choose the Best Dutch Footballer.  Marco Van Vasten took an early lead but Arsenal fans soon started sending some votes for Denis Bergkamp but in the end, when more Dutch fans started voting, Johann Cruijff came from third place to sweep the title leaving Van Basten in second place. So here are all the results so far:

ARGENTINA: Alfredo DiStefano + Diego Maradona

FRANCE: Michel Platini + Zinedine Zidane

UNITED KINGDOM: George Best

GERMANY: Franz Beckenbauer + Oliver Kahn

ITALY: Paolo Maldini + Alessandro Del Piero

HOLLAND: Johan Cruijff + Marco Van Basten

Now for the BEST BRAZILIAN FOOTBALLER I expect more than 100 votes. To help you guys decide I added some information and in some cases a video showing a little bit of that player.

Ademir da Guia - O Divino [The Divine] . The son of great Brazilian defender Domingos da Guia, Ademir is the biggest idol of SE Palmeiras history. A player of extreme class. He was part of the starting line-up for 16 straight years. Didn't get capped for the National team as much as he deserved.

Carlos Alberto Torres - O Capitão do Tri [The Captain]. If nowadays we have right and left backs that move up to the attack - the so-called wings - Carlos Alberto was the pioneer. And he did the task with extreme efficiency when playing for Botafogo FR and the amazing 1970 Brazilian National Team.

Didi - O Príncipe Etíope [The Ethiopian Prince]. Two-time World Champion with the Brazilian National Team in 58 and 62 and the creator of the Folha Seca [the Dry Leaf kick] , a free kick in which he would hit the ball with the outside of the foot and in a way that the ball would take an effect and suddenly drop as if it was a dry leaf falling from a tree. Talented midfielder that played with Di Stefano and Puskas at Real Madrid but achieved glory wearing the Botafogo strip.

Falcão - O Rei de Roma [The King of Rome] . Falcão never looked like a defensive midfielder. Tall, too skiny, extremely talented, calm and didn not make many fouls. Every time I watched Falcão playing he reminded me of Franz Beckenbauer. He was definetily the Brazilian version of the Kaiser.

                                              Garrincha - The Bow-Legged Angel [Anjo das Pernas Tortas in Portuguese] does not need any introductions. Ronaldinho, Robinho, Cristiano Ronaldo and all the other tricksters of football owe Garrincha for creating entertaining football. To close my case I'll just say that to some Garrincha was even better than Pelé.

Leonidas - O Diamante Negro [The Black Diamond]. He invented (or improved) the bicycle kick. He was a star playing for Botafogo, Flamengo, São Paulo and for the National Team. He was the top scorer of the 1938 FIFA World Cup with 7 gols.

Pelé - O Rei do Futebol [The King] . Unquestionably one of the greatest athletes of the history of any sport. Pelé participated in four world Cups, I mean, three and a half, because in 66 he was hunted on the pitch by the Portuguese defenders and ended up out of the competition with an injury. But Pelé is unique and I'm still to see another one like him being born. Just like Garrincha, Pelé's talent is still a huge influence in the football stars we see all over the world.

Reinaldo - O Rei do Galo [The King of Galo]. He could have been the best striker of Brazilian football of all times if it weren't for the violence of the unpunished defenders in the 1980's. Reinaldo scored 28 goals in 18 matches in the 1977 Brazilian Championship, a record that lasted in numbers until 1997 but his goal average of 1.55 is still unbeaten.

 
Romario - O Baixinho [Shorty]. Romário played until the age of 41 in pursuit of his goal number 1,000. To reach that number he played for small clubs such as Miami FC (in the second tier of football in the USA) and Adelaide United (from the Australian League). But what is in the history of football is that Romario scored 71 goals for the National Team and led the team to the fourth World Cup title in 1994. He also shone and humiliated defenders in Europe playing in Holland for PSV and in Spain for Barcelona.

Ronaldinho - In 1997 Ronaldinho as still called Ronaldinho Gaucho when he scored an incredible goal for the Brazilian National Team against Venezuela. Not to mention that he also humilliated the now Brazilian coach Dunga during a Gre-Nal derby (Gremio v. Internacional is the biggest club rivalry in ronaldinho home state Rio Grande do Sul). just by seeing that weird looking buck-toothed kid playing one could alreay tell that he would become one of the best footballers of the planet.

Ronaldo - O Fenômeno [The Phenomenon]. He's the player I had the chance to watch from the begining of his carreer when he arrived to play for Cruzeiro of Belo Horizonte and since then he scored (many) incredible goals for all teams he played for: PSV, Barcelona, Inter milan, Real Madrid, AC Milan and National Team. Ronaldo had and has many problems on his knees but when healthy and in shape I don't believe there is a striker at the same level as Ronaldo.

Zico -  Fantastic. A showman. Zico is the greatest idol of the history of Flamengo. Directly reponsible for making the team from Rio de Janeiro one of the most famous in the world. In 1981 Zico proved the superiority of Brazilian football when he led Flamengo to beat Liverpool in the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo. He is also the player that most influenced my short carreer in football. A refined touch, perfect free kicks and extreme intelligence. Zico is with no doubts one of the best players in the world to wear a number 10 shirt.

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LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A RETRO FOOTBALL REPLICA SHIRT

CONTEST RULES:

"I separated the best players (the ones that people most argue about) into countries or categories. Some countries like Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, England ... will be a category on their own and some countries with less entries will form a group category. You will have 2 weeks to submit your votes for each category and after that the 2 top voted players will move to a next round. In the end of the whole process we will be able to find out who are the top 10 best players of all times. And if you also decide to leave a comment on the my blog posts revealing your opinion about the players in that category your name will be on a raffle for a chance to win a Retro Football Strip Replica... It will be a prize from me for your participation."

A simple question for elaborate answers...

Will ARGENTINA impose their beautiful game against Brazil???

******  OR ******

 ROBINHO + his entourage will sing "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" just like Adriano did 3 years ago???

NOW  I  LEAVE  IT  TO  YOU!!!

Tonight I'm not gonna post a match report. I'm sure most of you already know how the game went, But I wanna start a discussion on "why Argentina won that game and why Mexico lost it". 

The first answer is the obvious one: Argentina scored goals. Mexico didn't.

But football (I decided to use "soccer" only if I write about the MLS) ... so, football, is a much complex game and a more elaborate answer is required for such a great game.

When Argentina came to the field to warm up the players seemed confortable, happy with each other, CONFIDENT. They knew they were ready for it. They knew they had all the tools to build their path to the final. And that's when the win started.

Mexico on the other hand seemed tense. Maybe it was the necessity to beat the team that got them out of the 2006 World Cup, maybe it was the need to prove that this generation of great young players are able to give their best at all levels. And win titles.

Somebody in another blog here in OLEOLE mentioned "LACK OF CHARACTER". I wouldn't go so far to say that players like Guardado, Castillo, Rafa Marquez or Oswaldo Sanchez lack character but maybe the team as whole need to work on the psychological factor that makes the difference in the decisive games.

When this Copa America started I predicted Argentina as the Champions but as the competition moved and Argetina showed great games after great games I started to think that at one point they would fail and 2 days ago I said that Mexico would upset them. 

But in todays game I realized that I should have kept my initial prediction. If you look at Riquelme's face you can see a mature yet passionate superstar. He is not conceided and as a leader for this team he doesn't allow that on his team mates. He has the attitude of a Champion.

And them you have fact that Mexico failed to score in the first have when Guardado had the chance and the ball decided to hit the post. Maybe he should've used his right foot to take that shot but what is meat to be will be. And that ball was meant to hit the post.

Argentina once again kept their posture, got their game together and soon started the famous "KILLER BEE ATTACK".

The first goal came in the end of the first half and then on the second half magic happened!!!

I believe Maradona and many other "inchas fanaticos" had tears in their eyes when they saw Messi, in a sutile lobby shot put the ball far, far, far from Oswaldo Sanchez but softly inside the net.

The third came in a penalty taken with extreme class by Riquelme.

And Argentina is like an full Classical Composition by Verdi... It has a soft begining, sometimes causing some tension but them comes the powerful part, "Il Addagio" the climax that makes everyone astonished and in the end the relief, the classy conclusion of the spectacle.

Messi - not a promise anymore, a beautiful reality 

Mexico was a great rival but not enough to disturb the almost perfect Argentine Orchestra.

BUT.... Now can this perfect Orchestra keep the CONFIDENCE and TRANQUILITY to coldly execute its revenge against a Brazil full of ups and downs???

Well, I hope so... I the name of the good football... In the name of "PLAY BEAUTIFULLY"

WHAT DO YOU SAY???

ARGENTINA will impose their beautiful game against Brazil???

 ******  OR ******

 ROBINHO + his entourage will sing "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" just like Adriano did 3 years ago???

We will have a lot to discuss until sunday!!!

URUGUAY 

Although Uruguay collects 14 Copa America titles, the team has been a big disappointment since their last continental trophy in 1995 when they hosted Copa America.

The nation also failed to qualify for the last World Cup. Of course this is a reflex of the poor performance and lack of quality in the national clubs competition. When was the last time Peñarol or Nacional hit the news?

The country is small and with no media attention there's no investment, without investment there's no local evolution in the sport.

When a good player emerges in Uruguay it doesn't take long until a club from Europe or from the neighbors Brasil and Argentina sneak him away from his land with promises of better incomes and more visibility. i don't blame them.

But now Uruguay has the chance of a come back. And waht a come back that would be! La Celeste will face Brazil in the semifinals and they are motivated!

This year they want to take a step further than their second place in the 1999 Copa America.

The thing about analying Uruguay is that not all of the players are really known to most of people. But what is easy to tell is that every sector of the field has its leader.

Carini has been the goalkeeper for La Celeste since 1999. I still remeber when they talked about him as the new Mazurkiewski but maybe because of the poor performance of the national team in the last years that promise is still only a promise, but Carini is a solid, experience leader for the team and as they say, a good team starts with a good goalie.

La Celeste plays with 3 center backs and that's where you're gonna find not only a great player but also the main team leader and captain: Diego Lugano. The 26 year old is a natural winner. He is the one who really knows the ways of the brazilian soccer after playing (and winning titles) with São Paulo FC.

Diego Scotti and Dario Rodriguez complete Uruguay's defensive line.

Five players will block the midfield and create the plays. I honestly and humbly don't know a lot about them. SO PLEASE HELP ME WITH MORE INFO ON URUGUAY'S MIDFIELDERS. SoyManya81, this is a job for you my friend.

Than we complete La Celeste with Diego Forlan and Alvaro Recoba.

"El Chino" Recoba is a national team player for uruguay since 1995. He has been playing for Internazionale of milan since 1999. He is not the most efficient striker but he's consistent and a fighter. There's no lost ball for Recoba.

Forlan is the goal man. He is a quite oportunist player but has ups and downs during a game. Sometimes clumsy, sometimes genius. But its better not to leave him unmarked because his 54 goals in 3 seasons defending Villareal can talk more than any words I write here.

Diego Forlan wants to revive Alcides Gigghia and send Brazil back home

*********************************************************************

BRAZIL 

Brazil is always Brazil.

This sentence itself summarizes what this nation represents for soccer in the world. In every single soccer competition in the planet that Brazil participates they can be considered one of the favorites to win. That's why "A seleção Canarinho" causes so much discussion when they can't play what everybody expects.

Many critics are blaming coach Dunga for letting go of players like Ze Roberto, Kaka, Ronaldinho. Adriano, Ronaldo and bringing some new faces like Afonso Alves, Elano and Vagner Love.

But we cannot forget that in the last Copa America (2004) coach Carlos Alberto Parreira didn't use Ronaldinho, Kaka, Robinho nor Ronaldo and yet that young team beat a powerful Argentina in the final in an electrifying game decided on the penalty shoot-out.

Which brings us back to the first sentence: BRAZIL IS ALWAYS BRAZIL.

I mentioned prevously that every good team starts with a good goalie. This isn't the case with Brazil. Doni does not offer the crucial safety that a great goalkeeper should offer. I would never hire him to play for my team and I believe I'm not alone in this. But oh, well...

Brazil's defense is not individually weak. Alex and Juan are actually good defenders. But the problem is the lack of coverage when the wings attack, and boy, they like to attack. Maicon and Gilberto are naturally offensive (not so good ones) but they sometimes go up at the same time leaving the load to the defensive midfielders and to the center backs.

Mineiro and Gilberto Silva - who is the team captain - are solid defensive mids. They are not very good passers and this can create problem when Brazil tries to connect midfield and attack.

Josué is the one that will intermediate this transition he will work as defensive midfielder when Brazil doesn't have the ball and he will help Julio Baptista supplies the forwards when the ball is recovered.

Julio Baptista started the competition on the bench (so did Josue) but he gained the position by playing a very good second half against Ecuador and an even better game agains Chile. He will do what Kaká would be doing if he was on this team. The only difference is that he is NOT Kaka.

Vagner Love finally found his way to the net last game. It would be embarassing if he didn't right? After all there were 6 goals and even Josué scored his. He is dangerous and if he can finally find a confortable position on the field he can really bother a defense.

Do I need to talk about Robinho??? Pelé's protegé has proved he was for sure one of the main responsibles for Real Madrid's title in La Liga. The fast, talented, and extremely smiley forward TERRORIZES defenders with moves that almost one of them already know but they still can't stop him. Will he be able to lead Brazil to a back to back Championship?

 Robinho might be the man to help Dunga keep his job

*******************************************************************************

MEXICO

After losing the Gold Cup a don't think the Mexican supporters thought that their team would play so well in the Copa America. But I said that on the first post of my former blog;  Mexico feels much more confortable playing against South American teams. It suits their game, their speed, and then there was Castillo. I still didn't understand why Hugo Sanchez didn't put the kid to play against the USA since the beginning, but that's part of the past now.

Castillo is the present. The gift for all the Mexican supporters who were waiting to see this team finally take home this cup. The gifted mexican born, uruguayan breed, is a star in greece but chose to wear his homeland jersey. He is not only the present, he also represent the possibility of a brilliant future for Mexico soccer.

But can they beat the favorites???

Ochoa or Sanchez?? What a pleasant difficult task. If Brazil suffers for not having a trustworthy goalkeeper, Mexico has two.

Rafa Marquez is the maestro of the defense. Solid, experiencend and talented. He is always where he should be and with very good passes makes the transiction to the midfield.

Torrado is the destroyer. He is fast and discipline. Sometimes not very good passing the ball but always there to take it away from the opponent.

Guardado was the man we were waiting to see back on the team. And he came back as if nothing had happened: playing hard, showing his talent, he might be one of my favorite players of this team.

Then there is Nery Castillo... The man that humiliated Brazil's defense with a goal that is probably the most beautiful of the competition. Determination, talent and passion. If Mexico wins this title he should be the one taking the trophy home for a week just as a reward for the great performace he's displaying.

Oh, and I can't forget GRANDPA Cuauhtemoc. I wouldn't even like to play on the same team with him. He cries, he complains with everybody and about everything. He is just like that old grumpy grandpa that hates everything. BUT he is very important for this team. In 15 minutes on the field (that's how much time he can play without collapsing) he is able to create amazing plays, score goals and of course annoy the opponent and the referee, oh and ME.

It might take a whole army to stop Nery Castillo from scoring 

********************************************************************************

ARGENTINA

The better the team the easier it is to talk about.

If soccer was a fair game we could just give Argentina the Cup and that's it.

The best team so far. 100%. 4 games, 4 expressive wins. The team scored 13 goals and suffered only 3.

They came to this competition THIRSTY... They want this Copa America sooo bad and they are playing so well and they have so many talents that what could go wrong???

Well, we are talking about soccer my friends... Anything can happen. La Albi-Celeste has 14 titles (just like Uruguay) but it also has been 14 years (since 1993) that they don't win the competition.

In addition to that, for the last 3 world cups Argentina is said to be one of the favorites, always bringing great players, but also, always letting its fanatic supporters down.

I would hate to see Riquelme, one of the most talented players of this generation, retire from the National team without the glory of winnig a last tittle with the jersey that once belonged to Maradona. He deserves it. The whole team deserves. But between deserving and actually winning it's a long way.

Messi, Tevez and Riquelme the wonder kids and the master

**********************************************************************

NOW WITH MY PREDICTIONS:

I know we have two VERY HARD games to predict but I'm not afraid to risk. I can be wrong tomorrow but it's all part of my job so here we go

BRAZIL will beat URUGUAY (the score doesn't really matter at this point)

and... ARGENTINA will be surprised by MEXICO's fast attack.

The Final will be between:

BRAZIL  x  MEXICO

Oh What a Great Soccer Weekend!!!

What a great Copa America this has been. I honestly have to say that this Copa America has been more interesting to watch than the 2006 World Cup.

It seems like all the teams wanted to win this title so bad and the ones with more passion and more desire are the ones going to the semi-finals.

***********************************************************************

Game 1 - Mexico 6  x 0  Paraguay

Yesterday I was already surprise with the 4 x 1 win by Uruguay, and 6 x 1 win by Brazil. Not for the fact that those teams won their games but for the large goal difference.

Then today I wanted to see Mexico play a good game, and honestly I thought they would have a difficult time facing such a strong Paraguayan defense.

FORGET EVERYTHING I SAID!!!!

I WAS SOOOOOO NAIVE!!!!

I simply forgot that even though Paragauay's defense is pretty solid they are also slow. And playing against the speed and talent of Nery Castillo, Andres Guardado, Cacho & cia. they had no chace.

Yes, I know, Paraguay had to play with 10 players and their second goalkeeper since the 3rd minute of the game when their number 1, Bombadilla, got a red card. But that CANNOT be used as an excuse. We've all seen good teams playing with 10 players and still win, or at least lose by 1 or 2 goals, BUT 6???

Mexico simply played their best. They dominated the game, they controled, they suffocated Paraguay and when "los guaranis" tried to find some space to create with Cardozo or Roque Santa Cruz, "los aztecas" built a wall of good defenders to contain any attempt to jeopardize their clean sheet.

Paraguay didn't even disappoint me, they couldn't play. It's not their fault. It's all about Mexico's good qualities. And just a warning for Argentina.

GOALS:

FIRST HALF -> Castillo (4min) / Torrado (26min) / Castillo (38min)

SECOND HALF -> Arce (33min)  /  Blanco (41min)  /  Bravo (45min)      

Man of the match: will any defense be able to stop Nery Castillo???

***********************************************************************

Game 2: Argentina  4  x  0  Peru

Great game for Peru, oh wait... there is a second half... so forget it...

But seriously, the first 45 minutes showed a perfect defensive strategy for Peru. So good that Argentina's players started to pass the ball as fast as possible to Riquelme and to Messi as if they wanted to say "here, you're the talented ones, so please do something now".  But Peru forgot that just defending is not enough to win games.

That's what Alfio Basile thought too. During the half time break I don't know what he told his players but it worked. Also he found out that Tevez and Messi NEED to play together. They understand each other, they know each other's style.

And what else could we explect of a team like Argentina when they finally find out their way to the goal: "KILLER BEE ATTACK"!!!  And it really stings bad, just ask a Peruvian player.

GOALS

SECOND HALF -> Riquelme (1min) / Messi (15min) / Mascherano (29min) / Riquelme (40min)

 Man of the match: Alfio "coco" Basile - for realizing Tevez should play with Messi and whatever he said to motivate his players in the locker room

 ************************************************************************

TOMORROW:  A DEEP ANALYSIS ON THE 4 SEMIFINALISTS

URUGUAY  x  BRAZIL

MEXICO  x  ARGENTINA

IN TIME: Thanks for all  constant visits and comments. Special thanks to Mijito and ANTIMADRISTA

The first day of the quarter-finals of the 2007 Copa America filled all my predictions.

As I wrote on my previous post this year's competition will put in the semifinals the traditional teams of South America.

These saturday's games started to prove me right.

*********************************************************************

Game 1:  Venezuela  1  x  4  Uruguay

I'm sincerely very happy for Venezuela playing in the quarter finals. For a team that was always consired the (biggest) underdog in South America - a certain win for all other countries - "Los Viños Tintos" showed a lot of improvement in the competition and I just hope soccer becomes more and more popular in that country.

And I have to say that Venezuela didn't play a bad game against Uruguay. The first half was pretty balanced with both teams being cautious and creating few chances. Uruguay scored first with Forlan at the 37th minute and Arango tied 3 minutes later in a free kick.

And "La Celeste"  kept on pushing the team up against a Venezulelan defense that started to shown signs of exhaustion in the second half.

After Pablo Garcia, in a perfect shot from outside the box, scored the second goal for Uruguay that was it for Venezuela. The defense was tired, the midfield couldn't produce and the offense tried desesperately to move up and tie the game again. "La Celeste" kept control of the ball and waited...

Waited until the right moment to bury Venezuela's hopes. That moment came late in game but it came twice. Cristian Rodiguez scored Uruguay's 3rd goal at the minute 41 and Diego Forlan "closed the coffin" at the minute 45.

Uruguay whooped Venezuela but the large goal difference does not really indicate that Uruguay played that well, or that Venezuela played that bad.

 Man of the Match:  Diego Forlan

*********************************************************************

Game 2: Brasil  6  x  1  Chile

One sentence to summarize the game: Robinho & cia. are back and ready to play hard and fight for the Championship!!!

Chile didn't even see the color of the ball in this game. Not because they didn't have space to create, not because Brasil defense suddenly corrected all its deficiencies. No. It was simply because Brasil DOMINATED them.

And I would be very unffair I didn't mention the WONDERFUL goal by Alberto Suazo... An disturbing drible in between Gilberto's legs and a classy lobby shot over Doni, the brazilian goalkeeper.

If Brasil is not a very consistent team at least we can say that when they show at least some of their individual talent, this team can face any opponent ... even Argentina (???)

GOALS:

FIRST HALF --> Juan (15min)  /  Julio Baptista (22min)   /   Robinho (27min)

SECOND HALF-> Robinho (6min)  /  Josué (23min) / Suazo (30min) / Vagner Love (39min)

Men of the match: Robinho, Juan and Julio Baptista - they started the whopping

IN TIME:

 One of my favorite members here on OLEOLE left this comment on my last post where I predicted the teams that would move to the Semi-Finals:

 Manogil, manogil, you are really off this time. I like Venezuela over Uruguay. Specially since Uruguay cannot play as a team, add to that tha Venezuela is playing at home, and the result is a 2-1 Venezuela. Brasil will advance but they're gona get the scare of their lives...Chile will score and make things tight I think 3-2 Brasil. You are way off with Mexico. I think they have a good chance if they can capitalize. Mexico 2-1 or 3-2. And finally, Argentina will smack the hell out of Peru 3-0.

Well, my friends,  I AM NOT THE TRUTH HOLDER but I've been following this game for 25 years now and I take my games analysis very seriously. I want you guys to question me but also to know that I say what I say based on impartial observations.

I actually LIKE when I get it wrong because that's what makes this game and my profession so interesting: you never know what the outcome is gonna be for sure.

But for this QUARTER FINALS the only game that I would not bet for sure is Mexico and Paraguay. I WANT MEXICO TO WIN BUT I BELIEVE PARAGUAY'S DEFENSE WILL GIVE CASTILLO AND BRAVO A HARD TIME TOMORROW.

But please... keep sending your comments!!!! I really love a good, healthy discussion

Venezuela  x  Uruguay

Chile  x  Brazil

 Mexico  x  Paraguay

 Argentina  x  Peru

Now whoever loses go back home!!!

Who do you think will make to the semi-finals???

I'll play it safe and I'll bet in: Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay (yes, I don't believe Mexico will be able to beat them)

I knew that all the frustration from watching such boring games yesterday would be erased with this decision of the first place in Group C between Argentina e paraguay.

 Both team came to the field with drastic changes in the rosters but with a lot of desire to win the game. It was a pretty even game in the first half. At no moment Paraguay acted as if afraid of the powerful Argentina. And the captain of the guaranis, Cacéres, commanded the destruction of Argentina’s attempts to score. 

The 0 x 0 score in the first half didn’t reflect the very good quality of soccer shown by both teams.  

A very exciting game to watch in the first 45 minutes. And I already feel sorry for Mexico and Peru because playing Argentina or playing Paraguay is not gonna be an easy task.  

In the second half Argentina and Paraguay continued pursuing the first goal.

At the 22^nd minute “los hinchas argentinos” went crazy when Messy took Cambiasso’s place.They’ve been calling for Messi’s name for most part of the game. 

And Messy was the man who basically decided the game. Influenced by the crazyness of the fans, the wonder boy creates a great play on the left side and passes the ball to Mascherano at the top of the box.

Mascherano stops, looks, and chooses to place the ball at the right bottom side of Bobadilla’s goal.  Great goal for Argentina.  Final Score: Argentina  1  x  0  Paraguay 

Man of the Match:  the wonder boy Messi for changing the story of game

I

Mascherano celebrates his goal with Veron and Riquelme 

IN TIME:

I don’t want to spoil my excitement with Paraguay and Argentina soccer so I’m not gonna spend many lines to describe the USA vs. Colombia game: 

*USA -> The team didn’t pass well, didn’t shoot well  (when they do, the ref call it off-side) and so they lost once again. 

*Colombia -> Passed well, controlled the game but missed ssssoooooo many opportunities that in the end I wished USA had tied the game.

Not to suffer any goals. That's all Mexico needed to garantee the first place in Group B in the game against Chile.

Coach Hugo Sanchez decided to spare some of the main players. Castillo, Rafa Marquez and Cacho gave place to Bravo, Pineda and the one the fans wanted to see back on the team,  Andres Guardado.

For Chile, the task was more serious. The team needed at least a  tie to advance to the quarter-finals.

The first minutes of game showed the immense possibility for a 0 x 0.

Despite some good plays and chances, both teams were confortable without forcing or exposing each others defense to anything too drastic.

 Very, very, very boring game

Final Score: Mexico  0  x  0   Chile

Both teams move to the quarter finals and my predictions for this group are half way to be precise: Mexico 1st. place and Chile 3rd. place of the group.

*********************************************************************

The second half of my prediction would happened if Brazil wearing the blue jersey, repeated the good soccer shown in their last game.

To play Ecuador, coach Dunga kept the team that finished the game against Chile. Daniel Alves (for Maicon), Josué (for Elano) and Julio Baptista (for Anderson) ... In my opinion a formation that could give Robinho more freedom to do what he knows best: terrorize defenses.

For Ecuador what's left is the necessity to play a good game a prove why this country has been to last world cups. Chances to move to the quarter finals??? Oh, yeah... I'd say 10%. They would have to score something like 2 or 3 goals against Brazil. And during the first half Ecuador DID have good chances to score.

One of these chances came in a clumsy move from Doni trying to cover the defense. Ai ai ai Doni!!!

Robinho & cia. didn't show the same quality from the last game but in the end of the first half a good opportunity with Vagner Love taking a powerful shot from outside the box. The play culminated with a good save by Elizaga.

End of first half: Brazil  0  x  0  Ecuador

 And I was praying for at least 45 minutes of good soccer today...

The second half starts with Brazil palying a little better and at the 9th minute Robinho swings from one side to the other using the "step-over"  - his most famous move - and Espipoza uses the arm to dislocate the brazilian forward. Penalty for Brazil and Robinho scores  his 4th goal in the Copa America.

At the 33rd minute Ecuador had 2 questionable situations, both involving Brazil's defender Alex. In the first one he pushed the forward from Ecuador in the box and in my opinion the referee should have called the penalty. The second one Tenorio took a dive in the box a this time it was nothing. But had the referee called the penalty the game could've improved in the last minutes.

Nothing interesting happened in the game. A weak 1 x 0 for Brazil that was pretty boring in fact.

Brazil moves to the quarter-finals and will face Chile again.

Final Score: Brazil  1  x   0 Ecuador.

Group B:  1st Mexico, 2nd. Brazil, 3rd. Chile

IN TIME: The best part of the games today were probably the presence of the beautiful supporters on the stands

See you all tomorrow