A great game to open the semi-finals of the 2007 Copa America.

A game that could only happen between 2 top world teams. As my friend SoyManya81 would say: "Uruguay rises up to Brasil and Argentina". And it's true.

 Brazil started the game trying to put some pressure on Uruguay's defense. Trying to show their game. And it worked.

At the 12th minute a good passing play at the top of Uruguay's box culminated with a shot by Robinho that Carini couldn't hold and Maicon got the rebound scoring the first goal for the contenders.

After the brazilian goal the lights on the stadium went off and 15 minutes later the game re-started.

Then it was a different game. Uruguay got back together and after 3 good chances Forlan got a rebound from Doni and put the ball inside the net.

Uruguay could only celebrate for 4 minutes cause Maicon (who actually played very well tonight) took a free kick and the ball crossed the small box to find Julio Baptista who just tapped it to the goal putting back ahead in the game again.

End of First Half: Brazil  2  x  1  Uruguay

In the second half the game was balanced. Brazil trying to pass the ball around to waste time and find an opening in Uruguay's defense and La Celeste playing a vertical game. Moving fast on the wings and putting some pressure on Brazil's center backs.

In one of those plays, exploring the space left by Maicon's offensive characteristic, Rodrigues crossed a low ball in Brazil's box , Forlan touched and Abreu took a dive and with the head, kept Uruguay alive back on the game.

After a few minutes of Brazil having problems passing the ball the game soon became an open game with both teams searching for the winnig goal.

But the fact is that

The truth is that Uruguay played much better than Brazil in the second half. Robinho was anulled and the Green Yellow team didn't create one single clear goal opportunity.

But Uruguay also wasn't able to score a third goal and then we had the penalties...

FINAL SCORE: Brazil  2  x  2  Uruguay 

Fair or unfair the penalty shootout is part of soccer. It's not a matter of luck. It's a matter of psychological balance and competence... Luck is always a factor in soccer but only about 15% percent of what happen in a game can be credit for luck. So is the penalty shoot out. 

And that's how it went:

BRAZIL 

Robinho – goal (lower right side of the keeper)

Juan – goal (left side)

Gilberto Silva – goal (lower left side)

Afonso – right post

Diego – goal (lower right side)

Fernando – right post

Gilberto – goal (right side)   

URUGUAY 

Forlan – saved (horribly taken, in the middle of the goal)

Scotti – goal (mid left side of the keeper)

Gonzales - goal

Rodriguez – goal (not too well taken but the ball went in)

Abreu – goal (and what a goal, a cold bloody soft lobby kick in the middle)

Pablo Garcia – left post

Lugano – saved (it’s a curse – the team captain – the best player – he missed)

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I have to say that in both Forlan and Lugano's penalties the brazilian goalkeeper Doni stepped out a little too much but I still think that a penalty kick very well taken is impossible to be saved. Competence and psychological balance.... and a little luck.

Brazil scored 2 goals, so did Uruguay... And any of them could have made to the Final. This time was Brazil.

PENALTY SHOOTOUT SCORE: BRAZIL  5  x  4  URUGUAY

This is soccer 

IN TIME:

* Brazil should be extremely happy being the runner up because the Champion will come from tomorrow's game: Argentina vs. Mexico ... But that only if the "Gods of Soccer" decide to let the best team raise the cup... We never know!

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

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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

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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 

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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

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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

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.

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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

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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