Brazil v Paraguay has just finished, and what a finish!
Had a few sherbets while watching it, so here are the highlights:
First half - Brazil dominated. Paraguay looked like they were on a sightseeing tour of the Estadio Ciudad de la Plata. 0-0
Second half - Brazil dominated. Paraguay looked like they were on a sightseeing tour of the Estadio Ciudad de la Plata. 0-0
Extra time - Brazil dominated. Paraguay looked like they were on a sightseeing tour of the Estadio Ciudad de la Plata. Handbags just before the end of the first 15 - 'Anfield' Lucas sent off for Brazil; Alcaraz sent off for Paraguay.
Penalties - first 3 are missed - 2 x Bra; 1 x Par - does anyone want to score a fucking goal? Brazil miss their next two (seriously, the 4 worst consecutive penalty attempts you're likely to see, with only one on target) while Paraguay bag both of theirs.
Interesting stat
All the quarter finals so far have gone to at least extra time and the nation with the smaller population has won in each case - Peru, Uruguay and Paraguay. The last quarter has just kicked off - Chile 17m; Venezuela 30m... you know where to put your money.
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Sunday 17 July 2011
Saturday 16 July 2011
Argies dumped out
Uruguay have just knocked out Copa hosts Argentina on pens in today's second quarter final. Earlier, Peru beat Colombia 2 RPG's to no after a goalless 90 mins. On paper, these results look like shocks but anybody who has been following the competition closely probably won't be that surprised.
Uruguay scored after only 5 minutes when Perez bundled the ball across the line. Then, parity was restored by Higuain on 18 minutes. As usual, 'la Pulga' Messi was involved in just about everything Argentina created but their performance was much the same as their opening two games against Bolivia and Colombia. The Uruguayans suffered a blow 5 minutes before half-time when goalscorer Perez got his marching orders after a second bookable.
Argentina's personnel advantage was obvious in terms of possession in the second 45, but they never really stamped their authority on the game. Any chances they did create were resolutely blocked by Muslera (man of the match, for me) in the Uruguayan goal. Suarez and Forlan were busy in periods - Suarez is always so much more animated when he plays for his country. Tevez was eventually brought on after 84 mins to replace young Agüero (he was disappointing tonight) but he looked out of sorts - the story of his tournament. Player numbers were then levelled on 87 mins when captain Mascherano was sent off for his second yellow.
The additional 30 mins was a fairly entertaining see-saw affair but you kinda got the feeling it was going to pens. The first two for each side were dispatched without any trouble. Then, 'Apache' Tevez stepped up only to see his tameish effort saved by Muslera - that'll cheer up a few Man U fans tomorrow. The rest of the spot kicks found their mark... carnival scenes for 'la celeste', day out at the local morgue for the Argies.
Uruguay will play Peru in Tuesday's semi.
Uruguay scored after only 5 minutes when Perez bundled the ball across the line. Then, parity was restored by Higuain on 18 minutes. As usual, 'la Pulga' Messi was involved in just about everything Argentina created but their performance was much the same as their opening two games against Bolivia and Colombia. The Uruguayans suffered a blow 5 minutes before half-time when goalscorer Perez got his marching orders after a second bookable.
Argentina's personnel advantage was obvious in terms of possession in the second 45, but they never really stamped their authority on the game. Any chances they did create were resolutely blocked by Muslera (man of the match, for me) in the Uruguayan goal. Suarez and Forlan were busy in periods - Suarez is always so much more animated when he plays for his country. Tevez was eventually brought on after 84 mins to replace young Agüero (he was disappointing tonight) but he looked out of sorts - the story of his tournament. Player numbers were then levelled on 87 mins when captain Mascherano was sent off for his second yellow.
The additional 30 mins was a fairly entertaining see-saw affair but you kinda got the feeling it was going to pens. The first two for each side were dispatched without any trouble. Then, 'Apache' Tevez stepped up only to see his tameish effort saved by Muslera - that'll cheer up a few Man U fans tomorrow. The rest of the spot kicks found their mark... carnival scenes for 'la celeste', day out at the local morgue for the Argies.
Uruguay will play Peru in Tuesday's semi.
Friday 8 July 2011
Copa roundup
Not a good competition thus far for the hosts. They played Colombia on Wednesday but could only manage a no score draw. It was the same old story for the Argies - plenty of talent on show, but no end result. In fact, by the end of the game they had the combination of Messi, Tevez, Agüero and Higuaín on the pitch. It actually wouldn't have been that big an injustice if the Colombians had nicked all 3 points.
The local papers have been writing about the dissatisfaction of the 'albiceleste' fans, and I was reading an article where Tévez has been saying he feels hurt by all the boos and insults they received after the Colombia game (see he's thrown his rattle out of the pram again at Eastlands, or the Etihad Stadium to be correct). Their last group game (or last game) is a must win affair next Monday against Costa Rica...
...who put in a very good shift, 2 to no, against poor old Bolivia last night. The FIFA world rankings (let's be realistic - how much faith can you put in those when they have England ahead of Brazil) show Costa Rica in 55th place while the Bolivians are 93rd, so on paper it wasn't really a surprise. One player who stood out for the Central Americans was Joel Campbell (plays for Dep. Saprissa in San Jose). He's only 19, but he took the second goal like a player with a few more seasons behind him. Should have been at least 3-0 as the Costa Ricans missed a penalty in the second half, the Bolivian keeper doing well to save the spot kick and the rebound too. The Bolivians finished with 9 players, two being dismissed in the last 20 minutes.
What's coming up this weekend?
The big game today is Chile v Uruguay. Uruguay could only manage a 1-1 against Peru in their first game while Chile left it late to beat the youngsters of Mexico, 2-1, in their opener. Lots of attacking potential in this game with Sanchez and Suazo up front for Chile and Forlán, Cavani and Suárez for Uruguay. Hopefully this'll be the belter the competition has been crying out for.
Ecuador play Venezuela tomorrow afternoon and 'la Tri' could really do with a victory, expecially as their last group game is against the team that are one place behind England in FIFA's rankings. 'Toño' Valencia is definitely gonna sit out tomorrow's game after taking a knock to 'that ankle' during the Paraguay encounter. According to the local press, there's still a chance he might make the Brazil game but in the meantime he's being replaced by Michael Arroyo (San Luis, Mexico). I'm not that gemmed up on the Venezuelans but locals will definitely be expecting Ecuador to win this one.
The rest of the games:
Today - Peru v Mexico
Tomorrow - Brazil v Paraguay
Sunday - Colombia v Bolivia
The local papers have been writing about the dissatisfaction of the 'albiceleste' fans, and I was reading an article where Tévez has been saying he feels hurt by all the boos and insults they received after the Colombia game (see he's thrown his rattle out of the pram again at Eastlands, or the Etihad Stadium to be correct). Their last group game (or last game) is a must win affair next Monday against Costa Rica...
...who put in a very good shift, 2 to no, against poor old Bolivia last night. The FIFA world rankings (let's be realistic - how much faith can you put in those when they have England ahead of Brazil) show Costa Rica in 55th place while the Bolivians are 93rd, so on paper it wasn't really a surprise. One player who stood out for the Central Americans was Joel Campbell (plays for Dep. Saprissa in San Jose). He's only 19, but he took the second goal like a player with a few more seasons behind him. Should have been at least 3-0 as the Costa Ricans missed a penalty in the second half, the Bolivian keeper doing well to save the spot kick and the rebound too. The Bolivians finished with 9 players, two being dismissed in the last 20 minutes.
What's coming up this weekend?
The big game today is Chile v Uruguay. Uruguay could only manage a 1-1 against Peru in their first game while Chile left it late to beat the youngsters of Mexico, 2-1, in their opener. Lots of attacking potential in this game with Sanchez and Suazo up front for Chile and Forlán, Cavani and Suárez for Uruguay. Hopefully this'll be the belter the competition has been crying out for.
Ecuador play Venezuela tomorrow afternoon and 'la Tri' could really do with a victory, expecially as their last group game is against the team that are one place behind England in FIFA's rankings. 'Toño' Valencia is definitely gonna sit out tomorrow's game after taking a knock to 'that ankle' during the Paraguay encounter. According to the local press, there's still a chance he might make the Brazil game but in the meantime he's being replaced by Michael Arroyo (San Luis, Mexico). I'm not that gemmed up on the Venezuelans but locals will definitely be expecting Ecuador to win this one.
The rest of the games:
Today - Peru v Mexico
Tomorrow - Brazil v Paraguay
Sunday - Colombia v Bolivia
Monday 4 July 2011
Copa goal drought
Four games down and the main talking point is the severe lack of goals. We had two no score draws yesterday, a 1-0 on Saturday, and a 1-1 on Friday... this amounts to 0.75 goals per game so far. I was checking the stats for the 2007 competition and the average was 3.3 goals over the whole tournament. I've heard some commentators referring to the winter conditions as a possible reason for this. I don't know?
Had my beer and snacks at the ready yesterday afternoon for what I hoped would be an entertaining double header. Alas, it didn't materialise. Brazil's hopes would probably have been as high as the respective Barnets of messers Neymar and Robinho before the game, and after putting together some nice moves in the first half these hopes could have been justified. However, they came out in the second half and put in an Argentinaesque performance. Indeed, Venezuela will count themselves a tad unlucky that they didn't sneak one.
Ecuador played Paraguay in the second game, and still the goal constipation continued. Both sides looked busy on the ball but the elusive clinical finish was all too evident. Arsene Wenger would have had a dose of the deja vu's had he been looking on. Valencia picked up a knock within the first 20 minutes and came off at half time. Had a quick look at the Ecuadorian papers but haven't been able to find much info on that.
Got a couple of potentially good games tonight - Peru v Uruguay, Chile v Mexico - which will hopefully get those goals flying in. Uruguay were the big South American success in last year's World Cup and their selection has a familiar look to it, most notably with Forlan and Suarez up front.
Go on, gizza a goal.
Had my beer and snacks at the ready yesterday afternoon for what I hoped would be an entertaining double header. Alas, it didn't materialise. Brazil's hopes would probably have been as high as the respective Barnets of messers Neymar and Robinho before the game, and after putting together some nice moves in the first half these hopes could have been justified. However, they came out in the second half and put in an Argentinaesque performance. Indeed, Venezuela will count themselves a tad unlucky that they didn't sneak one.
Ecuador played Paraguay in the second game, and still the goal constipation continued. Both sides looked busy on the ball but the elusive clinical finish was all too evident. Arsene Wenger would have had a dose of the deja vu's had he been looking on. Valencia picked up a knock within the first 20 minutes and came off at half time. Had a quick look at the Ecuadorian papers but haven't been able to find much info on that.
Got a couple of potentially good games tonight - Peru v Uruguay, Chile v Mexico - which will hopefully get those goals flying in. Uruguay were the big South American success in last year's World Cup and their selection has a familiar look to it, most notably with Forlan and Suarez up front.
Go on, gizza a goal.
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