Copa America. from my mate Peter Stemmet a great blog…

greetings once more, from my mate Peter Stemmet a great blog…

This week is all about football or fútbol since we are in South America, not literally but in our hearts. Most will acknowledge that the best players are on display in Europe. That is where the television revenue is. But how many of those top stars in the European leagues are actually European?

A sizeable chunk no doubt owing to European Union employment regulations of course but where foreigners are allowed it is the African and South American stars who shine brightest. Every four years the best players in South America don their national colours and gather to compete for the Copa America.

It also happens to be the world’s oldest international football competition and has been won 14 times by Argentina and Uruguay. Brazil are on eight. On Friday the 2011 edition kicks off at La Plata’s 53 000-seater Estadio Ciudad de La Plata. In English that is the City of La Plata Stadium. Hosts Argentina play Bolivia first up.

New coach Sergio Batista is unquestionably more tactically astute than his predecessor Diego Maradonaand his greatest selection headache will be which of Carlos Tévez, Diego Milito, Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Agüerro should play with Lionel Messi. If I were Batista I would be looking to go with three up front handing Messi a free role. Batista has selected six forwards in his squad so all indications are that a 4-3-3 or form thereof will be used.

Argentina’s real problem will be at the back. It may not be the worst idea to move captain Javier Mascherano from midfield to centre back. He has played there with aplomb for Barcelona and this would accommodate a player like Estaban Cambiasso – a man who was sorely missed in South Africa last year. As the host nation, Argentina are one of the favourites as they perennially are in the Copa’s.

The other chief contenders will be defending champions Brazil. New coach Mano Menezes has tried to reorganise the Samba Boys back to their naturally attacking best after the dogmatic Dunga approach failed spectacularly at the world cup. The Brazilians are talking up front man Neymar. I have to say I have not seen much of the boy but they are comparing him to Messi.

That could just be the bitter rivalry between the two nations coming to the fore but it is something to think about. I for one will certainly welcome Brazil playing to their naturally attacking instincts. When they are on song and in full flair, there is not a greater sight in world football.

After last year’s semi-final showing Uruguay have served notice that for the first time since 1950 they are once again on football’s world map. They last won the Copa America in 1995 and if the team plays around Diego Forlán as it did in South Africa they are undoubtedly title contenders. However, at 32 it is plausible that this could be one tournament too far for Forlán. It will also be good to see how the likes of Luis Suárez and Diego Lugano perform. The latter is getting on in age while the former is just beginning to bloom.

Chile can be seen as dark horses. After the retirement of Marcelo Salas and Iván Zamorano they were nowhere for the best part of the last decade. Now with a new generation being spearheaded by Europe’s most sought-after property Alexis Sánchez they will be physical, athletic and I believe entertaining. Also keep an eye out for Matias Fernández.

You will notice that Mexico will be at this tournament too. That is because the South American football association (CONMEBOL) invites two additional teams to join the ten CONMEBOL nations. The Mexicans, fresh (read exhausted) from the Gold Cup, will send a largely Under-23 squad. Five players will be over that age and I doubt they can be viewed as title hopefuls.

The other invitee is Costa Rica. They qualified for successive world cups in 2002 and 2006 but back then they had a wonderfully enterprising striker named Paulo Wanchope. From this tournament I expect them to receive one swift chop resulting in first round elimination. Mind you, they are in Group A with Bolivia so the wooden spoon may not be as inevitable as thought. That said they too should be exhausted from the Gold Cup.

Herewith my predictions:

Argentina to win Group A with Colombia as runners-up. Brazil to sweep Group B with Paraguay as number two. Uruguay to take Group C with Chile ending second.

The two best third-placed teams will also qualify for the quarter-finals but trying to guess this is as good as asking me to rewrite this paper in Latin American Spanish.

But why not try anyway? Ecuador and Mexico’s Olympic lot.

That leaves us with a quarter-final line-up which reads as follows: Argentina vs Ecuador/Mexico, Colombia vs Chile, Brazil vs Ecuador/Mexico, Uruguay vs Paraguay.

The final four to be Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Uruguay with an Argentina-Brazil final and La Albiceleste to lift their first Copa America since 1993.

I’ll blog daily about the tournament as well on http://perfectpete.wordpress.com

Hasta la vista!