Copa America Commentary
By: Christian | July 15th, 2007
Final: Argentina 0 – 3 Brazil
Julio Baptista (4), Roberto Ayala (o.g. 39), Daniel Alves (69)
Last year Argentina went to Germany with the full hope and expectation of winning their third World Cup title in Germany. Despite strong performances in the group stage, and a stunning overtime win against Mexico in the round of 16, they couldn’t hold on and lost on penalties against Germany. Embarrassed, they arrived in Venezuela this year, again with a full strength squad filled with some of the best players in the world, not only ready to erase the memory of Germany 2006, but also to avenge their previous Copa America final in Peru 2004, lost to this year’s other finalist Brazil on penalties.
It was not meant to be, as Argentina were completely worked over by a resilient Brazilian side, losing 3-0. El albiceleste were never in it, looking completely lost in the midfield, and having precious few chances at goal. River fans got to see former players Lucho Gonzalez and Pablo Aimar sub in for shockingly ineffective midfielders Esteban Cambiasso and Juan Sebastian Veron, but it was too little to late, as Brazil simply dominated Argentina for 90 minutes.
I’m sure the Argentine press will wonder for weeks just what went wrong. Overconfidence, lack of respect for Brazil, an old back line. I’m sure it’s a little of all those things. For now, it’s simply another match where Argentina, with all the tools necessary, were unable to get it done.
Halftime: Argentina 0 – 2 Brazil
Well, I said all bets would be off, but this is ridiculous. A golazo from Julio Baptista, and an own goal from none other than Roberto Ayala, has left el albiceleste trailing 2-0 at the half of the Copa America final, and they now face an enormous challenge. Aside from a few individual performances, and a shot from Riquelme that hit the post, Argentina looks scattered and worse, frustrated. El Coco Basile will need to calm his team down if they are to mount any sort of comeback.
Category: Argentina
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Comments
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Don’t cry for me Argentina!
Posted from
United States
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Brazil dominant? Bah. The beast’s goal was spectacular. But after that brazil sat back, wasted time, faked injury and mugged riquelme and messy any time they were on the ball. Argentina played like Brasil and brazil played like a bad Italian side. Quite a letdown for this neutral.
Posted from
United States -
Same old problem – we just can’t deal with physical sides who sit back, defend and wait to counter attack.
Posted from
Australia -
Effective win from the Brazilians – I’m looking forward to seeing a similar side in three years, once players like Robinho, Alves, and Vagner Love are more experienced. I definitely miss the style of former Brazilian sides, but can anyone really say that this final was a boring match? Argentina with one of the most powerful national sides on the planet getting shut out three nil – how can that not be exciting? Great suprise finish to a great Copa America!
Posted from
United States -
it’s not hard to shut out a side when you sit with 7 in the box, and commit fouls with reckless abandon, robbing the game of any flow at all. 37 fouls! that’s a foul every other minute, almost. when did brazil turn into a bunch of cynical hacks??
i didn’t find it exciting at all. i was let down.Posted from
United States -
As far as the product on the field, definitely a letdown. Argentina had been playing the best football of the tournament and there was nothing working for them in the final. No one played particularly bad, but no one stood out. No one was able to take the team on their back and carry the team.
It’s not sour grapes; Brazil deserved to win. But Argentina, in yet another final, failed to get it done when they needed to.
Posted from
United States
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