The World Champions have qualified

Argentina has been awesome in terms of defending their title in the World Cup qualifiers, and last night they could seal their mathematical qualification against none other than their arch-rivals of Brazil in front of a home crowd in Buenos Aires. 

Brazil, on the other hand, have been a shadow of themselves in these qualifiers, lingering on 4th-5th place, which may be sufficient to qualify, but is not where we expect to see the great Brazilians, who at least in social media were eagerly pumping up the atmosphere before the match.

 Perhaps a little air went out of the balloon as Argentina´s qualification was sealed before the match, when Bolivia tied Uruguay at home, but this was not obvious as the match started with a highly motivated Argentina who was leading 2-0 after only 12 minutes on excellent strikes by Julian Alvarez and Enzo Fernandez, and it seemed it could be a total trashing until Cuti Romero gave away the ball to the Wolverhampton striker Matheus Cunha, who scored easily in what was one of Brazil´s few shots in the match. For a short period Brazil seemed optimistic, but it quickly faded as Alexis MacAllister scored a splendid third for Argentina, first-timing a perfect pass from Enzo Fernandez. 

It is always a shame in these matches that players spend as much time bitching and crying as they do playing, and the first half ended in disgraceful arguments and fights between the players. 

Well, they may be great footballers, but they are not upstanding citizens. 

Second half was dominated by Argentina, who could have scored more, but Giuliano Simeone´s marvelous strike was the only goal amid many chances, and Argentina sealed a memorable victory, and appears as a serious contender for the title, even without a certain Lionel Messi….

Upcoming Argentina and Brazil clashes

With Argentina's victory against Mexico in the semifinal of the FIFA Confederations Cup, we are on our way to witness another classic encounter between the football giants Brazil and Argentina. Last time they met was in a World Cup qualifier in Buenos Aires only a few weeks ago. Then, Argentina won 3-1, and Brazil should now be ready for an entertaining and intense rematch. There is no doubt that the rivalry between these two teams is so great, that on next Wednesday, they will play their best to take the Confederations Cup title. In any case, and as I had predicted earlier, the title will go to Latin America.

These days seem to be abounding with encounters between these two nations. On the day before the Confederations Cup final, Brazil and Argentina will also face each other in the semifinal of the FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands. Thus, these teams are showing that while their senior players are among the best in the world, the youngsters are ready to continue their dominance.
The other semifinal in the Youth World Championship is between Nigeria and Morocco. Nigeria defeated hosts the Netherlands, while Morocco upset the Italians for their spots in the semifinals. This also shows the great talent coming from Africa these days. No matter who we will see in the final, it promises to be a great South American-African Youth clash!

Brazilian Greeks

Recently, in Copenhagen, I went to a concert with the marvelous Brazilian musician (and Minister of Culture), Mr. Gilberto Gil. In a rainy night, the crowd was a pleasant mixture of Danes, tourists and expat Brazilians. As a great artist, Mr. Gil played an Argentinian tango, in dedication of their South American brothers. Most Brazilians present at the concert, whistled at this dedicaiton to the neighbors.
This just to show that although I want to love Brazilians, I find it hard to. More so after their undeserved victory against a strong Argentinian side in the Copa America (first time that has ever happened) after penalty kicks.
Brazilians have all the reason to think they are the greatest footballing nation. They are. And tonight, they can formally call themselves Champions of The Americas. Congratulations to the Brazilian players. But Brazil is champion, having played like the Greeks, and making a shame at their own traditions of entertaining attacking football. The only team attacking, was Argentina. What an irony thinking of some of the earlier times when "bilardismo" swept Argentina with a defensive style. The roles have changed.Brazil has been loved for playing delightful and happy football. What an irony that they now are turning into the Greeks of Latin America.

Argentina-Brazil

Two of the greatest football nations are playing the final of the 41st Copa America on Sunday: Argentina and Brazil. Time for some numbers on the many encounters...

These two great nations have played 90 times before: Argentina has done marginally better with 36 victories, Brazil has 33, while they have tied 21 times.
While Brazil has won the World Championships an amazing 5 times, ahead of Argentinas two victories. However, in the Copa America, Argentina has a confortable lead with 14 victories against Brazil's 6 (Uruguay has 14 victories like Argentina). More interesting though, is that this will be the 9th final of the Copa America where these two giants face each other. But in the previous eight encounters, Argentina has won every time. Last time was in 1991, when Argentina defeated Brazil 3-2 in Santiago de Chile (Notice though, that this was not a final as such, since the tournament was played as a final group stage).

This time, I believe Brazil stands good chances of taking home the trophy. But the Argentines are stable and good. It will be another great encounter to add to the earlier 90!

GO ARGENTINA!!!!

There are plenty of more statistics and information on the excellent
official site of the Copa America 2004.