Copa America 2016

[peekay]

Chile 2 Bolivia 1

Vidal scores first for Chile. Cracking free kick ( goal of the tournament contender) from Bolivia to equalize. Chile get a penalty in the 8th minute of added time ( a controversial one) which Vidal converts.


Argentina 5 - Panama 0 . Messi came on as a second half sub and scored a hat trick.

 

[Arn]

The ref in the Argentina game was a joke. Shit game but he added some comedy value.

 

[ctlovesred]

US 1-0 Paraguay. US advances to quarterfinals after a Dempsey goal and Yedlin sending off. Great for us to advance out of this group, even if Michael Bradley is horrible and literally not one US player can shoot with his left foot.

 

[peekay]

The ref in the Argentina game was a joke. Shit game but he added some comedy value.

Same with the ref in the US Paraguay game. I think the shit refereeing is due to incompetency rather than bias towards a team.

Good win for the USMNT.

 

[peekay]

Cracking game between Costa Rica and Colombia

Costa Rica leading 2-1 at half time. Their striker Venegas looks impressive - brilliant goal and overall play.

 

[ctlovesred]

Aaaand the US wins the group. Didn't see that coming. A more cynical man than me might think Brazil is trying to figure out how to finish second in their group...

 

[James]

Aaannnd Brazil lose 1 - 0 to Peru.

 

[peekay]

Brazil knocked off the Copa America. Peru defeat Brazil 1-0.

Controversial goal as the ball hit the players hand before deflecting into goal. The player was in the process of pulling his hand back.

While their elimination was due to a freak accident, Brazil and especially Coutinho should look at themselves for their inability to create goal scoring opportunities against a decently organized defense.

 

[darkstarexodus]

Shocking. Wow.

 

[The Nomad]

Its being called the Hand of God. Where have we heard that before? For what its worth, it looked deliberate to me.

 

[keniget]

Is it that much of a shock any more?

Brazil haven't been good for years now.

 

[Hansern]

Surely Dunga is finished. Most Brazilian fans seem fed up with him anyway.
Good news is that Coutinho will be back for pre season.

 

[rurikbird]

Surely Dunga is finished. Most Brazilian fans seem fed up with him anyway.
Good news is that Coutinho will be back for pre season.

Probably good news for PSG.

 

[dmishra]

Probably good news for PSG.

He's apparently told the Brazilian press today that he's happy at Liverpool, and loves working with Klopp.

 

[cloggypop]

He's apparently told the Brazilian press today that he's happy at Liverpool, and loves working with Klopp.

Hooray!

*completely ignores what Phil was saying before his LFC move*

 

[dmishra]

Obviously, this means he's leaving.

 

[Dirkus_Circus]

Who ever could have seen Dunga 2.0 being a complete disaster?

U.S. center back John Brooks was truly awesome in the win vs. Paraguay. Best performance I have seen by a U.S. defender in a few years.



*make sure to mute the awful music

 

[cloggypop]

Who's still in?

 

[peekay]

Who's still in?

Group A: 1) USA 2) Colombia
Group B: 1) Peru 2) Ecuador
Group C: Final round of matches today: Mexico vs Venezuela, Jamaica vs Uruguay. Mexico and Venezuela have qualified. Todays game will decide who will be 1 and 2.
Group D: Final round of matches tomorrow: Argentina vs Bolivia, Chile vs Panama. Argentina have qualified with 6 points. Chile and Panama have 3 points each. Due to goal difference most likely Argentina will be 1 and the winner of Chile, Panama - the second.

By the way, with all the furor about the incorrect goal knocking Brazil out, they seem to have inconveniently forgotten the incorrectly disallowed goal for Ecuador in the last 10 minutes of the Brazil Ecuador game. If that goal had been correctly given, Brazil would have most likely lost, and still be knocked out.

 

[peekay]

For all its flaws ( hurriedly put together competition, not really a true competition, stadiums with empty stands, crappy refereeing) this has been a a very enjoyable tournament due to the entertainment level of the matches. Overall barring a few exceptions, the group games have been well contested. The quarter final line ups are:

Thursday USA vs Ecuador
Friday Peru vs Colombia
Saturday Argentina vs Venezuela and Mexico vs Chile

All of them promise to be very good games.

 

[peekay]

USA defeat Ecuador 2-1

Good win for the US.

 

[Karl Hungus]

The semi final is in Houston on Tuesday, cheapest tickets are $137.

At first I balked, but am slowly warming to the idea. If Argentina make it through, I wonder if the prices will go up or stay the same.

 

[peekay]

The semi final is in Houston on Tuesday, cheapest tickets are $137.

At first I balked, but am slowly warming to the idea. If Argentina make it through, I wonder if the prices will go up or stay the same.

I thought of driving to Seattle to watch the Argentina Bolivia game. Cheapest tickets were over a $100. Any idea on why the prices are so high?

 

[Karl Hungus]

I thought of driving to Seattle to watch the Argentina Bolivia game. Cheapest tickets were over a $100. Any idea on why the prices are so high?

I have no clue, but my guess would be this is about par for the course for a semi-major tournament semifinal. I went to a World Cup qualifier about 10 years ago in Carson, it was very early in qualifying against Barbados, but the tickets were something like $25. Other than that I have no frame of reference for ticket prices for internationals.

I was wondering why the match last night had a bunch of empty seats, usually the US sells out in Seattle, now I know. It seems like they would make more money if they lowered the prices a bit and sold more tickets, but whatever.

 

[The Nomad]

FIFA have got to pay for their bribes somehow...

On a serious note, its about the same as a Euro ticket I should think.

 

[peekay]

I have no clue, but my guess would be this is about par for the course for a semi-major tournament semifinal. I went to a World Cup qualifier about 10 years ago in Carson, it was very early in qualifying against Barbados, but the tickets were something like $25. Other than that I have no frame of reference for ticket prices for internationals.

I was wondering why the match last night had a bunch of empty seats, usually the US sells out in Seattle, now I know. It seems like they would make more money if they lowered the prices a bit and sold more tickets, but whatever.

I have gone to preseason friendlies US tours and they are significantly cheaper. They are normally about 60 for very good seats.

 

[peekay]

FIFA have got to pay for their bribes somehow...

On a serious note, its about the same as a Euro ticket I should think.

Maybe FIFA has a role in fixing the prices. NFL, NBA regular season games are way cheaper. Dunno about playoffs though. But in this tournament even regular group games were pricey.

 

[Squiggles]

I was in Brazil last year and I was surprise about how little they gave a fuck about football. I expected it be everywhere, but it just wasn't.

The national league is a joke. The clubs were forced to shut their small stadiums and move to shared world Cup stadiums (4 clubs to a stadium, etc), which means in a 65,000 seater stadium in Rio the average attendance is about 2000.

Obviously I only saw a snapshot of the country in Rio, but based on that it's no great surprise their national team is on it's arse.

 

[peekay]

Colombia defeat Peru in penalties. Not that impressed with Colombia. I think they will lose to the winner of Mexico vs Chile in the semi final.

 

[peekay]

Both the games today did not live upto expectation.

Argentina easy 4-1 win over Venuzuela

Chile thrash Mexico 7-0. First loss in 23 games for Mexico.

Semifinal:

Argentina vs USA on Tuesday.

Chile vs Colombia on Wednesday.

So it looks like it is going to be a repeat of Argentina Chile final. However Chile dont have Vidal (suspended) in the semi final. But I think even without Vidal they should have enough to get past Colombia.