Argentina vs. Brazil only in a hypothetical Copa America final

By
Osvaldo Godoy
-
50

With Paraguay winning 2-0 vs. Chile on Thursday, Argentina secured a top two finish in group A. Therefore, the Argentina national team will go through the lower area of the draw, while Brazil, already qualified as firsts in group B, will go through the upper half.

There is just one matchday left in the Copa America group stage and the quarterfinal brackets are still uncertain. Up to now, these are the standings (courtesy of google.com):

Of the 10 national teams, eight will be in the next round. This means that the top four from each group qualify to the quarterfinals with those finishing last in the groups being eliminated.

Bolivia has already been eliminated since they are last in group A, four points behind fourth place Uruguay.

Here, the quarterfinals brackets based on the group positions:

2B vs. 3A
1B vs. 4A
2A vs. 3B
1A vs. 4B

To date, with one matchday away, this is the current quarterfinals draw (courtesy of promiedos.com.ar):

This Sunday, the remaining two games of group B will be played, while on Monday, group A will be completed. Here is the schedule for matchday 5 of the Copa America:

Sunday 27
Group B:
Brazil (1º) vs. Ecuador (4º)
Venezuela (5º) vs. Peru (3º)
Free: Colombia (2º)

Monday 28
Group A:
Argentina (1º) vs. Bolivia (5º)
Uruguay (4º) vs. Paraguay (2º)
Free: Chile (3º)

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

50 Comments

  3. de paul can play both left and right midfield.. which is good point but we didn’t see him play in the left side midfield yet for nt. i think baundia should tested alongside of messi on right how that works.. there is plenty of talents in argentina reach but im seeing missmanagement… when you have lot of option u should tested each of the option to bring out the depth of the strengh.. there should n’t be any place individual favoritsm.. argentina lacks in game huge disadvantage to grow.. hope argentina get more matches after copa .. in competition it is risky to experiment but not in outside of it..

  4. I hope and pray that Scaloni is doing penalty practise and come up with our best penalty takers. QF and SF will go straight to Penalties if the matches are tied. (Yes.. No Extra Time, Only in the Final. Conmebol is always on crack)
    Atleast, This time. I am very comfortable with Emi Between the sticks in Penalties but if we do a Pipita very little can Emi do about it.

  5. If ADM can keep up his performance from left side, we can start Nico Gonzalez as CF. Better finisher and header than Lautaro and far better pace and holding capacity than Aguero.

    J Correa has been inconsequential as sub.

    Our attack has not clicked. Instead of resting, we should start the attack we will use in QF. 7 days is enough rest. Midfield and Defence can Have rest given our travels unlike other teams.

    In any case, Molina should start. Every match is learning opportunity for him and he is young and fit.

    • Nico Gonzalez biggest weakness is awful finishing, he is a player who can run on the wings, not one who fights in the box, zero skills to play as CF. Gonzalez loses neirly every ball in tight spaces (even on the wings), and a very shaky passer, cant play possession football, but fast, good instict to run into the channels, but thats all, passing accuracy career-wise in Stuttgart only 65%, in the box would be under 50% easily. My biggest problem with him the lose tha ball machine mode every time.

    • Dimaria was playing on the right side against Paraguay and I don’t think he should ever play on the left side because he’s just god-awful on that side.
      Like balala said Nico Gonzalez is a useful player to have because he’s pacey and runs into channels quite well but when it comes to finishing he’s been awful throughout his last 3 appearances for the NT and he never impressed me when he was a CF at Argentinos Jrs so that’s a big no for me.
      Since neither Lautaro nor Kun are doing it infront of goal, I would suggest to move Messi into the false 9 position and put Maria or A.Correa in the RFW position. There is no better finisher in world football than Lio and now that Argentina has players like Maria, Celso, Papu, De Paul and to a lesser extent Paredes who can create chances for him while others like N.Gonzalez can create space with their pace, I think it’s a no brainer that Lio should become Argentina’s striker.

      • Messi has not played as false 9 since ages. Last time we tried him as false 9, it did not work out. That was against France. Messi as CF will not work due to Messi himself. He drops to deep midfield even if it is not needed. In recent times, his goal scoring dropped due to this very reason. I hardly see him near D box.

        Aguero not sharp, Lautaro not in form and he has been a clumsy finisher from the beginning. So what are our options at CF? None unless we go for makeshift ones. J Correa has not produced anything so far in Copa. If we exclude Nico as possible CF, there is only one remains…. Papu Gomez.

        But you will loose height and physicality with Papu but he brings close control and finishing. I think with our defensive approach, worth a shot.

      • Another thing is ADM is not awful at left, his best football has came from left as LCM/LAM. Only when you try him as Left forward/winger and he tries to dribble past instead of playmaking, then you see the headless chicken di Maria. It has nothing to do with side of field but role and responsibility.

        Give Di Maria a free/playmaking role from left, he will shine equally as right if not more. But we have not seen it much because in PSG left side is occupied by Mbappe and Neymar.

      • Yes, we should deffinetly try put Leo all the way up as pure striker or use him as false 9 like u said. At least is worth of trying something different because so far either Lautaro or Aguero has delivered. And i think we should have enough creative players from which to pick the ones who could build up the play and try serve Leo to score. If Lo Celso would be fully fit i would deffinetly put him more up as close to Leo as possible or use him as number 10 because i think he deffenitly has got in him when he is fit and for so far for me personally he has played great for us, maybe even been the most creative player until now. Di Maria could be used, but only on the right side like u said. So maybe give Papu another chance on the left or give another chance for Nico Gonzales even he is not scored yet, but at least he is been a threat and he is getting himself to right positions so it is just the last final touch which he is Still lacking until now. But i’m affraid that Lo Celso is not fully fit so maybe i will try something lime this:
        Papu Messsi Di Maria

        Paredes

        Acuna. Guido. De Paul

        Lisandro. Romero. Molina

        But actually i think maybe we should try this later on and also this is much depending on who’s on the yellow card’s and most importantly what is Lo Celso condition, because even if we can Still use him in tournament which i really hope then i think better to safe him for the KO’s and that is why against Bolivia i think we should try play with similar style of what Scaloni has been trying or what he has preffered , but maybe use the players that have not played that much yet and who are not booked yet so maybe give another chance for Correa brothers and others to to try get best out of them and try to get a good performance for every p,American who is playing against Bolivia so that their confidence will grow and this could be vital in KO’s to have as many as possible options available.

        • Ricky Villa June 27, 2021 At 10:03 am
          Yes, we should deffinetly try put Leo all the way up as pure striker or use him as false 9 like u said. At least is worth of trying something different because so far neither Lautaro or Aguero has not delivered. And i think we should have enough creative players from which to pick the ones who could build up the play and try serve Leo to score. If Lo Celso would be fully fit i would deffinetly put him more up as close to Leo as possible or use him as number 10 because i think he deffenitly has got in him when he is fit and for so far for me personally he has played great for us, maybe even been the most creative player until now. Di Maria could be used, but only on the right side like u said. So maybe give Papu another chance on the left or give another chance for Nico Gonzales even he is not scored yet, but at least he is been a threat and he is getting himself to right positions so it is just the last final touch which he is Still lacking until now. But i’m affraid that Lo Celso is not fully fit so maybe i will try something like this:
          Papu Messsi Di Maria

          Paredes

          Acuna. Guido. De Paul

          Lisandro. Romero. Molina

          But actually i think maybe we should try this later on and also this is much depending on who’s on the yellow card’s and most importantly what is Lo Celso condition, because even if we can Still use him in tournament which i really hope then i think better to safe him for the KO’s and that is why against Bolivia i think we should try play with similar style of what Scaloni has been trying or what he has preffered , but maybe use the players that have not played that much yet and who are not booked yet so maybe give another chance for Correa brothers and others to to try get best out of them and try to get a good performance for every player who is playing against Bolivia so that their confidence will grow and this could be vital in KO’s to have as many as possible options available.

  6. any argentine transfer gossips guys rather than this……..
    molina- inter, juaquin correa- arsenal/spurs. sergio romero- juve, everton, cristian romero – man utd, liverpool and spurs. senesi/ lisandro martinez/ lautaro martinez – barcelona,guido – arsenal, julian alvarez to aston villa, simione- west ham, peredes -inter swap,tagliafico- leeds,barcelona , juan musso- as roma, inter, ….

  7. Argentina lifting trophy after 28 long years beating arch rival Brazil in Maracana will be the best worth waited gift to all Argentina fans in the World and end trophy draught before World Cup 2022.

  8. Messi should get into the opponent’s eighteen yard box more often, he is the best striker in the world and far too often he is always dribbling on top of the eighteen yard box with no end product.. Messi seems too reluctant to make runs without the ball inside the final third, and when he does make those runs he finds himself in better goal scoring position, like for example; the half side own goal against Paraguay that was eventually ruled a non goal.

    Messi is being too predictable when he receives the ball on top of the opposition eighteen yard box. So Messi himself should try to be more active inside the opponent’s penalty area. Also, whenever Messi gets the ball in and around the final third he is not getting clear shots on goal because the ball is on his right foot, by the time he switches the ball to his natural shooting left foot he finds himself drifting wide inside the opposition penalty area with 4-5 defenders around him which makes shooting at goal impossible.

    Messi seems too comfortable at the moment, like all he is interested in are free kicks, penalty kicks and indirect free kicks. Messi needs to show his motivation; like trying to score at every chance he gets, running into the opponent penalty box without the ball, shooting from distance and passing the ball to his team mates who find themselves in better goal scoring position. Messi needs to realize that Di Maria and Papu Gomez can make those key passes in the attacking third too, and even Angel Correa also has the ability to make key assists/big plays in crunch moments.

    Hopefully Aguero gets to full match fitness because like his goal against France at the 2018 world cup coming off the bench, this same Aguero can show up and outclass Brazil in a possible Copa America final, only if he is match fit though. So don’t write off Aguero just yet, class is permanent!

    The problem for Argentina is the lack of ability in holding onto possession especially in midfield. There is nothing wrong with defending a one goal lead, but it’s also crucial to hold onto the ball in order to diffuse any momentum the opposition might be building up when they’re in possession of the football. Defending a one goal lead while constantly being on the back foot is a recipe for disaster, and at some point the Hoover Dam will break.

    Di Maria, Messi, Aguero, Angel Correa, Papu, Aston Villa Goalie, Atlanta defender Molina and the midfield improving can secure Messi the Copa America title. Also, the guy from Ajax seems like a good technical player, he needs to get on the pitch at some point especially against Bolivia..

    Like what we have seen in the game between Colombia and Brazil this past week, you’re not going to defeat Brazil in their own country by just one goal especially if the goal came early in the first or second half…Brazil is playing with thirteen against eleven men while the game is in progress, the out field referee and the VAR crew.. You have to shock Brazil, take them off their game early with decisive goals that not even CONMEBOL corruption can save them. This is what Germany and Holland did at the 2014 World Cup to the host nation..If you’re going to defeat Brazil by one goal it has to be in the ninety plus minutes..

    Tagliafico ( A weaker version of Nicolas Orban) and Parcedes are weak links in my honest observation. Guido is solid but not world class. Whenever the Argentinian midfielders backs are against the opposition goal, they only seem to can pass the ball back to the defenders or sideways to the next person beside them. If you get the ball in midfield, take a peak over your shoulder, drop your shoulder, pause then do a 360 turn in the opposite direction and boom you’re facing the opposition goal, at this point you will have plenty of option of making a pass other than passing back to your defense backline. Oh, where is Masche and Banega! You see Modric and Busquet doing this a lot in midfield. Argentina needs more midfielders with this kind of awareness and skill. Parcedes positioned himself between the two centre backs for the majority of the game, you don’t ever see him sprinting forward with or without the ball like say a young Mascherano. Palacios and Lo Celso are not at this level and I doubt they will ever be as comfortable on the ball under intense pressure. This Argentina national team can only keep possession of the ball if the opponent is not pressing.

    Brazil and CONMEBOL right now are disgraceful and all the obvious corruption that is going on in CONMEBOL will backfire on Brazil sooner rather than later. Brazil doesn’t deserve to win Copa with all the corruption. What happened to Colombia was just mind boggling, and the ref of the game was a world cup finalist referee too, and with aiding Brazil/CONMEBOL corruption he probably tarnished his career.

    To constantly add creativity and make the pitch bigger/wider Di Maria has to start every game at Copa America. If Di Maria keeps up his super world class form Argentina chances of winning gets better, this will also make Messi’s performance on the pitch better overall.

    • “Aston Villa Goalie, Atlanta defender Molina and the midfield improving can secure Messi the Copa America title. Also, the guy from Ajax seems like a good technical player, he needs to get on the pitch at some point especially against Bolivia.. ”

      😆🤣😂 is that how much you downgraded those players while you can mention thier names
      I guess you just can’t admit they are going to be new heroes very soon

    • Yes,Godin u are totally right with your oppinion about exactly what is wrong about Aston Villa who has great history and are very respected team Still in England and has allways been even before Grealish, Emi and also now Buendia so just a little bit of patience and one could see Aston Villa coming back to their Glory Days and btw they have had allways a great academy too as Atalanta has nowdays not to even have to mention the great academy of Ajax who has been constantly producing great talent’s for god knows how long i mean we go straight back to the time Johan Cruyff himself and to the times of total football which was mainly created by himself as main factor in it !
      Barca is Still honouring that Style play only because of Johan Cruyff made it possible and brought it with him to Barca and changed the hole way of Barca’s play ! So for me the most intresting teams in fact are those 3 teams at moment in europe, because of their way of play and because of their great academy’s ! And offcourse because Emi is playing for Villa and Romero and Palomino are playing for Atalanta and even they had their great story with Papu which sadly ended up badly for both sides, but now everything is fine for both and Papu playing in Sevilla with Acuna and Ocampos is very good news for Albiceleste and for me after Romero Licha is the most intresting and also promising player in many ways as he has allready proofed at Ajax team !

      So no need to mock theese team’s or theese players either just instead, please show some respect to them and be patient with more less with everything and that is my advice for everyone who is frustrated after watching Albiceleste and players from Argentina playing around the world ! And i do understand the frustration because i have lived with it for quite long time, but i dont let it TaKe control over me and my life even i’m fully and totally focused only allways just for Albiceleste and i do have very much passion for Albiceleste even i’m not from Argentina so please when someone get’s frustrated here and starts to mock Albiceleste and the current crop of players i wish that before someone or anyone does that to have little stop for at least split of a second to think about the Argentine people and how much passion and frustration they have been going through over the last decades so please just try be patient and not loose faith on our beloved Albiceleste, simple as that, period!

    • Atlanta defender? You don’t know his name?
      What a stupid you are!
      He is the best Serie a defender mind it.
      You stupid, a fit lo celso is the best creative midfielder in the world.
      You always present here with your bullshit comment.go aunties

    • “You have to shock Brazil, take them off their game early with decisive goals that not even CONMEBOL corruption can save them. “ ….Well said kid..

  9. The latest news:

    Probable starting line up:
    Martinez/Armani; Montiel, Pezzella, Licha Martinez, Acuna; Guido, Nico Doninguez, Palacios; Messi, Di Maria/A. Correa, Aguero/J. Correa.

    Messi says he feels good and wants to play.

      • World record 13 assists in big tournaments knock out stages…he is not like CR who is ghosting in KO stages regularly, not mention the impact besides goals and assists.

      • @el_principle,
        I believe that purpose is giving rest and continue with 4-3-3 formation. If you want to add another right sided midfielder it is going to be RDP.

      • Actually N.Dominguez is very box to box and very attack minded if given a chance, he can make wonderful runs into the box when his team is on the attack and he has a lot of good key passes in him. The problem and the reason why he hasn’t lit up serie A is because Mihjalovic uses him as part of a double pivot, which really blunts his attacking potential. I would love to see him as a part of a midfield 3 like this:

        ————-Papu————-Guido—————–Nico——————

        On paper atleast this is a perfect combination of attack (Papu), defense (Guido) and box-2-box (Nico) but as we all know football isn’t played on paper.

        • yeah you speak right on nico dom.. and i rate nico dom better than palacious.. it is only playing time that will flourish him

  10. Well, i’m wishing now for Peru to beat venuzuela and for a draw between Uruguay and paraguay then if i have got it right peru will play against Uruguay and Varzil against Chile’nos so on that side of the bracket it will be most propably Varzil against either Uruguay or Peru and in this case i hope it will be Uruguay even nothing really against peru though and they might even be harder opponent for Varzil than Uruguay, but i’m kind of wishing for a final between our beloved Albiceleste against Uruguay or Albiceleste against peru, because the best thing to happen for Varzil will be that either Uruguay or peru will knock them down in the semi’s or even better will be if Chileno’s will knock them out straight away and then either Uruguay or peru will knock Chileno’s down! Anyhow this seems quite an utopia to really happen because of Varzil, lol!

  11. So if we win our group it pretty much comes down to peru against venuzuela, because i can’t see Conmebol having Brazil to loose to an Ecuador or even giving them a draw!
    So i just hope that we dont have to face straight either Colombia or Peru and rather play against Ecuador, but i might be wrong with my prediction who will actually suite as the best?

  13. Start Emi as he needs the place and consistency, don’t under estimate Bolivia but play it well to evaluated the players and game plan; we rarely win by big margin nowadays. Scoring are needed to win the game, and that’s what we are lacking on..

    Optimize the subs; Acuna will bring more pace with his wing penetration; Romero and LQM; Papu and ADM with subs of Messi and used Lautoro in front; the key is rotation of the player and avoid another yellow cards. Guido and Palacios in the mid

    • test with european teams like hungary, austria, sweden, demark. output will come how scaloni is and was?

    • Until the individual players stop giving up the ball and whomever is on the field plays well, I am not prepared to criticize Scaloni – like some here are eager to do… I love our players as much as anyone else here..but they need to start playing well… even after good individual performances all over the field we don’t win, then I will blame scaloni for putting in the wrong 11 on the field.

  15. It would be great if Argentina beat Brazil and headed for the world championship. We are hard to beat with a solid defence. The unbeaten streak has partly said that

    • Yes, u are very correct Olive! Denmark doing great and been producing lately good talent’s either through their own academies or through Ajax’s academy which has allways had Danish players a lot for example the latest is Dollberg who scored twice against Wales. Also Atlanta’s academy has been producing good talent’s or good players have come true from their academy and also they have invested clearly in good players so Atlanta is deffinetly and has been very entertaining team for quite some time!

    • True that – Romero , Malinovskyi , Gossens , Pessina & even DeRoon doing well . Was a bit surprised Holland didnt take Hateboer & Lammers . Holland game is wing back oriented this time & Hateboer would have given them solid depth. Surprisingly Zapata has been off color & Rueda not giving Muriel too many minutes.

      • Omg! What a joke is this or actually i would preferred it to documentary lately released from HBO as ” The Crime of the Century” ! This so unfair and really stupid as well if there is no xtra time at all before the final ! I mean what game are we talking about here now ? Why don’t they change completly the hole game Upside down and create some more of theese their great new rules ! Omg, i can’t belive it ! This Conmebol thing is literally killing the great football of South America for some strange purpose which i have not figure out yet, but i think i will! Bloody Conmeboliticriminals !

    • Italy vs Austria is a perfect example of how extra time can help teams like us. At least we have Emi Martinez who is good at saving penalties. This adds extra pressure on our penalty kickers situation. They better be practicing them

Comments are closed.