The 10 CONMEBOL countries and guest countries Mexico and Japan learned their fates for the group stage of the 2011 Copa America on Thursday, with host Argentina receiving a favorable draw. Here are the three groups:
GROUP A – Argentina, Japan, Bolivia, Colombia
GROUP B – Brazil, Paraguay, Ecuador, Venezuela
GROUP C – Uruguay, Chile, Mexico, Peru
The top two teams in each group and the two best third-place teams advance to the quarterfinals of the July, 2011, tournament. Brazil is the two-time defending champion after capturing the 2004 and 2007 crowns with victories over Argentina in the final both times.
Who do you see advancing from each group? Wish the United States had been invited as a guest nation? Do you see Mexico making it to the quarterfinals?
Share your thoughts below.
Even so, a few fringe players who were on that Gold Cup roster could of played at the Copa. Landon was in MLS, and wasn’t coming off any loans of any sort.
I looked up Mexico’s rosters. They had five European based players for the 2007 Gold Cup, plus Guardado who was in the process of being sold to Dépor at the time but still belonged to Atlas. All the others were based in Mexico.
Of the five already in Europe, three did not play in Copa América 2007: Osorio, Salcido, Pardo. As I remember, all three asked for time off after long European seasons(and were roundly criticized in Mexican press for it).
Mexico was able to make it work because at the time most of their players played in Mexico, and were well established at their clubs.
Many US players played abroad and needed a)time off and b)a full preseason with clubs where they were fighting for spots.
president of CONCACAF
The Gold Cup shoule be this year. (after the World Cup). The next year should be a combined CONCACAF CONMEBOL Cup…8 teams apiece. This Cup could match the EURO Championship with attendance and interest.
The next year would be WCQ campaign. This way each year there is a tournament to look forward to.
My friend and I were both disgusted and ashamed with what Bob Bradley did with our last copa invite, and we completely understood all the reasons why it should be a good idea. Sorry, but we thought of at least five genuinely better ideas for squad management given the focus on winning the gold cup, and we are still coming up with reasons why sending a c-squad was a bad idea. So, I think this is a grey area issue, not one where you should call someone ignorant for having different opinions, i.e., to say they aren’t paying attention when they clearly follow your blog.
for what it’s worth, i’d love to see the USA host an invitational of sorts outside of the gold cup cycle where we try to find teams that are evenly matched to us; i.e. Mexico, Japan, Ghana, South Korea, etc.) no giants or minnows. Just like talented sqauds that can play the jeepers out of each other and learn from it.
Peru… Chile…
wow, that smackdown will leave a welt for about a week.
It’s just Grant Wahl speculating. There is no plan for it.
Um, Jack is from Trinidad & Tobago but nice try.