Argentina 3 Costa Rica 0
With the group stage of the Copa America done and dusted it’s time for a round-up of the story so-far. And what a story it’s been.
For a brief moment, a very brief moment, both giants of football in this part of the world looked like they might not qualify. Brazil stumbled through a couple of draws against Venezuela and Paraguay before relieving the tension with a 4-2 thumping of Ecuador.
And as Sergio Agüero poked that first goal past Costa Rica there was a palpable sigh of relief floating up to the skies above Argentina, like one of those farts that you’re not quite sure if anyone has heard. It too was somewhat pungent, containing the residue of days of hot air and waffle from football fans and pundits alike pontificating on why the national team was not performing as it should.
Sergio Agüero - Maradona's son-in-law
Most of the blame seemed to rest on Leo Messi. Some asked: Is he even Argentine? He didn’t seem to know the words to the national anthem. Psychiatrists, politicians, former managers and players, Messi’s dad and the bloke that shines shoes at the corner of Cabildo and Congreso all had differing opinions.
“Play Javier Pastore,” went up one cry. He would be the solution. Why? I’m not sure. He’s not a bad player. But in a team boasting Agüero, Tevez, Di Maria et al, what would he do that they were not doing?
Both Colombia and Bolivia proved to be tougher in defence than many had anticipated. They put men on Messi. But rather than use the extra room that three men standing on Messi’s toes should have created, the likes of Tevez and Lavezzi ran stylishly into dead ends.
They reminded me of Georgi Kinkladze, formerly of Manchester City, who I saw several times at Upton Park. He was my favourite visiting player since you knew he would do magical things with the ball, have the home fans reluctantly gasping in bewilderment, before all his hard work resulted in absolutely nothing.
But faith has been restored by that three-nil drubbing of mighty Costa Rica, the only country in the world to disband its army. I shouldn’t really say this but if the Argentines won’t then someone must. This was only the Costa Rican youth team. They’d done well to beat Bolivia 2-0 and only lose by one goal to Colombia. But the goalkeeper wore braces on his teeth and, given the late kick-off, probably had a letter from his mum allowing him to stay up late.
Without that letter he’d have had to be substituted half an hour from the end to allow time for his cup of hot milk and a story before bed.
It’s Uruguay on Saturday in the quarter-finals. Argentina versus Uruguay is a bit like England against Scotland, but with good players.
Argentina pretty much ignores Uruguay most of the time, stealing its best players for its own league, buying up holiday homes and dirtying Uruguay’s much better beaches.
Uruguay whinges and moans about Argentina’s bullying and they glow with pride if you tell them how much more sophisticated and civilized they are compared to their bigger neighbours to the west.
But my tip for the title, riding on the crest of a 0% successful prediction rate, is Chile. They’re managed by Claudio ‘Bichi’ Borghi who brought Argentinos Juniors the national championship a little over a year ago.
He’s a man who plays attacking football yet shows little emotion. While those around him celebrate his team’s goals he might nod his head or stretch to a barely perceptible smile like a teacher acknowledging a piece of home-work well done. When championships are won and cups lifted, he might deign to rise from his seat.
Chile have played some great football to sit top of a tough group, containing Uruguay, a surprisingly competent Peru and Mexico. They’ll meet baseball playing Venezuela in the next round.
Brazil will play Paraguay who finished third in the same group, drawing all three games, usually after throwing away seemingly invincible leads. And Colombia clash with Peru. Ecuador, Costa Rica, Mexico and Bolivia are the four teams leaving early.
This competition is only going to get better. Watch this space.
