The football at the 2011 Copa America is yet to showcase the best of the big teams involved. Argentina almost got stunned by Bolivia on the opening day of the tournament, Brazil stumbled to a goalless draw on Sunday and Paraguay couldn’t do better than the Seleçao anyways as things remain all square in Group B.
As of now, only 3 goals have been scored in 360 minutes of football—and those haven’t come from the Copa America’s biggest stars. In fact, among Lionel Messi, Radamel Falcao, Robinho, Neymar, or Antonio Valencia, no one has managed to get on the scoring sheet.
Questions have subsequently been raised: Is the apparent emergence of smaller teams a good sign for South American football? What is wrong with the Copa America’s big teams and top players? Who will be the first squad to take off in Argentina?
Well, Uruguay stand a great chance of demonstrating Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay how efficient football should be played. In the first place, La Celeste Olimpica carry the name of the 2010 World Cup’s most successful South American participants. Besides this fact, confidence remains high among the Uruguayans as talisman Diego Forlan revealed according to Reuters:
“We know we’ve got plenty in our locker to win this event. We think we can take on anyone. We just know we’ve got a strong team and that if we perform to the best of our capabilities, we can win games.”
Still, you cannot take anything away from Peru yet as much as history tells it. Against which team did Uruguay emphatically lose 3-0 on match-day 1 of the 2007 Copa America? Was it not against La Blanquirroja? Check records and confirm for your own information, please.
“Our confidence is good and so is our attitude, so we’ll be well up for the match against Uruguay,” warned Peru’s bold striker Paolo Guerrero in the build-up to tonight’s interesting encounter whereas Diego Forlan reminded that “Peru always play good football.”
So how big are Uruguay’s chances of beating Peru and eventually going on to claim the Copa America trophy for the first and fourth time since 1995? If you are a follower of the 2011 Copa America, make your voice heard by discussing this issue of rivalry between Uruguay and giants Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Just drop a comment!
