The 2024 Copa América saw the addition of six CONCACAF teams in South America’s most prestigious soccer tournament. As the competition now enters the semifinal stage, only one CONCACAF team remains in Canada, along with reigning FIFA World Cup winners Argentina and traditional powerhouses Uruguay and Colombia.
Argentina are currently the best team in the world and the favorites to win the Copa. Despite having the most talented squad, Argentina has not played with the same flair and confidence like the team had at the 2022 World Cup.
The team won all three games in the group stage without conceding a goal. Argentina faced Ecuador in the quarterfinals and forward Lautaro Martínez opened the scoring in the first half with his fourth goal of the tournament.
With forward Lionel Messi playing with an injury, the team struggled to pull ahead of Ecuador. In second half stoppage time, Ecuador forward Kevin Rodríguez scored a header to tie the game and send it to a penalty shoot-out. Messi missed the first penalty for Argentina, but goalkeeper Emi Martinez saved Ecuador’s first two penalties to help Argentina advance.
Canada has impressed at its first Copa América. The team competed well against Argentina in the first game despite losing 2-0, and Canada finished second in Group A. Canada then faced Venezuela in the quarterfinals. The team created many scoring opportunities, but only led Venezuela 1-0 with a goal from forward Jacob Shaffelburg. Venezuela came back in the second half when forward Salomón Rondón caught Canada goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau out of his goal from 40 yards out. The game then went to a penalty shoot-out, which Canada won 4-3.
Jesse Marsch, who became Canada’s head coach in May, has experience facing the best teams in the world since he previously coached club teams in Europe. Even though Canada has exceeded expectations, Argentina’s extremely talented squad will likely be too strong an opponent for Canada.
In the past year, Uruguay has beaten both Argentina and Brazil under head coach Marcelo Bielsa. This led to Uruguay being one of the tournament contenders. In the group stage, Uruguay won all three games, scored nine goals and defeated the USMNT. This set up a quarterfinal meeting with Brazil.
Coming into the tournament, Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldinho called this Brazil team the “worst” he’d seen in years and vowed not to watch them at the Copa. Brazil did not necessarily prove Ronaldinho wrong, as the team did not dominate games and their attacking stars were kept quiet.
The quarterfinal matchup between Uruguay and Brazil was intense and aggressive, with 41 total fouls committed. Uruguay went down a man late in the second half with the scored tied 0-0 but held on for penalties, which Uruguay won 4-2 to advance to the semifinals.
Uruguay will face Colombia, a standout team in the Copa so far. The team topped Group D above Brazil and beat Panama 5-0 in the quarterfinals, which was the only quarterfinal game not to go to penalties. Forward James Rodriguez has rediscovered his form at the tournament, with one goal and three assists so far. Heading into this semifinal matchup, Colombia may have more momentum than Uruguay to reach to the final.
Thank you for tuning for coverage of the 2024 Copa América.
Keep up with The Game Haus further coverage on the Copa América throughout the summer.
For coverage on Esports, and other sports, be sure to check out our main page.
Players must be 21 years of age or older or reach the minimum age for gambling in their respective state and located in jurisdictions where online gambling is legal. Please play responsibly. Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, and wants help, call or visit: (a) the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey at 1-800-Gambler or www.800gambler.org; or (b) Gamblers Anonymous at 855-2-CALL-GA or www.gamblersanonymous.org.
