El Profesor

Less than 1 hour for kickoff and fans can't get into the stadium. Large numbers of colombians tried to get inside without tickets and the police closed all entrances. It sums up the mess that this tournament is. Hopefully nothing else happens.

Bielsa is fine at Uruguay and I don't think he would want to deal with the backlash in Argentina that would come with coaching England, which is very different from coaching in England. The argies truly hate England. Juan Sebastian Verón, one of the finest argentinian players ever, is vastly despised by argentinian football fans due to his bad performance versus England in 2002. They say he threw that game away because he played for Man United at the time. Obviously, it's a stupid accusation but it shows the level of animosity.

I know it's easy to say that after the match, but it certainly felt a bit like the 2019 Champions League final regarding Harry Kane. At that final, in my opinion Poch lacked the courage to drop a half-fit Kane in favor of a red-hot Lucas Moura, coming from a historic performance versus Ajax. It was similar today. Watkins scored the goal that led England to the final only to find himself blocked by a ghost Kane.

Running around for large parts of the game is stressful and demands a lot of attention to close any gaps, especially for the likes of Foden, Bellingham, Saka and Kane, who play for teams that generally take the initiative. England´s work off the ball has been pretty impressive so far.

Good point. A lot of people with guns want Trump dead. Also, why would Trump stage it when his opponent is a living mummy? The incident will be thoroughly investigated and he would have a lot more to lose than to gain from it. Obviously, I wouldn´t put past Trump doing it, but right now the conspiracy theory doesn´t make sense.

Hey @Redcanuck, are you watching the 3rd place decision? I wasn´t really planning to watch it, but I turned the Tv on and ended up being captivated. Really entertaining match. Uruguay 2 - 2 Canada. It´s about to end in a penalty shootout.

Six shots that have completely missed the target while Darwin Núñez is still in the US... Can't be a coincidence, right?

There will be a half-time show with Shakira performing. Apparently, the half-time could take up to 25 minutes. What a complete joke. Honestly, I admire american sports culture. I follow MLB and I am a huge LA Dodgers fan. But trying to completely change south american football tradition just to get some extra dollars is truly abhorrent. All Conmebol will achieve is turning the final into a poor version of the Super Bowl. The "Latino Super Bowl" will obviously have all kinds of organizational issues and a fight at the end of the match.

Gimenez said in his post-game interview that he and other uruguayan players were trying to protect their families from attacking colombian fans. Anyway, between the smaller dimension of the pitches and the incredibly high price of tickets, this Copa America has been a mess. It's just another money-grabbing competiton organized by Alejandro Dominguez. They should have used MLS instead of NFL stadiums. In my opinion, a format similar to the 2020 Euros should be adopted, without a single host, considering how expensive and difficult it is for fans to travel inside South America.

Chaotic 2nd half but Colombia holds the lead to advance to the final. Colombia vs Argentina is the best final possible for this competition. Colombia will probably miss Richard Rios and Muñoz is suspended. Argentina was already the favorite, but I think their favoritism is even bigger now considering the depth of the colombian squad leaves a lot to be desired. Anyway, it should be a great final.

With his performance, Richard Ríos might get himself a big move to Europe. My dad, who is a Palmeiras fan, will certainly appreciate that. He loves when Palmeiras sells players for big bucks.

Muñoz sent off. He was one of the players of the tournament so far, but his stupidity might be very costly for Colombia.

If Darwin had half of the composure Suárez has in front of the goal, Uruguay would be leading. Lots of defensive blunders by Colombia. Colombia has a long tradition of choking at the big stage. The 1994 World Cup being the best example. They need a win to tonight to surpass that psychological barrier.

Everytime I watch Darwin Núñez I get more convinced that he is a good footballer, but a terrible striker. He does all things right, but can't finish well consistently.

Argentina advances to the final. Hopefully Colombia beats Uruguay tommorow. Argentina vs Colombia would be a great final.

Argentina looking much better after the goal. In complete control of the match. Lowered the lines and without the space to counter, Canada looks completely out of ideas.

1-0 Argentina. Nice goal by Álvarez after a beautiful pass from De Paul.

Argentina vs Canada. The world-champions are heavy favorites, but Canada showed in their previous encounter that they have the tools to pull a surprise if Argentina don't find their 2022 form. Curious to watch Jacob Shaffelburg, he impressed me so far in this tournament.

I can´t really complain, because growing up in the 90s I was able to see the prime of players such as Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Kaká. haha

Yes, I believe so. He doesn't actually need to do much without the ball for Colombia. The team is centered around James, with all his teammates running a bit more to compensate. A bit like Argentina does for Messi. His midfield teammates, such as Jhon Arias and Richard Rios, are also very underrated. Their midfield completely dominated ours, formed by Premier League players, and they beat Spain at Santiago Bernabeu last March. Colombia can beat any national team. And like @Dr. Gonzo mentioned, James doesn't really care about club football. He only turns up for Colombia. Watching him at São Paulo made me realize that. James is a brilliant player, he is probably a top 10 active player in terms of pure ability but he is not a great athlete. He doesn't train hard and struggle with the physical aspect of the game. I love classic number 10s like James, it's a shame these kind of player have almost disappeared.

Yes, James is the player of tournament so far. Colombia is at the moment a top 5 team in international football and I see them as one of the early favorites for 2026. 27 games unbeaten. I would love to see Colombia winning Copa America and breaking the psychological barrier that keeps them from achieving great things. They can beat any national team.

Man, non-elite clubs don't really stand a chance in contemporary football. Bologna had a great season, qualified for Champions League and their prize is losing their coach to Juventus and their best players, such as Callafiori and Zirkzee.

1994 is a good example of a faustian bargain made by Brazil. And you're correct, nobody cared about the terrible quality of the football played by that side. 1994 Brazil played incredibly boring and defensive-minded football. At the same time, I was 6 back then, I don't think I've ever been part of such genuine explosion of joy. I lived in a very small town and everyone went to the streets to celebrate. It was crazy. The same happened all over the country.

I completely agree, Spike. But, in my opinion, the main culprits of sucking the life of football in the last decade aren´t traditional pragmatists like Mourinho, Simeone and Deschamps. Those type of coaches have always been there, such as Helenio Herrera, as you have mentioned. I blame the "Juego de Posicón" crowd, which Guardiola is the main exponent. Those dudes are control freaks, directing every little movement from their players and using ball possession to completely control the game and minimize any threats opponents would pose. Grealish, for example, went from a creative, inventive player at Aston Villa to a robot that it´s afraid to take on defenders and lose the ball. Traditional pragmatists don´t control the flow of the game, they let the other team do it. This is why I believe they are way less harmful. I will go to my grave saying 2010 Spain is one of the biggest disgraces in the history of football. The general public was gaslighted into accepting that team played attacking football, when they were the most negative and boring world champion I´ve ever seen. Another aspect I would like to point out is the early specialization. Palmeiras, for example, recently handed out a big contract to a 10-year old child! Those children, by all means, are already professional footballers. Football is the only sport they practice from a very young age and in consequence they don´t develop a variety of skills and movements. The result, at least here in Brazil, is a bunch of players with great physical skills but who can´t improvise and dribble in short spaces. Maybe what all I am saying is bollocks, I am not a professional coach or scout, but those are some of the problems that in my view are hurting modern football.

It feels like all that motivation to play against Brazil ended up being harmful to Uruguay. If they imposed their superiority in the midfield and played like Bielsa teams usually do instead of trying to physically win the match, Uruguay would probably have beaten us easily, like they've done recently in the WC qualifiers. Brazil is a mess right now. Had Fifa not expanded the World Cup, I am not sure we would qualify for 2026. This is how bad things are right now. For more than 20 minutes we have an one-man advantage and we could barely create chances. I don't trust Dorival Jr. He simply is not good enough of a coach to build a team from the scratch in less than 2 years to compete at highest level. And I am not sure the players from Europe respect him. In my opinion, the best option for us after Ancelotti decided to stay at Real Madrid was José Mourinho or Abel Ferreira. Mourinho is not an option anymore now that he joined Fener but Abel Ferreira would probably take the job if given the chance. He probably is the best coach in brazilian football and the fact that he is portuguese would probably help him deal with the players from Europe. We need a foreign coach asap. Considering how underwhelming our midfield options are, we should play a pragmatic style of football. Casemiro's decline left a huge hole.