3 sexy stories that absorbed copa 2024

Every four years, the Western Hemisphere hosts a soccer tournament. Soccer tournaments, naturally, are filled with emotion, passion, and always, an ego fueled debate on which team played the best football. This year, that tournament occurred in the United States. Here are 3 stories from Copa America 2024 that won’t go forgotten.

1. A PIECE ON PUNCHING FANS.

Bielsa sits. Undisturbed in a press room, he scowls at the floor. Uruguay just got the better of Brazil (in penalties), to advance to the semifinals. Because of this, I am $20 richer from a pride bet with my dad. And Bielsa, hands crossed, adresses the media.

Marcelo Bielsa is one of football's greatest grandfathers. Philosophic and romantic when approaching the game, yet hyper demanding, of every player, in every detail. There is no room for mediocrity. Usually, Bielsa's teams perform like race horses hopped up on cocaine. Out of possession, players hunt the ball intensely, intending to press man to man. In posession, players are attacking minded, accounting for quick creative rotations and forward play. All gas, no brakes (hence, the shortened play time for Luis Suarez). This style of play, sometime referred to as "murderball," was evident throughout Uruguay's group stage.

The Uruguayan coach disects his Argentine Spanish carefully in that quiet press room. The current state of the game has become ugly, he admits this, and laments about the influence of business and numbers in the game. Prettiness is no longer prioritized, and if we don't ensure what we are watching is pleasant, it doesn't matter how many people watch the game. He warns us that, as time passes, the players that deserve to be watched will be less of. He warns us that the increase in fans is only artificial.

The media gasps.

Fast forward six days later, Bielsa's men line up in Charlotte, North Carolina, mouthing their national anthem in the middle of the park, opposite to their Colombian counterparts.

The Bank of America Stadium is painted yellow. There is roughly 71,000 fans in attendance, and 70,000 are Colombian, and probably drunk.

This is the semifinal grudge match of Copa America: Colombia vs Uruguay.

WHY COLOMBIA?

As of June 2024, Colombia has gone 25 games undefeated under Néstor Lorenzo, with major wins over Germany, Brazil, and Spain. It's fair to say this is one of the more elite Colombian sides we've seen compete in a while.

While the system of play is nothing irregular ( a 1-4-2-3-1 in attack), it is their game idea in attack, along with their speed of transition, from defense to offense, that makes this Colombian side so special. As teammates recover the ball, they are always looking to play forward and transition to goal at speed, uncovering that golden bit of space behind the opposing backline.

......Of course, the level of passing accuracy by James Rodriguez, and the chaos created by Luis Diaz are grueling elements to defend. On top of this, Richard Rios conducts the tempo of this machine well.....

The coach, Néstor Lorenzo, is intentional with this game model. In their goal against Brazil, James slips a ball forward to cordoba in 1 touch, and cordoba, with 2 players on his back, executes another forward pass on the half turn, to find Muños (their right defender). Yes, you heard that correctly. Their right defender overlaps the 9 (center forward) to score the goal. All players have the right to go forward.

Colombia have not undergone any renovations (like Costa Rica or Brazil). Rather, Lorenzo has emptied faith into existing players that have competed for the selection before. Look at Néstor Lorenzo's faith in James Rodriguez. In 2022, James Rodriguez abandoned a big money contract in Qatar to play in Greece. This was a commitment to the national team. This was a plan executed by Lorenzo.

And so, a prominent questions of the tournament: Could this Colombian selection handle Uruguay? Could they compete like real assholes?

IN CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA...

Colombia stood across from Uruguay, soaking in the sound of 70,000 fans singing their national anthem. When that whistle blew, Colombian players exploded with energy and inspiration. They exhibited fluid movement in possession, chemistry in passing sequences, confidence to keep the ball and manipulated the opponent.

Uruguay's chances on goal cannot be dismissed either, but it was Colombia's dominance in the air on set pieces that determined the outcome of the game. Jeferson Lerma scored a smashing header in the 39th minute to give Colombia the lead in the first half.

Things got juicy right before the half ended, when Muños was sent off the field, leaving Colombia to play with ten men, and leaving Colombian fans (me) skeptical of whether they're really those guys.

They were.

In the second half, we saw a disciplined, compact Colombia (5-3-1 in defense), along with a few school yard antics to kill momentum. In Bielsa's words, 22 minutes were not played. Bielsa is right. Yet, Colombia conceded 0 goals, and therefore, earned a ticket to the finals with Argentina.

That final whistle blew. A stadium erupted. Players dropped in tears. And Darwin Nuñez exchanged blows with fans.

Yes, chaos. Fists flying.

Tensions higher than a New York skyscraper, Uruguayan players finished the game, to find that the stadium section reserved for player's families and loved ones was comandered by unruly Colombian fans.

We can answer the question later as to whether this is acceptable security procedures implemented by CONEMBOL, but players, and Uruguayan players for that matter, are not going to rest easy at the this sight.

So as most of us saw on social channels, players took it upon themselves to provide security.

DARWIN NUÑEZ : A STRONG START, AN EVEN STRONGER CRASH

As for Nuñez, repercussions are still not clear. However, my heart goes out to all my Liverpool homies. Darwin Nuñez had an outstanding performance in the group stage. Nuñez has proved that he has more to offer. Some might argue this is Nuñez's own doing, but we would be careless to disregard his current coaching staff. His finishing, maybe not automatic, but still existent. He's found success this tournament in a Bielsa system. Just a shame how he's depicted in the end...

What was that Batman line? Die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain?

THE FINAL

Colombia lost to Argentina, late, in a second half of overtime. Sure, it's painful. Colombia had the better tournament. Yet the tournament does not care who was better, nor, the game.

There is no justice in football.

The final ended with an earned goal, and not with the traditional disputed psychological game we are all familiar with: penalty kicks.

I'm proud to be Colombian, and watching this team compete in the tournament made me feel like a kid again.

Thank you Néstor y Gracias Colombia !

2. THE UNITED STATES Dilemma

The United States took on the responsibility of hosting Copa America 2024, and what became embarrassingly clear, after listening to coaches and players speak throughout the tournament, we did not do enough to host a professional tournament at this level.

Fields were a mess. Security was, clearly, an issue. And to top it off, American officials lied about it. In Bielsa's words, ... well his words translated to English...

"[The American Copa America Organization] worried about cosmetics and nothing about the ball. Dry pitches that were not prepared, sizes were 10% smaller, bad training pitches. "

These details matter for a tournament of this level.

WTF HAPPENED TO THE US selection?

We lost against Panama.

Uruguay came next.

Berhalter is now sacked.

Because I'm American, I find it difficult to be objective.

I believe in the abilities of the players on the roster. Clint Dempsey argues that we're not developing enough players. I think he's wrong. I think we have the players. Sure, we have many flaws in our development system, at a youth level. Go read my last articles! Yet, we have the players to make it out of group stage in Copa America. We have the players to beat Panama.

For those that didn't watch the US's run...

The U.S. had a strong start against Bolivia, producing a much higher XG than Bolivia (a model to calculate expected goals), winning the game 2-0. Things looked promising, until the second game against Panama, where, Tim Wheah recived a red card for smacking his Panamanian oppennet in the 17th minute. 5 minutes later, we go up 1-0, only to concede a couple minutes later in the 25th minute. We lost the game late, in the 82nd minute, when we failed to defend a whipped ball across our 18 yard box.

We then lost 1-0 against Uruguay. We worked hard, fought throughout the game, and came up short.

Did Berhalter do enough to prepare the squad?

This is a difficult question to answer, given a good win, an unlucky red card, and a dog fight against one of South America's most feared competitors. Yet the consequences of not making it out of group stage in this tournament are clear. Berhalter is gone. Now, with a World Cup two years out ( a U.S. hosted World Cup), soccer media teases Americans, with their delusional and hopeful ideas, like hiring Jurgen Klopp or Zidane. I don’t believe it will be that easy. I don’t believe the job is as enticing as we sell it. Something tells me that job comes with more baggage and restrictions than we would think.

Just ask the Canada coach…

3. WHY CANADA'S COPA SHOWING WAS SO SPECIAL

Maybe the double 2-0 losses to Argentina were deceptive. Canada beat Peru, tied Chile, dragged Venezuela to penalties, and nearly beat Uruguay, if it wasn’t for a late game winner by meddling Luis Suarez.

The reason for this success is because of a well executed plan of counter press, attacking minded transition, and probably, the most compact defensive shape in the tournament, all employed by Jesse Marsch.

Marsch is an American, and upon taking over Canada's national team, Marsch has coached at Leeds, RB Leipzig, RB Salzburg and NewYork Red Bulls. RB is short for Red Bull. Yes, the energy drink.

For those not in the know, Red Bull is not only a major sponsor for the teams listed above, but a global soccer entity, with a consistent philosophy in how the game should be played. Pretty cool right? This philosophy of play manifested itself in Canada this tournament, through Jesse Marsch. This team gave viewers an exhibition of togetherness, intensity, and threat in attack. (So threatening I might add, Canadian rapper, Drizzy Drake bet a ludicrous amount of money for them to beat Argentina in the semi finals. He lost that money.)

Their goal against Venezuela in the Quarters, scored in the 12th minute, was a product of transition. The Venezuelan left back is pressed quickly, conceding the ball to a throw in. The throw is taking immediately, in behind Venezuela's back line. The goal is scored a couple seconds later.

" 77% of goals are scored within 10 seconds of winning the ball"

-Red Bull Philosophy

If you're like me, you're probably wondering.."Hey! if the US job is open, why doesn't Jessee Marsch come back home and help his fellow country men?"

bad news..

As per the Athletic ( Pablo Maurer), Jesse Marsch has zero interest in the job…..

“I have no interest in the U.S. job,” the Canada head coach said, on the eve of their Copa America third-place playoff against Uruguay in Charlotte, NC. “And to be fair, unless there’s a big shift in the organization, I don’t think I’ll ever have any interest in that job in the future.” “My respect for U.S. Soccer is big, but I went through a process with them, right? And I’m not going to go into it, but I wasn’t treated very well in the process,” Marsch told CBS’ Call it What You Want podcast.

The search for the right puzzle piece for US soccer continues.

How exciting:)