Not only the European Championship is over, but also the Copa America. Russian clubs were represented at the tournament by nine players. Some became the stars of the tournament, while others remained invisible. We talk about all of them.
Star Alexis Sanchez disappointed Victor Davila (CSKA) and the Chileans failed
Victor Davila
Photo: Omar Vega/Getty Images
The Chilean national team found itself in a tough group with Argentina, Canada and Peru. The favourite was clear, but a massacre for the second place in the playoffs was expected. It was in vain, because the Chileans were bad in attack and never scored. And we can’t say that we created many chances: in total we accumulated only 1.68 xG. Alexis Sanchez missed his main chance in the match against the Peruvians, failing in a killer position. The result was two goalless draws, a narrow defeat against the world champions and third place. The Cup is not the European Championship, so Dávila’s team was out of the playoffs.
As for him, he started all three games from the opening minutes, was substituted twice and was on the pitch for 232 minutes, receiving one yellow card. Victor had two tackles, five shots on goal for 0.35 xG (all missed) and 38 accurate passes out of 59 for 0.58 xA (expected assists). Yes, it was Dávila who crossed for Alexis just before that miss, which is why the indicator is so high. Chile’s preliminary application for the tournament included another army, Victor Mendez. But not in the final.
How CSKA and other RPL clubs are strengthening ahead of the new season:
A big gain for CSKA and a loss for Krasnodar. Transfers of the week in RPL
Luis Chavez (Dynamo) did not help Mexico to qualify from the group
Luis Chavez
Photo: Alvaro Avila/Jam Media/Getty Images
Venezuela, Ecuador, Jamaica – the Mexicans were clearly luckier with their opponents than the Chileans. The result, however, was the same: third place. Mexico beat Jamaica 1-0, missed a penalty by former Rubin, Zenit and CSKA striker Salomon Rondon 1-0, and at the decisive moment failed to open the scoring against the Ecuadorians 0-0. It was they who, thanks to the better goal difference, took another step forward. Clearly more was expected of the Mexicans. Just as of the hosts of the tournament from the USA, who also failed to make it to the quarter-finals.
Chavez was substituted in the 78th minute of the match against the Jamaicans and played the entire remaining two minutes. There is one yellow card, two tackles, seven shots on goal (three on target) for 0.41 xG and 102 accurate passes out of 136 (75%) for 0.38 xA. Luis himself did not score and his teammates let him down: they could have added a goal to their goal. You see, we are playing in the playoffs.
Dynamo without Chavez recently beat Spartak:
It seems that Sobolev’s head is already at Zenit. And Leshchuk “brought him” back into the game with Spartak!
Fabian Balbuena (Dynamo) and his Paraguay did not escape shame
Fabian Balbuena
Photo: Offside/Offside via Getty Images
Paraguay, Bolivia and Jamaica did not pick up a single point in the group stage. 1:2 with Colombia, 1:4 with Brazil, 1:2 with Costa Rica: with such a team it was difficult to count on a place in the top two. The Paraguayans missed out on all eight goals under Balbuena: he played three games. However, Fabian worked hard and gained tremendous experience while his Dynamo teammates were doing pre-season.
The defender regularly took set pieces and took four shots on goal (one on target) for 0.31 xG, made 11 tackles, seven interceptions and three blocks, received one caution and also made 91 accurate passes out of 111 (82%). This did not help Paraguay to score points. And soon Balbuena will also go to the Olympics, where he will play for at least the national teams of Japan (July 24), Israel (July 27) and Mali (July 30). The management and coaching staff of Dinamo are clearly not happy with this situation.
Manfred Ugalde (Spartak) did not become a hero in Costa Rica
Manfredo Ugalde
Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
The Costa Ricans heroically defended a goalless draw with Brazil, but were then defeated by Colombia 3-0. The 2-1 victory over Paraguay gave nothing but moral satisfaction. Two good matches and one failure were not enough. Not surprising, with this or that opponent.
The only game Paraguayans won in the tournament was played without Ugalde. He played 64 minutes against the Brazilians, and only the first half against the Colombians. He received one yellow card in each game, and made 0 shots, three accurate passes out of six, and only 18 touches. The Spartak striker completely disappeared on the field. At the same time, he is by far the most expensive Costa Rican footballer: 7.5 million euros compared to 2 million euros for MLS Austin defender Julio Cascante. Failure, what can I say?
Ugalde has not yet impressed in Russia either:
Classification
The most disastrous winter transfer in the RPL. Zenit newcomers or Spartak striker?
Nicholas Marichal (Dynamo) watched from the bench as Lucas Olasa (Krasnodar) took bronze against Uruguay.
Nicolas Marichal and Lucas Olasa
Photo: Fake Images
The Uruguayans made it through the group stage, beating Panama (3-1), the USA (1-0) and Bolivia (5-0) in turn. Both the number of goals and the goal difference of +8 became the best. It is not surprising that Uruguay was considered one of the favourites. In the quarter-finals, they also destroyed Brazil, although everything was decided in a series of 11-metre penalties (0-0, 4-2 penalties). After such feats, the victory over Colombia was considered quite tangible, but the Colombians themselves objected and won in the semi-finals 1-0. The Uruguayans managed to cheer up their failure in the match for third place (2-2 in regular time) and another victory on penalties (4-3).
There were already two representatives of the RPL in the Uruguay national team. However, Nicholas Marichal never appeared on the field, and Lucas Olase was entrusted with only two substitute appearances: in the 82nd minute against Bolivia and in the 66th minute against Canada. Well, but with his participation they took bronze. Olasa’s statistics are 18 accurate passes out of 22 (81.8%) and one tackle. Former Dynamo player Guillermo Varela spent about the same time in the tournament, but at the same time managed to earn himself first a yellow card and then a red card in the match against Colombia.
John Córdoba, Kevin Castaño (both Krasnodar) and Jorge Carrascal (Dynamo) were one step away from gold with Colombia
John Cordoba, Kevin Castano and Jorge Carrascal
Photo: Fake Images
Colombia is the main newcomer to the Copa America. First, they beat Brazil in the group, drawing 1-1, then beat Paraguay 2-1 and Costa Rica 3-0. Colombians were really lucky with their opponent in the quarter-finals: Panama, who beat the Americans, and James Rodriguez and his teammates performed a real execution: 5-0. We already had to suffer against Uruguay, but the only goal took the team to the final, against Argentina. Regulation time ended in zeros and, nevertheless, Colombia did not live to see the penalty shoot-out 0-1.
Silver is, in any case, space, and three RPL players participated in it. To a greater extent, of course, Córdoba. John played all six matches of the tournament and 418 minutes on the field, of which he scored a goal against Costa Rica and Panama, an assist to Dani Muñoz in the match against Brazil and two yellow cards. He has 11 shots (three on target) for 1.43 xG and 44 accurate passes out of 62 (71%) for 0.36 xA. Excellent performance.
Castaño and Carrascal were the secondary characters. If not the third. Kevin has 77 minutes in four games, two shots (one on goal) for 0.13 xG, 44 accurate passes out of 52 (84.6%) for 0.14 xA and one yellow card, Jorge has 47 minutes in three games, one shot on goal for 0.08 xG, 28 accurate passes out of 33 (84.8%) for 0.25 xA plus two tackles. But both played in the final.
More information about Kopa’s main match:
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The best and worst RPL players in the Copa América by average rating
Let’s leave aside the value judgments and take a look at the average score of the statistical portal Sofascore. It is clear that Córdoba is the most successful. But its average rating is only the second among the representatives of the Russian Premier League:
Luis Chavez (Dynamo) – 7.27; John Cordoba (Krasnodar) – 7.15; Fabian Balbuena (Dynamo) – 6.87; Victor Davila (CSKA) – 6.80; Kevin Castano (Krasnodar) – 6.67; Manfred Ugalde (Spartak) – 6.30.
The Spartak striker received the worst rating out of 20 Costa Ricans. Otherwise, no one failed. I would like to see not only Cordoba, Chavez, Davila and Balbuena playing in the first team.
