The group stage of the main South American tournament is in full swing: the second round has come to an end. This time there was no goalless draw: the teams scored 23 goals, eight more than in the previous round. The first teams to advance to the playoffs have been determined.
This material contains the main events of the tour.
Favourites: no mistakes. But Brazil is not yet assured of the play-off
Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and Uruguay, the tournament’s main favourites, have all had three points. The latter two have even produced devastating results. But the Seleção, unlike the others, remain in second place in the group thanks to the previous draw (0-0 with Costa Rica).
The world champions beat Chile by the minimum and scored when the rival was at its best: in the 88th minute, after a corner and a series of blocked shots, Lautaro Martínez emerged to finish and shot Bravo at point-blank range. He scores again after coming on as a substitute! Argentina pressed and fired 22 shots, nine of them on goal, a well-deserved victory.
The full Cops 2024 match stream and highlights are available on Okko.
Leo Messi got into all kinds of trouble and withstood the pressure from his opponents: 7/11 successful dribbles and one goal-scoring opportunity created. The usually good performance was spoiled by Chile’s left-back Gabriel Suazo: the friend was too hot and cut himself on the legs. After one such episode in the 23rd minute, Messi took a break, and coupled with a similar episode in the 1st round with Canada, it seemed that he was definitely injured. Leo finished the match, but now ESPN writes that he will be recovering and will not appear in the match with Peru.
More details about the game:
Video
Argentina kept their opponents on the Kop for the entire match. But Bravo, 41, worked some real magic.
The Uruguayans did not feel any resistance from Bolivia at 5:0. Everything is simple here: the tournament favourites came up against a clear outsider – what else could you expect? Bolivia had an extremely difficult time even against the Americans – they were lucky to lose only two. And here they were completely inferior on all fronts: speed, fighting, understanding of the game. Bielsa did not come up with anything supernatural: throws down the wing, crosses, passes, combinations through the centre. We opened the scoring in the eighth minute, then it was a question of technique.
Brazil easily beat Paraguay 4:1. And this is the first victory in an official match in nine months: the last one was on September 13, 2023 in a match against Peru! It is easy to say here “they are back”, but it is too early: Paraguay signed for its own defeat by deciding to play openly. Millions of square meters of space in front of Vinicius and gaps between the lines, again and again. And this is in contrast to the “bus” in Costa Rica, when Vinicius himself was greeted by three people.
Winger Savio came into this game in a surprising way. In the first round he came on as a substitute and immediately gave an advantage, but now he convinced the coach: he came on in place of Raphinha from the first minutes. A subtle and sharp Girona player, ready at any moment to take charge and launch a quick attack. Paraguay did everything possible to make this boy calmly start the combinations and aggravate on the right, allowing Vinicius and Rodrigo to play more freely. At the end of the first half, the boy scored the first goal for the national team.
The only memory that Paraguay has from this match is a nice shot by the central defender at the beginning of the first half.
Match review and video of all goals:
The Brazilian coach took away Vinicius’ hat-trick. The star didn’t even congratulate his partner on the goal.
Venezuela is in the playoffs! Mexico, by some miracle, did not tie in the end
Two weeks ago, no one considered them favorites, but they were the first to guarantee access to the playoffs, having defeated key rivals: the match against Jamaica, last ranked, still remained. The team’s performance may not be that of a favorite, but at the right moment Fernando Batista’s boys take a step forward and achieve a result. Although not without luck.
This is what happened with Ecuador: the elimination of their opponent helped, in the second half they got much worse, scoring two at the end. It was the same with Mexico: already at the beginning of the match, the opponent created chances, but counterattacked and missed a dangerous attack: they conceded a penalty. Former Zenit player Salomon Rondon confidently scored. In the match, Venezuela had only two shots on goal.
Therefore, all questions to Mexico. The coach has repeatedly said in interviews that what happens in 2026 and 2030 is important to him, but what to do now? Feyenoord forward Santiago Jiménez missed three opportunities. And in the last minutes, Orbelín Pineda missed a penalty! We still have a chance to qualify: we need to beat Ecuador in the last match.
The full Cops 2024 match stream and highlights are available on Okko.
And Venezuela is happy. Salomón Rondón was recognized as the best player of the match, but in an interview he himself highlighted the role of the goalkeeper: “Romo takes all the credit.” Rafael Romo has 2.82 goals prevented and five saves, including penalties!
Panama is the main sensation. It left the United States practically behind
While the Americans easily dismantled the Bolivians in the first round, the “canaleros” (an unusual nickname for the Panamanian national team) made a strong bet in the game against Uruguay: open play, courage and determination, short plays. Of course, in the end they succeeded in full, but they declared themselves.
The US team decided to put pressure on Panama: from the first minutes, Carrasquillo, through whom the attacks were built, received repeated blows to the legs. In response, the Panamanians did not slow down and occasionally responded with rudeness: in the 11th minute, the forward flew towards the American goalkeeper in an attempt to reach the ball.
The match promised to be hot and was already reaching its emotional peak. In the 18th minute, Timothy Weah dismissed an opponent very abruptly and was caught by the VAR cameras. The referee watched exactly one replay and almost immediately returned the red card to the player. Four minutes later, Folarin Balogun, after a chaotic combination, somehow collected the ball and scored with a beautiful shot: the United States took the lead in the minority.
But just four minutes later, Carrasquillo cut the lines, Blackman collected the ball and tied the score from outside the area.
The Americans, according to Ecuadorian standards, got caught up in the second half of the first round and at the end of the game began to hold on to the draw, and still lost. And in the 88th minute, a second fire broke out: Carrasquillo made a very Latin American play: without trying to play the ball, he hit Pulisic’s legs from behind. The direct red card is the second in this match and the fourth in the entire round. The United States will not recover and will fall into the abyss: if Panama defeats Bolivia, it will definitely qualify for the playoffs.
Panama national team players in a match against the United States
Photo: Todd Kirkland/Getty Images
Copa América 3rd round:
Argentina – Peru (June 30); Chile – Canada (June 30); Mexico – Ecuador (July 1); Jamaica – Venezuela (July 1); Colombia (July 3); Costa Rica – Paraguay (July 3).
