Panevěžská hopes to beat Helsinki twice
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Jul 16, 2024
With Colombia tied with Brazil in the final round of the group stage, the eight places in the Copa America quarterfinals have all been decided. Compared with Argentina, which is the only team in the upper half, there are more strong teams in the lower half, including Uruguay, Brazil and Colombia.
Many fans believe that the final outcome of this Copa America is that Argentina will easily advance to the final in the top half of the group. After all, neither Ecuador nor Venezuela or Canada is a match for the Pampas Eagles. According to the latest world rankings: Argentina is No. 1, Ecuador is No. 30, Canada is No. 48, Venezuela is No. 54, and the Pampas Eagles are leading by a huge margin.
In addition to the five-star Brazil, the lower half also includes Uruguay, which qualified as the first place in the group stage with a perfect record. Now Uruguay does not seem to be the favorite to win the championship, and there are not many strong and outstanding star players in the team, but under the leadership of Marcelo Bielsa, the offensive means are diversified, with both long passes and short passes. The best proof is that they scored 9 goals in 3 rounds of group matches, ranking first in the number of goals among the participating teams. Brazil's hidden danger lies in Yunisios Zulia. After all, he is suspended due to accumulated yellow cards and will not play against Uruguay, which adds hope for the latter to advance.
Don't ignore the hidden powerhouse - Colombia. Many fans' inherent impression of South American teams is Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. It seems that these teams are the favorites to win the championship. But Colombia at this stage is by no means an idle player. According to Opta statistics, Colombia had the highest average effective ball possession per game among all teams after three rounds of group matches, and surpassed Brazil to become the first in the group. These are all proofs of their strength. In addition, there is another terrifying data. Colombia has remained unbeaten in 26 consecutive games since March 2022 (20 wins and 6 draws). No national team has achieved such an impressive record in the same period. After Nestor Lorenzo took over the coaching position, he redefined the core axis and brought back James Rodriguez , who had conflicts with the previous coach , to completely transform the team.
Key data:
1. Argentina has never lost to Ecuador in the Copa America. The two teams have played against each other 16 times in this tournament, with Argentina having an absolute advantage with 11 wins and 5 draws.
2. Among all the teams in the semi-finals of this tournament, four teams have Argentine head coaches, namely Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela and Colombia.
3. Nadal Martinez succeeded Leandro Messi. He scored in every group match this time, a total of 4 goals, while the total number of goals for the Argentine team was 5.
4. Panama completed a comeback - advancing to the knockout stage of a major tournament for the first time in history, and the entire team is worth less than 25 million euros.
5. Canada advanced to the knockout stage in its first Copa America appearance, becoming the third team outside of CONMEBOL to achieve this feat.
6. Ecuador has not defeated a South American team in the Copa America in the past 23 years. The last time was in 2001 when they beat Venezuela 4-0.
7. Bielsa led his team to face Brazil in the America's Cup twice, and both times ended in defeat.
8. According to statistics, Brazil has only won 1 of its last 7 official matches, including 1 win, 3 draws and 3 losses.
9. James Rodriguez has provided 3 assists in this tournament, second only to Liiano Messi in a single tournament since relevant data was available in 2011 .
10. Darren Nunez has missed five big chances so far in this tournament, the most among all players.