PRESSURE IS ON FOR BOTH SIDES
Brazil faces Argentina for spot in Copa final
South American soccer giants Brazil and Argentina meet today in a Copa America semifinal.
BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil — Brazil will be under pressure for its future and Argentina for its past when they meet in the Copa América semifinals today at Mineirão Stadium.
The hosts need the title to try to calm the waters for coach Tite until the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Lionel Messi’s team seeks its first trophy in 26 years, which would also be the first major one for the superstar in the white and blue shirt.
In the other semifinal, defending champion Chile and underdog Peru play in Porto Alegre on Wednesday.
In a change from the quarterfinals, teams will play extra time if the first 90 minutes are drawn.
Neither Tite nor Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni have given much suggestion into how their teams will play their superclásico in Belo Horizonte. Sunday’s training sessions were closed to the media.
The Brazilian coach doesn’t like to make changes, meaning his team could stick to the 4-1-3-1 formation it has used for most of the tournament, with sensation Everton, Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino closing midfield gaps and helping Gabriel Jesús up front. Tite is under pressure for his conservative approach since he picked a squad filled with veterans, which signaled his desperation to win.
Scaloni has made changes to his inexperienced team for every Copa América match, and is under pressure to be more conservative against Brazil by ending its effective offensive trio of Messi, Lautaro Martínez and Sergio Agüero. The latter two could be replaced by winger Ángel di María, who has performed well in roles that include defending, or midfielder Giovani Lo Celso.
Brazil’s and Argentina’s Copa América campaigns have been far from impressive.
The hosts have two victories and two draws, advancing to the semifinals only after a penalty shootout win against Paraguay following a goal-less first 90. The team was booed by fans in three of the four matches, and is missing the injured Neymar to break stronger defensive lines.
Argentina comfortably beat Venezuela 2-0 in the quarterfinals in its best performance so far, but it started with a defeat by the same score against Colombia, drew against Paraguay in a match which almost sent it crashing out of the tournament, and won against Qatar 2-0 to advance to the knockout stage.
CHILE-PERU: Most thought Chile’s glory days were over when it failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
Its golden generation was considered done and few expected “La Roja” to be capable of adding to the two Copa América titles it won in 2015 and 2016.
But nearly two years after Chile’s demoralizing elimination in World Cup qualifying, a squad with many of the players who participated in the team’s successful run has put Chile back in the hunt for a title.
Victory against Peru in Wednesday’s Copa América semifinal will leave Chile a game away from its third straight South American title, a feat no team has achieved in more than seven decades.
Chile has been under pressure since the day it failed to qualify for the World Cup in Russia two years ago.
The team’s performances in friendlies under new coach Reinaldo Rueda were disappointing, and criticism grew in the lead-up to the Copa América, with local media and fans carrying few expectations ahead of the tournament in Brazil.
But the veterans from Chile’s consecutive Copa América triumphs — among them Arturo Vidal, Gary Medel and Alexis Sánchez — showed there was still more to come.
“We knew the best of Chile would eventually come out,” said the 32-yearold Vidal, who converted one of the penalties in Chile’s 5-4 shootout win over Colombia in the quarterfinals on Friday. “This generation is hungry to continue achieving great things.”
COLOMBIA: Another elimination for Colombia, a new wave of death threats against a player.
Twenty-five years after the murder of a player whose own-goal led to Colombia’s elimination at a World Cup, the nation is seeing threats against a player who missed a decisive penalty kick in the Copa América.
Defender William Tesillo said on Monday he and his family have received death threats because of his miss in a quarterfinal on Friday.
Tesillo’s wife, Daniela Mejía, said on Instagram some of the threats alluded to former Colombia defender Andrés Escobar, who was murdered days after he scored an own-goal in the 1994 World Cup.