A quick USMNT and Mexico, Copa America take

copa-amercoa-centenario-usaCopa America is Today! The excitement begins. So let me just make a quick and possibly obvious observation on the USMNT and Mexico teams for this tournament.

Lets look at the preparation games played by these teams. US played Puerto Rico, Ecuador and then Bolivia. Puerto Rico is a very poor team and more like a cascarita than a real game. US won easily, but did get a goal scored against them. Ecuador, is a bigger challenge of course. US came up with their typical strong defense and late goal to get the win. A late goal and the way the game was played gave Ecuador the ability to say that it was an even and well played game. That it was an unfortunate goal that just came late. Then the Bolivia game, is another easy game vs the bottom of the CONMEBOL table.

Basically the US taking it easy for prep games. I will say prep games may mean very little. It is the play in the actual tournament that counts.

Keep that in mind as we now shift gears to Mexico. El Tri played vs Paraguay and then Chile. Many said the Paraguay game was not needed, and just a Chile matchup would be sufficient. A 1-0 win vs Paraguay is expected. It is the 1-0 Chile win that is interesting. Chile is the defending Copa America champion. They have the likes of Alexis and that drunk guy with a mohawk, Vidal. They play in Europe with vital teams. Yet they still lose to a lowly Mexico. Chicharito scores a late goal to stun the Chilenos. Now much of this game, Mexico was defending and not possessing like they normally do. It could be said it was not the best game for Mexico and that Chile deserved more. Mexico however with a threat like Chucky Lozano and great passing by Miguel Layun gave Mexico the opportunity to win off the head of Chicharito. A late goal that didn’t give enough time for Chile to react. Especially since they subbed out Vidal and Alexis. A win by Mexico that seemed very much like the USMNT wins.

So no need to be fully impressed by either teams. The Chile win by Mexico should give more hope than any of the 3 USMNT wins, but that is not saying much based on Mexico’s overall play vs Chile.

Enjoy the Copa!!!

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