With Mexico questioned by the poor football they have been showing, Ecuador debuts as the strongest team in Group B of the Copa América in the United States, also formed by Venezuela, which wants to stop being underdogs, and a Jamaica affected by the absence of one of its main players.
The action in this bracket, in which none of the teams has won the competition in its history, begins on Saturday, with duels between Ecuador and Venezuela, in Santa Clara, California, and Mexico and Jamaica, in Houston, Texas.
Whoever finishes in the first two positions at the end of the first phase will face in the quarterfinals the leader and second in Group A, formed by Argentina (current champion), Peru, Chile and Canada.
Ecuador seeks to consolidate
In recent years, Ecuador has taken a leap forward in South American football: it has been to two of the last three World Cups (2014 and 2022) and produced names like Enner Valencia, Piero Hincapié, Moisés Caicedo and the 16-year-old gem Kendry Páez .
The players led by Spanish coach Félix Sánchez arrive at the oldest national team tournament in the world with a record of six wins in the last ten games, in which they indicated a trend that could work both for and against them.
The Ecuadorians emerge victorious in duels against teams of similar weight (they beat Uruguay 2-1 and Chile 1-0 and drew 0-0 with Colombia in 2023), but lose when facing giants like Italy (2-0 , in March) and Argentina (1 to 0, in June).
“We go with the confidence of being able to compete and try to achieve a positive result,” said Sánchez.
The average age of our team for CONMEBOL @CopaAmerica. pic.twitter.com/wsQhjTTH18
— La Tri 🇪🇨 (@LaTri) June 20, 2024
Mexico wants to silence criticism
In Mexico, coach Jaime Lozano is heavily criticized for the poor results and the way he is managing the renewal of the squad with a view to the 2026 World Cup, which the country is organizing together with the United States and Canada.
The most successful team in North America, with twelve Gold Cups and a Confederations Cup (1999) in its gallery, Mexico lost the last two preparatory matches: a hard 4-0 defeat by Uruguay and a 3-0 defeat to 2 for a Brazilian team with some reserves.
In March, they lost the Concacaf Nations League final to the United States (2-0), whom they haven’t beaten in almost five years.
To renew the squad, he left out famous faces such as goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa (38 years old) and strikers Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano (28) and Raúl Jiménez (33).
One of his bets, goalkeeper Luis Malagón, from América, was injured before the game against Brazil and will be out of the tournament.
Colombian naturalized Mexican Julián Quiñones starts as an offensive weapon for Mexico, which has not competed in the Copa América since 2016, when it was humiliated by Chile (7-0) in the quarterfinals.
Today begins the @CopaAmerica! 🏆🌎🤩
And we’re counting the hours until our debut arrives on Saturday! 🙌🏼
Together in this adventure! 🫂🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/O9BK8jl8Fy
— National Team (@miseleccionmx) June 20, 2024
Venezuela tries to surprise
The only South American team that has never played in a World Cup, Venezuela continues its campaign to stop being the “ugly duckling”.
The country has grown in football in recent years and occupies fourth place in the South American Qualifiers, which qualifies directly for the 2026 World Cup.
But the recent record of Fernando ‘Bocha’ Batista’s Venezuela is not very encouraging: five consecutive matches without winning, with three draws (Ecuador, Peru and Guatemala) and two defeats (Colombia and Italy).
“This Copa América will help us to remain competitive, so that, in each game, the opponent feels what Venezuela is doing today,” said Batista.
The Argentine coach called up his best players: from the experienced Tomás Rincón and Salomón Rondón, to Yangel Herrera, Yeferson Soteldo, Darwin Machís and Jefferson Savarino.
The @CopaAmerica is just around the corner and La Vinotinto TV will be present! 📺
Subscribe to our channel #YouTube so you can follow the day-to-day life of the team in the United States. 🫂
➡️ https://t.co/YqpXOCBGsb#AlwaysVinotinto 🇻🇪 #VibraElContinente pic.twitter.com/SV2LN1Hbqg
— FVF (@FVF_Oficial) June 20, 2024
jamaica sem bailey
Jamaica’s preparation for its third appearance in the Copa América, after the disappointments of 2015 and 2016, was anything but calm due to a controversy involving what is probably its best-known player: Leon Bailey.
Although he was called up by Icelandic coach Heimir Hallgrímsson, the Aston Villa striker withdrew from the list amid a dispute with the federation.
Without Bailey, Jamaica’s hopes are pinned on strikers Michail Antonio (West Ham), Shamar Nicholson (Clermont) and Demarai Gray (Al-Ettifaq) and midfielder Bobby Decordova-Reid (Fulham).
Third placed in the recent Concacaf Nations League, Jamaica will be looking to score and win a match for the first time in the Copa América.
Working Hard in Houston 🇯🇲⚽️❤#Reggaeboyz#Jamaicalandwelove#CopaAmérica #Jamaica pic.twitter.com/NWn3YEgDgy
— Official J.F.F (@jff_football) June 20, 2024
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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