Friendly matches in soccer are seemingly unimportant to a person who does not know much about the sport. However, the level of importance these games have today is greater than what many people would expect. During March, every professional left their club in the middle of the month to go off and practice with their national teams. From March 20th till the 26th, different countries faced off to demonstrate their skills and debut some players that hold potential. One might be asking, why are these games so important if they are basically scrimmages? And what are these teams winning or getting out of this? The answer to this question is quite simple: the Copa America and the Euro Cup are only a couple of months away. Both tournaments are taken very seriously, and it is an honor to win. So here I will go into detail about some Latin American countries, how their matches went, and the strategies a couple of teams used. Also, I will discuss what this outcome might mean to these countries and how they might play in Copa America.
The first country I will cover is the expected winner of this year’s Copa America – Argentina. Argentina faced off against Costa Rica and El Salvador, which are not as competitive teams. Since they are World Cup champions and had a streak of 36 matches undefeated, these teams were not much of a challenge for them. The only team to beat Argentina is Uruguay, who is also in the Copa America. However, many people do not think Uruguay can pull out a win against Argentina again because of their strong form. As for their friendlies, Argentina beat El Salvador 3 nil and Costa Rica 3 to 1. During both games, Lionel Scaloni, their head coach, decided to incorporate both their starters and bench players to examine whether or not those players would make the cut for the 23 players per team in the Copa America. Against El Salvador, Argentina was dominant with 79% possession of the ball and a whopping 14 shots on target. For the game against Costa Rica, there were many more starting players, which made sense as to why there was 74% possession. There were also 13 shots on target, and they had complete control over the game from minute one. After the friendlies, Argentina proved why they were the favorites and a force to be reckoned with. Additionally, their amazing performance in the World Cup Qualifications proves why there is a 33.3% chance they will win this year’s Copa America.
A team that proved to be in form and completely refuted the claims that they are the worst national team the country has seen is Brazil. Brazil had a difficult schedule since they were put up to face England and Spain. Prior to the Friendlies, Brazil seemed to be in terrible form. After three straight losses and a tie, many people were questioning this team and whether they would make it far in this year’s Copa America. Yet Brazil is filled with surprises, coming out with a win against England and a tie against Spain. These two games marked their new head coach, Dorival Junior, first games with the Brazilian national team. Junior seemed not to disappoint, even with many key players like the goalkeeper, Alison, and Neymar, who were out due to injuries. Brazil’s Golden Kid Endrick scored the last-minute goal against England, ultimately winning the game. The ball possession was quite even, and shots were on target as well. England played with their starting lineup; however, they could not clutch the win. As for their game against Spain, Brazil tied 3-3. This high-scoring match incorporated the Main Spanish players and mostly starting players for Brazil. As for this game, Spain had more ball possession and shots on target. The last-minute penalty scored by Lucas Paqueta in the 96th minute saved Brazil from an upsetting loss. Overall, I think that this helped Brazil’s confidence and made them feel that they had a chance to win this tournament.
The next team that has 14.3% of winning the Copa America but had a mediocre performance is Uruguay. Uruguay surprisingly did well in the World Cup Qualifiers, ending Argentina’s 36-match winning streak in Argentina and beating Brazil 2-0. Yet, against Ivory Coast and Basque Country, they played an underwhelming game. Ivory Coast just came back from winning the African Cup, and Basque Country is not really a well-known team. Their performance made many question whether they would be able to beat the strong contenders in the Copa America or not. Uruguay’s infamous head coach, Marcelo Bielsa, had a different approach than most coaches and decided to put all of Uruguay’s bench players on the pitch against Basque Country. What seemed like an easy win for Uruguay ultimately led to them trailing by one point at halftime and somehow holding on to a tie. Many people were left shocked after the outcome, but many Uruguayans put a lot of trust in this coach. It was also a team filled with bench players, ultimately meaning that those who were there had to fight for their spot in the Copa America. After that came the Ivory Coast game, where Uruguay had more control but fell short because of some errors made by the defense. This African team was too fast, and Uruguay was not playing at the level many felt it should have been. After both games, many Uruguayans started to doubt the team and their capabilities. However, after both games, the players and the coach were satisfied and implored the Uruguayan people to have faith in them. So even though this is not the outcome they may have wanted, it seems that these games did not lower their spirits, and they seem to be ready to make Uruguay proud in the Copa America.
Another team that has grabbed the attention of many people for their unbeaten streak is Colombia. Colombia beat both Spain and Romania with composure, demonstrating that they were a force to be reckoned with. From the beginning of the World Cup Qualifiers until now, no one seems to be able to beat them. Against Romania and Spain, Nestor Lorenzo, Colombia’s head coach, played most of his starting lineup. When playing 1 nil game against Spain, they had 42% possession of the ball but still ended on top because of their attack. They shot 5 times on target and, when they had the ball, made many dangerous plays that could have been goals. Through their 3-2 match with Romania, they asserted dominance from the beginning, making beautiful plays and attacking many times on target. In all, it is clear that Lorenzo’s incentive was to give Colombians hope and show that they were one of the contenders for winning the tournament. Their 7.69% of winning the Cup seems more likely after their very strong performance. If this Colombian team keeps on improving and playing hard, big upsets can occur, making them victorious.
The competition of Copa America seems to get even more difficult as time goes on. The United States, Venezuela, and Chile had promising matches demonstrating their capability of creating an upset. These matches might seem useful, but in reality, they hold so much power when it comes to the player’s confidence and the country’s faith in coming out victorious.