A football lover’s wet dream

What an amazing time to be alive!! Two great events of the most beautiful sport are happening almost simultaneously! The Copa America Centenario started and the UEFA Euro Cup is coming up on June 10th!! Here at the Leipzig Glocal, we’d like to give you some tips on where to watch the best of international football, and commentary on the most emblematic games.

The Copa America Centenario, taking place in the United States, started last Friday with the opening game between the American and Colombian teams. Before saying a couple of words about that game, it may be pertinent to say a few words about why this tournament is so special.

First and foremost, it is football, and that should place it as a top priority for those calling themselves homo sapiens! Second, (and now seriously) this is a one-time championship celebrating the one hundred years of the tournament, hence “centenario” (centenary).

The world's most beautiful football: Euro Cup! Copa America! Commentary from https://leipglo.com.
Past Argentina versus Colombia football game, flickr shot, 2015. Muladar News.

It’s normally just the Copa América (with an accent because it’s America in Spanish), a tournament involving only the ten South American countries with national football teams and two guest national teams. This special cup involves 16 teams from both sides of the Panama Canal, or the entire American continent, for those of you who slept through high school geography class.

Also, it’s hosted by the United States, which is not a member of the regular Copa América championship, but has been a guest team in the past. They have the infrastructure in place to host such a tournament.

This is important, since spending millions of dollars to build or refurbish the needed sporting infrastructure for this type of event can become politically problematic to say the least… ask the Brazilians about it! It should also help Americans to embrace true football over false football, a.k.a. American football (it’s not a bad sport, but there is only room for one football in this world, as this American coach in London found out…)

Now let’s talk about the games.

The opening game was not a bad game, but no thriller either; the Colombian side ended up winning 2-0. The first and early goal by Colombian defender Zapata was a great strike from a well-rehearsed corner. However, the American side, coached by former Germany striker and captain Jürgen Klinsmann, was a disappointment. They defended well, but when going forward, the red, white, and blue, was just… well… blue. It was like after they crossed ¾ of the field, their minds went blank and all signs of creativity was lost. The Colombian side was well organized at the back, and they took advantage of the Americans’ lack of clarity in their offensives to keep pressure on the American defense for most of the game.

Ecuador vs. Brazil also sounded exciting, but failed to deliver any spectacle. Both teams applied offensive pressure with sporadic good plays, but nothing outstanding, which is why the game ended in a boring 0-0. However, I would say that Brazil lost symbolically. The Ecuadorians held their own, but the canarinhos showed no signs of the football quality that they’re famous for. It looks like they’re still shell-shocked from the 7-1 Mineirazo against Die Mannschaft (insert evil laugh here…).

Another very promising game on June 6th (today!) is Argentina vs. Chile. It is a rematch of the previous Copa America final in 2015 narrowly won by Chile. Both teams are candidates to take the trophy home. For Argentina, it is a must to win a tournament, since they have not taken the crown in 23 years! And Die Mannschaft can proudly say that they have helped to maintain Messi’s dry spell by knocking them out of the last three FIFA World Cups (you know what comes in here…).

In Germany, you can live stream Copa America games (click here for more info, in German though).

More posts will follow on the ongoing Copa America and on the upcoming UEFA Euro Cup!

Cheers!

A political scientist who follows global events with pious devotion. A Venezuelan by virtue of being born in that interesting tropical place, but who has lived and studied in several places around the world. He will write some analysis on important global issues, especially if they have an impact on Germany or Leipzig.

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