Copa America Kicks-off
Good Morning! It's June 20th, and that means it's the start of COPA America with Argentina taking on Canada in the opening game in Atlanta.
Tune into live from Atlanta as we preview Copa America with AFP’s US Soccer Correspondent, Simon Evans:
Finally, Copa America gets under way tonight with the world champions Argentina up against Jesse Marsch’s Canada in front of a sold-out 70,000 crowd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Yes, the Euros may be great, but over here we have the world champions, the GOAT, Brazil, Bielsaball, NFL stadiums with grass on top of artificial turf, Alexi Lalas rants, and endless online debates about Gregg Berhalter.
Plus you can actually watch it on television, on your sofa, after dinner rather than having to sneak a look on your phone in the office. (Its an 8pm kick off and on all these channels)
On paper, Argentina should ease into the tournament with a comfortable win but the `15-times Copa America champions will need no reminders of how early games in tournaments can provide early wake-up calls - Saudi Arabia anyone?
Canada will be captained by 23-year-old Alphonso Davies, whose journey from a refugee camp in Ghana to Bayern Munich via the Vancouver Whitecaps, is well worth revisiting. He’s a great story but also a player to watch in this tournament.
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni knows there is going to be a big narrative around Messi’s final Copa America (he turns 37 on Monday) and regardless of how this tournament goes, constant chatter about whether he will be around as a 39-year-old to play in the 2026 World Cup, so he tried to dampen down that debate by saying we should all just enjoy watching him play, while we can.
And he’s right - it’s great watching Messi for Inter Miami in MLS but another all together watching him play for his country with a title on the line.
But we might also start to get a glimpse into the future of Argentina with young players such as Alejandro Garnacho of Manchester United and Valentin Carboni (Inter Milan/Monza) likely to feature from the bench initially.
And we’ll talk about it all in some depth on our Audio Newsletter (or podcast if you prefer) available on all good podcast platforms.
Tomorrow we’ll look in a bit more depth at Friday’s game between Peru and Chile and also look ahead to the weekend’s games which includes the USA’s debut against Bolivia on Sunday as well as first looks at Mexico and Uruguay.
EURO 2024 Round-up
Where to watch: all TV broadcasters around the globe from UEFA
Germany beat Hungary 2-0 - report here and bonus Jurgen Klinsmann analysis video here from ESPN.
Croatia 2 Albania 2 was another good all-East European contest. (UEFA.com)
Scotland finally got their Braveheart on to earn a 1-1 draw against Switzerland.
Inspired by this particular Scotland fan: “You’ll never take our Tennant’s Super!”
Oh, wait…
It’s a wee bit early to start on the permutations, but here’s what every team needs to do to qualify out of their groups.
EURO 2024 POWER RANKINGS
CBS, FOX, and even The Daily Telegraph. Interesting to compare them to ESPN’s pre-tournament rankings.
At least they all have Scotland dead last. Although, they made a decent fist of it against Switzerland in their 1-1 draw.
And where the money’s going:
In Other Soccer News
MLS Midweek Round-up: Inter Miami beat Columbus Crew 2-1 without, Messi, Suarez, and Rojas. Real Salt Lake go 15 unbeaten winning 4-3 at Sporting Kansas City. FC Dallas beat Minnestoa United 5-3 with help from a Petar Musa hat-trick. 16 year-old Julian Hall scored his first MLS goal moments after coming on in the 88th minute to snatch a 2-2 draw for New York Red Bulls against FC Montreal. Seattle Sounders scored twice in the second half to secure a 2-2 draw against Houston Dynamo with Paul Rothrock scoring in his first MLS start, and Jackson Ragen scoring his first career goal. Atlanta United won 1-0 away at D.C. United, Thiago Almada scoring the only goal. LAFC left it late to salvage a 1-1 against Austin FC, Kai Kamara equalizing on 90 minutes, which also put an end to their eight-game winning streak. FC Cincinnati also left it late, scoring in the tenth minute of stoppage time to overcome Philadelphia Union 4-3.
Chicago Fire’s Xherdan Shaqiri is the first player to score in the EUROs while playing his club football in North or South America (@OptaJack). Even more impressively, he’s the only European to have scored in each of the last six major international tournaments. (@Squawka)
PREMIER LEAGUE: UEFA have blocked Manchester Utd from signing Jean-Clair Todibo from Nice due to a clampdown on multi-clubs owners trading with each other. (@TelegrapDucker)
Stat of the Day
Did you know….
The penalty was invented in 1891 after a free-kick (which was customary back in the day) had been awarded for handball on the goal line and the opposition crowded the ball making it impossible to score?
On average, PK success rate is 70%; at the EUROs it’s 77%.
Players who focus on the keeper have their penalties saved 40% of the time as opposed to those who don’t that have a much lower rate at 20%?
(Wired)
The Daily Soccer Quote of the Day
"They've told me it's going to be 12.30… from what I know, Jurgen complained a lot about this so probably they thought, with Jurgen being out let's put them at 12.30 again!" - Arne Slot attributing an early kick-off conspiracy theory to Jurgen Klopp.
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