Copa America Power Ranking: Colombia above Argentina as Brazil crash out...

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It barely feels like yesterday that the Copa America kicked off in the United States, yet we’ve somehow already reached the semi-final stage.

Lionel Messi’s Argentina stand just two games with a third successive major tournament triumph, but do they look like champions in the making?

Here are our latest power rankings, rating every side from the quarter-finals, and assessing what their performance levels so far tell us about each side’s likelihood of lifting the trophy in the Florida sunshine next week.

Note: If you want to see how our earlier takes have aged – gulp – you can also read our ranking ahead of the tournament, as well as after the first, second and third group-stage matches.

8. Panama🟰 Panama did well to progress from their group, but a quarter-final with Colombia always felt like one game too far – and so it proved.

Their 5-0 hammering shouldn’t deflect from a positive tournament for the CONCACAF side who demonstrated enough to suggest they’ll be back in the States for the 2026 World Cup.

“We cannot forget that we achieved great results before today and we are still proud,” manager Thomas Christensen said afterwards.

“But we played against an opponent that has been unbeaten in 27 matches, it’s a national team at its prime, maybe its best.”

7. Brazil⬇️ Brazil were hustled and harried out of this year’s Copa America by Uruguay after a 0-0 draw that redefined the term ‘anti-football’.

Eder Militao and Douglas Luiz missed their penalties in the shoot-out and the country most synonymous with football exited the tournament with just one win from four matches.

This Selecao is a pale imitation of some of their previous free-wheeling sides and it’s a crying shame to watch them play football these days.

6. Venezuela⬇️ Venezuela can hold their heads up high, joining New Zealand from the 2010 World Cup and Slovenia at Euro 2024 as sides that went a whole tournament unbeaten in regulation time.

Canada took their crown of this Copa America’s true surprise package in the quarter-finals, but Venezuela ought to be proud of their efforts after taking maximum points from the group stage, beating Mexico, Ecuador and Jamaica before falling on penalties to the CONCACAF outfit.

They may have missed a golden opportunity to match their best-ever Copa America showing, but there’s a lot to be optimistic about.

Play like this in the remainder of the 2026 qualifying campaign and there’s every chance they’ll be back on American soil as World Cup debutants in a couple of years.

5. Ecuador⬆️ Ecuador showed both courage and quality against the reigning Copa America and world champions in their quarter-final.

Having kicked off the tournament with an underwhelming 2-1 comeback defeat to dark horses Venezuela, but they bounced back to qualify with four points from Jamaica and Mexico.

The performance against Argentina was their best yet. They created double the xG (1.61 to 0.80) of the heavy favourites and were well worth their injury-time equaliser, making up for Enner Valencia’s earlier missed spot-kick.

Having taken it to a shootout in the dying minutes, they must’ve believed fate was smiling upon them when Lionel Messi struck the crossbar with a misjudged panenka.

Were it not for Emi Martinez’s superhuman penalty-saving ability, they might well have produced one of the great Copa America upsets. Unlucky not to be in the final four.

READ NEXT: 8 modern-day legends playing their last major international tournament this summer

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4. Canada⬆️ Jesse Marsch’s unflinchingly positive outlook can grate if things aren’t going well (ask Leeds United fans), but his sunny disposition following Canada’s opening 2-0 defeat to hot favourites Argentina has since proven well-founded.

The USMNT reportedly rejected the chance to appoint the 50-year-old Wisconsinite, instead backing Gregg Berhalter, but they may well now regret that decision now after stomaching a group-stage exit while seeing Marsch make an immediate impact with the Canucks.

Canada had their moments against Argentina, which will give them belief ahead of their semi-final rematch, especially as they’ve grown into the tournament as it’s progressed. Despite being pegged back and taken to penalties in their quarter-final against Venezuela, it was surely their best performance yet.

They showed naivety to get caught out on the break for Salomon Rondon’s long-range stunner, but over 90 minutes they created the better chances, registering almost double Venezuela’s xG, all the while attempting 16 shots – their most to date this tournament.

Argentina should not take these Copa America debutants lightly.

3. Uruguay⬇️ After a group stage where Uruguay blitzed their opponents with goal-laden displays, they reverted to more traditional tactics to oust Brazil in an eye-bleeding encounter in Las Vegas.

Marcelo Bielsa’s men dug deep into their ‘garra charrua’ heritage to foul, trip and intimidate their Brazilian opponents.

In a bruising encounter with 41 fouls from both teams, Darwin Nunez missed the best chance before Uruguay were ice-cool from the penalty spot to book a last-four encounter with Colombia.

“When we have to play, we play,” said Manuel Ugarte afterwards. “When we have to fight, we fight.”

2. Argentina⬇️ We’ve remained pretty steadfast with Argentina in the top spot, but the nature of their lackadaisical and unconvincing display against Ecuador has us asking questions.

They struggled to create chances against a physical and competitive side, although with Emiliano Martinez on hand to step up for penalties you’d back them in any draw scenario.

On the plus side, they’ve only conceded one goal in four matches so far, and they were minutes from maintaining their unblemished defensive record with what we’d have been obliged to call a hard-fought victory had they seen it out.

Dare we say it, even Lionel Messi almost looked ordinary last time out. You’d still expect them make it past Canada in the semis, but they’ll need to up their game if they’re to conquer quality opposition in the Miami Gardens final.

READ: Emi Martinez’s penalty heroics saved Messi’s panenka blushes in wild Copa America scenes

1. Colombia⬆️ Colombia swept into the semi-finals with a 5-0 hammering of Panama that should send a shiver down the spine of their remaining opponents.

Jhon Cordoba’s eighth-minute goal set the tone before James Rodriguez converted a penalty for his first goal of the tournament shortly afterwards.

Luis Diaz put Colombia three goals ahead before the break with a remarkable chip before strikes from Richard Rios and Miguel Borja put the icing on the cake.

“The match wasn’t as easy as you might draw from the result,” manager Nestor Lozano said afterwards in an attempt to downplay expectations.

“It was very physical, Panama is a team that has a game-plan that they manage well. They were lacking a bit in their finishing, and we were clinical. We won by a great difference but it was a tough match.”

Uruguay await in what should be a fascinating match.

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Source link : https://www.planetfootball.com/lists-and-rankings/copa-america-power-rankings-2024-quarter-final-stage Author : Publish date : 2024-07-07 11:00:17 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source .