Copa America 2024 continues with Group B play and an interesting litmus test for two of CONCACAF’s best teams.
Jamaica — a Gold Cup and Nations League semi-finalist — might finally be ascending the regional ladder to the spot right below the North American powers though this has yet to translate to the World Cup stage for the current generation of players.
Mexico is bringing a less experienced roster with several of their usual stars not on the roster, and a pair of pre-Copa America friendly losses don’t have them off on the right foot despite being the highest ranked team in the group.
These two combined with a pair of solid CONEMBOL teams form a very interesting a potentially wide open group from top to bottom. Ecuador has turned in several impressive exits from the World Cup group stage but has yet to turn that into knockout success at Copa America. Venezuela could be on track to end one the most dubious run in all of South America and make their first World Cup ever in two years.
Someone has to advance out of this group and with Mexico fielding an under strength squad, the potential favorites have definitely fallen back to what could be a very interesting pack.
Copa America 2024 Group A Primer: Argentina, Canada, Chile, Peru
TV SCHEDULE
June 22: Ecuador vs. Venezuela: 6 p.m., FS1, Univision/TUDN — Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, CA
June 22: Mexico vs. Jamaica: 9 p.m., FS1, Univision/TUDN — NRG Stadium, Houston, TX
June 26: Ecuador vs. Jamaica: 6 p.m., FS1, UniMas/TUDN — Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, NV
June 26: Venezuela vs. Mexico: 9 p.m., FS1, Univision/TUDN — SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, CA
June 30: Mexico vs. Ecuador: 8 p.m., FOX, Univision/TUDN — State Farm Stadium, Glendale, AZ
June 30: Jamaica vs. Venezuela: 8 p.m., FS1, UniMas — Q2 Stadium, Austin, TX
ECUADOR [ECU/B2]
Head Coach: Felix Sanchez (ESP)
FIFA Ranking* (as of seeding in November 2023): 32 Nickname: La Tricolor
Qualification: CONEMBOL, Automatic
Appearance: 30th Best Finish: Fourth Place (1959, 1993)
Roster Breakdown: 6 Domestic, 5 Brazil, 3 Belgium, 3 Mexico, 2 England, 2 Germany, 1 Argentina, 1 Czechia, 1 Poland, 1 Turkey, 1 USA/MLS
Recent Matches* (all played in USA): Friendly L vs Argentina 0-1; Friendly W vs Bolivia 3-1, Friend W vs Honduras 2-1
Player To Know: FW Enner Valencia, Internacional (BRA), 86 Int’l caps/41 Int’l goals – The talismanic attacker for Ecuador, Valencia’s legend is well known for his stints in LigaMX with Pachuca and Tigres at the club level despite never reaching similar heights or goalscoring prowess with West Ham or Everton. He’ll always be an international great though and both times Ecuador has gotten to the World Cup he’s been a star, with six goals in two tournaments.
Player To Watch: CDM Moises Caicedo, Chelsea (ENG), 42 Int’l caps/3 Int’l goals – Caicedo is an absolute rock at the number six and could easily affect the game on both ends of the field by transitioning his defensive prowess right into the attack. Hard to imagine a 22 year old with a World Cup goal already under his belt could be underrated but perhaps this is a possible breakout star of the tourney.
Tournament Outlook
Somehow, I feel like I trust Ecuador a lot more than I can trust Mexico right now and since those are the two likely favorites in the group that bodes well for them. They clearly competed against a mostly full-strength Argentina side in the warmup matches (Messi played the final half hour or so) and should be able to notch results against Jamaica and Venezuela. A point or win over Mexico in the group finale should be enough to get them into the knockouts if not top the group.
JAMAICA [JAM/B4]
Head Coach: Heimir Hallgrimsson (ISL)
FIFA Ranking: 55 Nickname: The Reggae Boyz
Qualification: CONCACAF Nations League Semifinalist
Appearance: 3rd Best Finish: Group Stage (2015, 2016)
Roster Breakdown: 4 Domestic, 13 England, 5 USA/MLS, 1 France, 1 Saudi Arabia, 1 Scotland, 1 Turkey
Recent Matches: CONCACAF WCQ 2nd Round – W vs Dominican Republic 1-0; W at Dominica 3-2
Player To Know: GK Andre Blake, Philadelphia Union (USA/MLS), 72 Int’l caps – Of course I’m going to mention the former UConn Husky netminder because Connecticut produces the best CONCACAF goalkeepers.
Player To Watch: DEF Jon Bell, Seattle Sounders (USA/MLS), 1 Int’l cap – And of course we’re going to start our #AnnounceJonBell campaign for Jamaica because that’s what we do here.
Tournament Outlook
I don’t think it is a fluke that this team topped their Nations League group and were seconds away from beating the USA in the semis. The additions of their English based contingent has really boosted the talent on this squad with players like Bobby Decordova-Reid and Michail Antonio, along with the emergence of Kingston born attackers Shamar Nicholson and Leon Bailey. If there is one CONCACAF team to be bullish on, I think it’s the Reggae Boyz especially in a group where they not only have a very serious chance to advance out of but win outright.
Copa America 2024 Recap: Argentina Battles Past Canada 2-0
MEXICO [MEX/B1]
Head Coach: Jamie Lozano (MEX)
FIFA Ranking* (as of seeding in November 2023): 14 Nickname: El Tri
Qualification: CONCACAF Nations League Runner-up; seeded in Pot A as defending Gold Cup champions
Appearance: 11th Best Finish: Runner ups (1993, 2001)
Roster Breakdown: 18 Domestic, 1 England, 1 Greece, 1 Italy, 1 Feyenoord, 1 Porto, 1 Dynamo Moscow, 1 Saudi Arabia, 1 Spain
Recent Matches (all played in USA): Friendly W vs Bolivia 1-0; Friendly L vs Uruguay 0-4; Friendly L vs Brazil 2-3
Player To Know: W Uriel Antuna, Cruz Azul (MEX), 61 int’l caps/13 int’l goals – The former LA Galaxy loanee now plies his trade in LigaMX after leaving Man City without an appearance in England. Primarily a winger but can feature just about anywhere in the attack or midfield and could be asked to play several roles in this tournament.
Player To Watch: FW Santiago Gimenez, Feyenoord (NED), 27 int’l caps/4 int’l goals – A breakout scorer in the Dutch Eredivisie 23 league goals last season, Gimenez should be the likely favorite to be up front in the absence of El Tri’s usual stars.
Tournament Outlook
Memo Ochoa isn’t walking through that door…Chucky Lozano and Raul Jimenez aren’t walking through that door and Mexico have 11 players with single digit caps on this roster so the depth we’re used to seeing this squad have isn’t there as El Tri search for…something. Whatever head coach Jaime Lozano is planning ahead of the 2026 World Cup it seems odd to punt the best chance your first team has at competitive games outside of next summer’s Gold Cup. Their play going back to their Nations League quarterfinals with Honduras has been fairly lackluster though they rebounded nicely against Brazil after that pasting by Uruguay.
VENEZUELA [VEN/B3]
Head Coach: Fernando Batista (ARG)
FIFA Ranking: 49 Nickname: La Vinotinto
Qualification: CONEMBOL, Automatic
Appearance: 20th Best Finish: Fourth Place (2011)
Roster Breakdown: 1 Domestic, 6 Brazil, 3 Colombia, 3 Ecuador, 3 Portugal, 3 Spain, 2 Mexico, 2 USA/MLS, 1 Argentina, 1 Cyprus, 1 France, 1 Italy
Recent Matches (from March 2024, played in USA): Friendly L vs Italy 1-2; Friendly D vs Guatemala 0-0
Player To Know: FW Salomon Rondon, Pachuca (MEX), 104 Int’l caps/41 Int’l goals – The ageless leading scorer for La Vinotinto, Rondon already has two goals in the 2026 WCQ campaign and had 10 goals for Pachuca in 21 games last season.
Player To Watch: MID Yeferson Soteldo, Gremio (BRA) via loan from Santos (MEX), 38 Int’l goals/4 Int’l goals – The one time Toronto FC man and playmaking merchant has bounced around the last several years, here’s hoping he can have a solid tournament and get some consistent playing time with a single club before the next World Cup.
Tournament Outlook
Venezuela is far from being a continental power and are the only South American team to never qualify for a World Cup, but their 2026 campaign is off to a nice start thanks to a big 3-0 win over Chile and draws against Brazil and Ecuador. They’ve been a more regular feature in the knockouts in recent editions though that 2011 semifinal is their best run. They surprised Uruguay in the 2016 Centenario edition and finished on 7 points with Mexico in that group phase and this year’s group is far less dangerous than the one eight years ago. Definitely more darkhorse than knockout threat but in a group where I’m not overly impressed with anyone you can’t write them off even though I don’t love the fact they didn’t play any warm up friendlies.
GROUP OVERVIEW
I think this group is going to come down to which team’s star players can find the score sheet the most. Valencia for Ecuador, Nicholson for Jamaica, and Rondon for Venezuela all have tremendous individual and team opportunities here for teams on the rise looking for not only deep Copa runs, but a springboard for strong qualification and World Cup campaigns as well.
Mexico here is the enigma, I think the tournament either goes really well for them or backfires spectacularly. They recovered decently against Brazil after their drubbing against Uruguay and normally I would say their final match against Ecuador would be for the group title. But now I’m sure that El Tri is far from a lock to advance and do not understand the logic of experimenting against the best competition you’re going to see between now and co-hosting the next World Cup.
I’ll lean Ecuador with Jamaica winning a coinflip for second over Venezuela and those sweet maroon kits, because someone is going to be very disappointed in 3rd in this group. I think someone from CONCACAF is going to surprise us and the Reggae Boyz are set up the best to do that. Runner up still gets pasted by Argentina in the semis so winning the group to avoid that is a must.
GROUP PREDICTIONS
Ecuador – Jamaica – Venezuela – Mexico
Source link : https://www.theblazingmusket.com/p/copa-america-2024-group-b-primers
Author :
Publish date : 2024-06-22 11:34:20
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
