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Copa América 2019

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    He's actually holding the trophy. I'm not sure even Trump would have the nerve to do that.

    Oh OK, he probably would. But you know what I mean.

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      Great achievement after also winning the league title for Palmeiras.

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        Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
        Ay caramba

        If it's any consolation, the only inkling I had that any game was going on from landing in Congonhas and taking the LATAM bus to Guarulhos was one guy watching the game on his phone, and one guy running for his connection dressed in a peru flag kilt and peru camiseta.

        I mean it seemed NO ONE cared about this game there.

        The only inkling I knew the tournament was even happening was the 2nd goal against Argentina, when you could hear about 4 people screaming a few blocks away in Curitiba. That's it.

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          I don't have a lot to add in terms of commentary about this tournament. I saw the first three group games before I left for Spain. Then the combination of major time difference and DAZN having local broadcast rights meant I was only able to see half of Venezuela-Argentina and then all of Uruguay-Peru while there. I saw the rest when I got back. I'm glad Peru made it to the final and was hoping they'd pull off the upset. The reality seems to be that most of the sides are bunched up in terms of talent, which made it hard to pick a winner other than Brazil before the tournament began. At that point, I noted that Chile is probably too old, Argentina can't seem to gel, and Colombia will be a bit of a mystery given their inability to bring together their talent since WC 2014. The general size of the tournament makes it hard to tease out where sides really are in terms of global ability. Although Argentina and Chile payed off for third place, I don't think that finish is reflective of where the talent. I still think Chile is too old and Argentina is a mess. Colombia didn't shine. Uruguay is probably getting close to Chile in terms of age. I can now see why Gareca re-upped with Peru. The future should be bright enough during the next Copa and WC qualifying cycle. But again, all of this is based on not yet watching many of the group games. I'll get to those after CAN finishes.

          But, I can say that amidst all of CONMEBOL's general idiocy they have one thing very, very right: save ET for the final game only. As a neutral for 90% of the football I watch I can say that straight to penalties is it for me. I'm sick of 30 extra minutes of not much happening in these other tournaments.

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            Remember golden goal and then silver goal? That was meant to pep up extra time, but everyone loathed it.

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              I think I agree with that. For each of those three goalless quarter-finals, going straight to penalties was a blessed relief.

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                I, virtually alone in the entire world I think, hold a candle for the idea of removing one player from each side every five minutes in ET until a golden goal is scored to end the game.

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                  But, I can say that amidst all of CONMEBOL's general idiocy they have one thing very, very right: save ET for the final game only.
                  Except that this isn't what their rule is. Extra time comes in at the semi-final stage (and includes the third place game).

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                    Originally posted by Nocturnal Submission View Post
                    I, virtually alone in the entire world I think, hold a candle for the idea of removing one player from each side every five minutes in ET until a golden goal is scored to end the game.
                    Each team is given a golden moment where a nominated player can violently assault a chosen opponent, ice hockey style, then both get sent off. You'd probably have to exclude goalkeepers, unless you really wanted to see your keeper lamp someone.

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                      Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post

                      Except that this isn't what their rule is. Extra time comes in at the semi-final stage (and includes the third place game).
                      I guess since the QF went to penalties and that's the approach for Libertadores/Sudamericana, I assumed straight to penalties was the move for these other games. If not, then CONMEBOL needs to fix this as well. Haha. Thankfully the third place match didn't require ET. That is the absolute worst (as was the case with England and Switzerland in the Nations League). If the "football family" is going to continue to add so much football that there is no break at all then they might start thinking about how the time is filled. I know the broadcasters want the content but they also are likely unhappy about a boring 30 minutes that could have been used for commercials that break up studio show talking heads.

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                        Originally posted by Nocturnal Submission View Post
                        I, virtually alone in the entire world I think, hold a candle for the idea of removing one player from each side every five minutes in ET until a golden goal is scored to end the game.
                        I would take two off before ET begins.

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                          I could live with that. It's something still recognisable as a game of football but it should just be end-to-end as tired, reduced teams look to exploit the wide open spaces and get the killer goal.

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                            Do teams volunteer their own players to withdraw? Only I can envisage some games ending up with both teams playing 4-2-1 (with a deep lying 2 at that) and no matter the extra space, no-one's ever going to score.

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                              Originally posted by Rogin the Armchair fan View Post
                              Do teams volunteer their own players to withdraw? Only I can envisage some games ending up with both teams playing 4-2-1 (with a deep lying 2 at that) and no matter the extra space, no-one's ever going to score.
                              I guess it would be funnier if the opposing coach would nominate the player who would come off, but we'd probably have to exempt the keepers.

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                                To Rogin,

                                Yes, a team chooses which of its players to remove. With a player going off every five minutes the onus is on scoring before you're scored against. There's little to be gained from sitting back and inviting the opposition to attack you through the ever growing spaces.

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                                  I saw on a news crawl on Fox that Messi has been suspended and fined for claiming that Brazil's victory was part of a CONMEBOL fix. I can't really remember Brazil getting any breaks in that semi-final or in the group games/quarter final. Maybe he was just looking for a break from WCQ.

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                                    Argentina felt they had two decent shouts for penalties – one on Nicolás Otamendi who ran into someone at a free kick and got flattened, and one on Sergio Agüero, who got tripped in the penalty box by Dani Alves as Argentina lost the ball immediately before the move which led to Brazil's second goal. The latter one certainly looked a good shout to me, but I think what angered them most of all is that the referee refused to refer to the VAR, even though they both looked like the sort of decisions which had been referred to VAR (regardless of which way the decision subsequently ended up going) throughout the tournament. Indeed the VAR was barely used (if at all) all game, which given the frequency with which it was referred to in the Copa and other international tournaments over those couple of months stood out like a sore thumb.

                                    And then Messi's red card in the third-place playoff for getting attacked by Gary Medel was seen here as punishment for what he'd said after the semi-final loss. Whether CONMEBOL mean to do it or not, they have an astonishing ability to keep feeding the conspiracy theorists. And in South America there are a hell of a lot of conspiracy theorists when it comes to football.

                                    To break Messi's suspension down, he was given one World Cup qualifying match and a US$1,500 fine for the red card (announced last week), and then yesterday for his statements after the semi-final he was given three months starting right now (I'm not clear on what jurisdiction CONMEBOL have to ban him, given Argentina won't be playing any CONMEBOL-organised matches in the next three months, but okay) and a US$15,000 fine, which they said was a lower punishment than they'd been considering owing to his written apology.

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