[This is the second part to a three-part piece on the 2021 Copa América. In the last article I discussed the location, setup, etc. In this article I will be discussing the participating teams and who the favorites are. In the next article, I will talk about who I think the favorites are, and how I think the tournament will play out.]
When the 2021 Copa América was first being talked about. The plan was, for the first time in the South American tournament’s 105-year existence, to have two nations host, one from each end of the continent. When both Argentina (a southern country) and Colombia (a northern country) were chosen, the groups the participants were placed in reflected this north and south differentiation. When the pandemic (Argentina) and social unrest (Colombia) necessitated the tournament be moved to another nation, the groups were already set, and it made sense to keep them this way. Now, with Brazil as hosts, the order of the schedule has changed but the group structure has remained.
With that being said, here are the players you should look out for in each team, and who the favorites are to win the tournament.
There has been some confusion as to whether the group with Argentina in it is Group A, or whether the group with Brazil in it is Group A. As of June 8, 2021, in articles by AS, NBC Sports, and ESPN, here are the groups.
Group A (and player to watch per team)
- Argentina
- Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Spain) is, second to Maradona, the best Argentine player of all time. He is the star player at his current club and is looking for his first international trophy. Currently he has won an Olympic Gold Medal, three UEFA Supercups, three FIFA Club World Cups, eight Spanish Super Cups, seven Copa del Reys, 10 Spanish League titles, four Champions Leagues, three Best Player in Europe awards, six Ballon d’Ors, and one The Best FIFA Men’s Player award.
- Bolivia
- Marcelo Moreno (Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, Brazil) is a center forward as his current club who helped his club win the Brazilian league in the 2013/14 season. He has previously won the Brazilian Cup, the UEFA Cup, the Ukrainian League title, and two Ukrainian Cups.
- Chile
- Alexis Sanchez (Inter, Italy) is the all-time top scorer for Chile and is looking to help his side win the tournament for the third time in six years. Previously he has won an English Super Cup, an Argentine league trophy, a UEFA Supercup, two Chilean league trophies, a FIFA Club World Cup, an Italian League trophy, two Spanish Supercups, a Spanish Cup, a Spanish League title, and two FA Cups.
- Paraguay
- Antonio Sanabria (Torino, Italy) is a center forward as his current club and the national team. He has scored 5 goals in his last 14 appearances for his club.
- Uruguay
- Luis Suárez (Atletico Madrid, Spain) is the star center-forward at his current club and for the national team. He has already helped Uruguay to win one Copa América and is hoping to win a second. He also helped his club team win the Spanish league title this season. Previous to these, he has also won the UEFA Super Cup, the Uruguayan League title, a FIFA Club World Cup, the Dutch Cup, the Dutch League title, two Spanish Super Cups, four Copa del Reys, four Spanish League titles, an English League Cup, and a Champions League.
Group B (and player to watch per team)
- Brazil
- Neymar (PSG, France) Is the main player in his club team as well as the national team. He is a dribbling master and because of that, holds the record for the most fouled player in a single game World Cup game with twenty-three in the 2018 World Cup. Neymar is a true goal scorer and with his current club team, he has won three Coupe de France trophies, two Coupe de la Ligue trophies, and three French League titles.
- Colombia
- Duván Zapata (Atalanta, Italy) is the main forward for his club team and helped them to finish in 3rd in the Italian league. Though he is 30, he has come into his own this season and shown that he can still be a threat to defenders. With his previous team (Napoli) he won one Coppa Italia, and one Supercoppa Italiana.
- Ecuador
- Gonzalo Plata (Sporting, Portugal) is a winger for his club, and this year helped them to win the League title and has also won a Taça de Portugal.
- Peru
- Paolo Guerrero (Internacional, Brazil) is the main forward for his club team and is towards the end of his career (37 years old). During the span of his career he has won the Recopa Sudamericana, the Brazilian league title, the FIFA Club World Cup, the German DFL-Ligapokal, two German DFB-Pokal trophies, and two German League titles.
- Venezuela
- Salomón Rondón (CSKA Moscow, Russia) is the center-forward at his current club and has previously won both the Russian Super Cup and the Russian League title with his former club Zenit St. Petersburg.
The pundit’s favored teams to win this edition of Copa America are Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia. Out of these three, Argentina has won the tournament the most with 14 trophies, and has the best track record in the tournament, only losing 33 games. With Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Spain) and Sergio Agüero (Barcelona, Spain) as the attacking duo, they are a threat to any team. Brazil, being the reigning Copa champions (defeating Peru 3-1 in the 2019 final) and hosts last time, also has a perfect hosting record, winning the trophy all five times that they have hosted so far. Colombia are playing without two of their stars: James Rodriguez (Everton, England) and Radamel Falcao (Galatasaray, Turkey). They have still managed to play well, tying Argentina 2-2 in their most recent World Cup Qualifying match.
Stay tuned for my next article, where I will be explaining my favorites and how I think the tournament will play out.
Photo: Mané Garrincha Stadium, Wikipedia, Creative Commons
