Copa America Update

Lost in the shuffle with the Women's World Cup going on right now is the fact that there's another big tournament going on right now on the men's side in South America, the 43rd Copa America Tournament. It's essentially South America's version of the Gold Cup with a bid to the 2013 Confederations Cup on the line. The tournament features 10 South American nations and guests Mexico (who sent their U-23 Olympic team supplemented with 5 over-age players) and Costa Rica (who replaced original invitee Japan). MLS will not be nearly as well represented as they were in the Gold Cup, however Chivas USA striker Alejandro Moreno will be suiting up for Venezuela.

Here's a quick recap of the first round of games:

ARGENTINA 1 BOLIVIA 1

Argentina nearly suffered an embarrassing home loss to 93rd ranked Bolivia, the lowest ranked team in the region, in the tournament opener. Despite an attack-minded lineup featuring Barcelona's Lionel Messi, Manchester City's Carlos Tevez and Napoli's Ezequiel Lavezzi up front, Argentina found themselves down 1-0 when Edivaldo Rojas scored in the opening minutes of the second half. If not for a 75th minute volley from Atletico Madrid striker who came on as a sub for Lavezzi in the 70th minute, Argentina would have been unable to salvage the draw.

COLOMBIA 1 COSTA RICA 0

Costa Rican captain Randall Brenes was sent off in the 27th minute forcing Los Ticos to play a man down for the final 63 minutes. The Colombians were able to capitalize on the man advantage getting a goal just before halftime from Adrian Ramos propelling them to the top of Group A. Colombia now prepares to face Argentina today and can clinch a spot in the second round with one more win.

BRAZIL 0 VENEZUELA 0

Like Argentina the Brazilians got off to a rough start in the Copa America drawing with 69th ranked Venezuela 0-0 in their opening match. Despite a lineup containing AC Milan's Robinho and Alexandre Pato, Barcelona's Dani Alves, and Inter Milan's Lucio and Julio Cesar, Brazil was unable to defeat a gritty Venezuelan side led by strong defensive performances from Oswaldo Vizcarrondo and Roberto Rosales. Pato hit the woodwork and Robinho had a ball cleared off the line by a sliding Vizcarrondo in Brazil's best chances to break the deadlock.

PARAGUAY 0 ECUADOR 0

The 2010 World Cup Quarterfinalists were once again tough defensively. After allowing just 2 goals in 5 games at the World Cup (1 to Italy and 1 to Spain), Paraguay pitched yet another shutout, this time against Ecuador, but were unable to score and forced to settle for the 0-0 draw. The tie leaves all 4 teams in Group B deadlocked with one point apiece headed into the 2nd round of games. Ecuador came into the game ranked 68th in the World and 8th among South American countries.

URUGUAY 1 PERU 1

The 4th place finishers in the 2010 World Cup were forced to come from behind to force a draw with 49th ranked Peru in their opening match of the tournament. Paolo Guerrero gave Peru the early 1-0 lead on his 2nd goal of 2011 and 11th career goal for Peru, but World Cup hero Luis Suarez, who scored 3 times in the World Cup and received a famous (or infamous depending on who you were rooting for) red card for saving a goal against Ghana in the quarterfinals with his hands, scored on the last play of the first half to tie the game at one.

CHILE 2 MEXICO 1

Using a vastly different squad than what we saw in the Gold Cup, Mexico was unable to hold onto an early 1-0 lead and fell to Chile 2-1. 19 year old Cruz Azul defender Nestor Araujo scored his first goal for the Senior National team in the 40th minute, but Chile got second half goals from Esteban Paredes and Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Arturo Vidal to earn 3 big points in their opening match.