Copa America!

No sooner does the Gold Cup end then lo! the Copa America is upon us. Does the fun ever end?

For fans of the US national team, the answer is yes, on Thursday night when Bob Bradley's experimental squad face a fully loaded Argentina. Remember, as we get thumped badly, that the whole point of this match--indeed the whole point of us entering the tournament--is that we get thumped badly by some world class players. With that in mind, there's really nothing to lose in this game. Kick back, grab a beverage of your choice and abandon all hope, and who knows? Maybe they'll sqeak a 0-0 draw or something.

Meanwhile on the first day, Peru beat Uruguay 3-0. The match report makes this read like a colossal upset, but after Brazil and Argentina, I really don't think there's a huge quality difference between South American squads.

Bolivia drew with the hosts Venezuela 2-2, in a battle between authoritarian socialist nations. I watched half the match and was kind of pulling for Bolivia because of the Jaime Moreno-Joselito Vaca (remember him? Dallas Burn!, the Metrostars!)--MLS connection. There's always a big disparity between how effective Bolivia look and how effective they actually are. In this match, as in the friendly against Ireland in spring, they moved well off the ball and found each other in dangerous positions, but there's not exactly a lot of end product. Their shooting is really bad; even the first half Moreno goal was fortuitously deflected. In that respect, they're kind of the Arsenal of South America, but while Arsenal have the talent to finish matches off, I suspect that Bolivia lacks a big dominant striker. (Some better central defenders would help too.)