I'm very excited about the Copa America starting on the 1st of July in Argentina. My money is on Brazil to lift the Copa for the 9th time in their History. Mexico are also apart of this years tournament. All of the games will be live on Setanta Sports. Argentina start off as hosts and play the 1st game of the tournament against Bolivia. It kicks off at 1.30AM. GMT.

3 players to watch out for on each team

Argentina Javier Pastore, Ever Banega, Lionel Messi

Colombia Fredy Guarín, Cristián Zapata, Radamel Falcao

Costa Rica Júnior Díaz, Álvaro Saborío, Bryan Ruiz

Bolivia Edvaldo Hermoza, Rudy Cardozo, Marcelo Martins

Brazil Lucas, Ganso, Neymar

Paraguay Antolín Alcaraz, Cristian Riveros, Roque Santa Cruz

Ecuador Diego Calderón, Antonio Valencia, Felipe Caicedo

Venezuela Rondón, Alejandro Moreno, Francisco Flores

Uruguay Edinson Cavani, Martín Cáceres, Luis Suarez,

Chile Arturo Vidal, Alexis Sanchez, Diego Rubio

Peru Juan Manuel Vargas, Jefferson Farfán, Carlos Zambrano

Mexico Giovani dos Santos, Javier Hernandez, Andrés Guardado

3 players to watch out for on each team

Argentina Javier Pastore, Ever Banega, Lionel Messi

Haven't heard of this guy. Is he any good?

Haven't heard of this guy. Is he any good?

Yeah he is expected to be a big star one day, I think Barcelona are trying to sign him. :D

I always thought that Guardado would be a star by now. Actually, when I heard ManU was signing a player from Mexico last summer, I was almost certain it was him.

The only important thing is that Brazil goes out in the group stages, so we can get Ramires and Luiz back in time for the pre-season and the Asian tour.

I'm sure Dunga would be more than happy to do that.

I'm sure Dunga would be more than happy to do that.

Dunga isn't the Brazil manager anymore, It's Mano Menezes

Dunga isn't the Brazil manager anymore, It's Mano Menezes

Is Ramires a nailed on starter for Brazil? I believe that Sandro from Sp*ds is his competition?

Edit: Just read a piece saying that Ramires will almost certainly start, but David Luiz will probably be on the bench.

Here it is

Edited June 24, 201113 yr by footballoholic

Is Ramires a nailed on starter for Brazil? I believe that Sandro from Sp*ds is his competition?

Edit: Just read a piece saying that Ramires will almost certainly start, but David Luiz will probably be on the bench.

Here it is

All the players selected for the Brazil squad are all expected to play the full tournament. Mano Menezes said he is taking the Copa very seriously and he is not interested in listening to European clubs complaining about their players not returning. All players are free to return to the clubs on Tuesday the 27th of July. That is the day Ramires and Luiz will fly back to London

Kinda sucks that Brazil are so good and will probably get to the final with quite a few key members of our squad being Brazilian. Also its unlikely we'll get the Neymar situation resolved while he's on international duty - be it Madrid or us.

I thought they had asked Spain to join this tourney to replace Japan? Or was that just rumoured and then they picked up Mexico instead?

I thought they had asked Spain to join this tourney to replace Japan? Or was that just rumoured and then they picked up Mexico instead?

Mexico is an invited nation along with Costa Rica. Invited nations are only allow to use an Olympic squad. Young players U-22.

2 of our best young players getting ready for the Copa

Who is on the right? Is that Ganso? Lucas?

Its Ganso.. or thats what FM tells me.

Did someone take a sh*t on Neymar's head though?

Who is on the right? Is that Ganso? Lucas?

That is Neymar on the left and Ganso on the right. They both play for Santos FC and the Brazil national team

Here is a player that you need to keep an eye on. 24 year old, Arturo Vidal from Chile. He is a very versatile Midfielder who can play almost any position with the same high quality. I predict he will be signed by a Champions league team after a good Copa America.

Edited June 30, 201113 yr by BrazilBlue

Where can I watch matches?

Streaming just?

Here is a player that you need to keep an eye on. 24 year old, Arturo Vidal from Chile. He is a very versatile Midfielder who can play almost any position with the same high quality. I predict he will be signed by a Champions league team after a good Copa America.

Isn't Vidal the player who is rumoured to be heading to Juventus?

Where can I watch matches?

Streaming just?

Setanta Sports have every game live

It's just a matter of hours before the first kick off of the tournament. It's a shame it starts so late during the night(3:45am), so I'm not sure if I'll watch it. Argentina certainly has quite an impressive selection of forwards to choose from: Higuian, Messi, Milito, Tevez, Aguero. If they can provide proper service to those players, they should get plenty of goals. Will they be able to handle the pressure of being the hosts? I'm sure Messi is under the most pressure to perform well as he hasn't been quite as big a hit with the national team as he's been with Barca. I must say I know very little about Argentina's first opponents Bolivia.

I must say I know very little about Argentina's first opponents Bolivia.

Me neither. Don't recognize any of their players except Marcelo Moreno who was on loan at Wigan last season. I can tell you that they are probably the worst team in the competition. But you probably know they are also the team that thrashed Argentina 6-1 (high altitude and all) in their last encounter. Needless to say, this one should be entertaining.

Edited July 1, 201113 yr by footballoholic

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story/_/id/931218/copa-america-2011:-south-american-stars-in-the-making?cc=5901

ESPN's list of who to watch out for in the tourney, so we can start youtubing these guys and making transfer rumour threads about them :) .

1st match is tonight at 01:45 for people in the UK and Ireland. Argentina V Bolivia. You can watch the match live on Setanta Sports. My prediction is a comfortable win for Argentina. Bolivia would have had a chance if it was at altitude but this game is down in Buenos Aires and I fully expect Argentina to star off this tournament with a good win.

This is more than moderately amusing. Argentina down 1-0 in the second half.