Soccer Watch
By Nick Barbaro, Fri., June 17, 2016
Tournament month continues, with the European Championship in the mornings and early afternoons on ESPN, and Copa América Centenario in the evenings on Fox.
Copa América Centenario
On this side of the Atlantic, the group stage concluded Tuesday, and the quarterfinals begin tonight, Thursday, June 16, with the U.S. taking on Ecuador in Seattle. Should be a great atmosphere, as it always is there, and indeed, as it has been throughout this tournament, which has averaged well over 40,000 attendees per game.
Group stage notes: The U.S. started the same 11 for three games in a row, for the first time in the Jürgen Klinsmann era. That streak will be broken tonight, as DeAndre Yedlin misses the quarterfinal due to his red card against Paraguay. The U.S. won that one, 1-0, despite playing a man down for the last 42 minutes plus stoppage. That became enough to win Group A when Costa Rica shocked Colombia, 3-2 in the group finale. Elsewhere, Peru knocked out Brazil on a shocking late goal, clearly a hand ball. Brazil and samba fans feel robbed, but the sad truth is they didn't ever play well enough to deserve to advance. Argentina has looked fabulous, even before Leo Messi scored a hat trick in 19 minutes off the bench against Panama, as he continues to rest a sore back. They were the only team to win all three group games, but Mexico and Colombia impressed as well, before faltering in relatively meaningless third games. The quarterfinal schedule:
U.S.-Ecuador, 8:30pm Thu.: Ecuador is one of the hottest teams in South America, but the U.S. beat them in a tune-up May 25.
Peru-Colombia, 7pm Fri.: Peru is happy to be here, and is very good, but Colombia is explosive, a joy to watch, and still could win it all.
Argentina-Venezuela, 6pm Sat.: Venezuela played out of their heads to tie Mexico; their Cinderella run stops here against the best team in the world.
Mexico-Chile, 9pm Sat.: nearly home-field advantage for el Tri in Santa Clara, but Chile is ranked fifth in the world for a reason.
The semifinals are 8pm Tue., June 21, in Houston (USA-Argentina?), and Wed., June 22, in Chicago (Mexico-Colombia?). The third place match is 7pm Sat., June 25, with the final at 7pm Sun., June 26.
Euro 2016
Over in France, each team has now played the first of three group stage games; Group A has played two, with France and Switzerland both looking to clinch spots in the 16-team knockout stage as we went to press. Group play runs through next Wednesday, June 22, with three games most days, at 8am, 11am, and 2pm. Some notes:
Group B: Wales is a surprise leader; England gave up a late equalizer to Russia to stir ghosts of failures past.
Group C: Germany-Poland, 2pm Thu., will decide the group winner; Ukraine looked good in losing 2-0 to Germany.
Group D: Spain is the class of this group, but could struggle with Turkey (2pm Fri.) and Croatia (2pm Tue.).
Group E: Italy played the counterattack game perfectly to frustrate highly regarded Belgium, 2-0.
Group F: Appears wide-open now, as Hungary beat favored Austria, and Iceland held Portugal to a 1-1 draw.
