Busy weekend in soccer, so I'll just spit out the stories, and give you some links for more details.

Let's start with the Copa America.  I had a post on Friday about the Argentina national team beating Mexico 3-0 in semi-finals, but the blog ate my post.  Never the less, here is the definitive highlight of the game for me... 20 year old wunderkid Lionel Messi dropping a "simply magnificent" goal to open up a 2-0 lead on Mexico (also, note the beautiful pass from Riquelme to set it up):

Brazil advanced to the Finals against Argentina after barely beating Uruguay 2-2 (5-4 on Penalty Kicks).  The USA team, in case you were wondering, did not have a strong showing.  Appearing in the tournament for the first time in 12 years, they got shut out, losing all three games in their grouping, to Argentina (4-1), Paraguay (3-1) and Colombia (1-0).

Argentina was favored in the Finals, since the Brazilian squad was missing some key players, most notable Kaka, whereas Argentina was at full strength (Riquelme, Tevez, Messi, the two Javiers).  But things did not go well from the get-go - Brazil's Julio Cesar Baptista (the only dude on the team with a full name) scored 4 minutes into the game.  Argentina had a few opportunities to tie it up - Riquelme hit the post at the 10 minute mark, and later on in the half fired off a great shot that the Brazilian goaltender just managed to snuffed. 

But just before halftime Roberto Ayala had an own goal, putting Argentina in a 2-0 hole and pretty much sealing the game.  You can see it below, along with the other highlights of the game:

If you want serious analysis, we strongly recommend the cats over Mundo Albiceleste, once they get over their mourning.  And yes, they write in English, so don't be afraid to check them out.  Those guys are on top of all things sports related to Argentina, whether basketball (my "lost" post on Friday also had my comments on the Luis Scola, which I will try to replicate soon), international soccer, or other.

Okay, so we lost to Brazil in the Copa America.  Again... we lost the last time (2004) on penalty kicks to Brazil.  Argentina hasn't won the tournament since 1993, whereas Brazil has now won 4 of the last 5 Copas.  Overall, though, Argentina remains tied with Uruguay for most Copas - 14 won.  Brazil has won 8 Copas now.

In case you are wondering how the tournament works, some quick background: there are 10 South American teams - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela (which hosted the tournament this year, and where I was hoping to be right now, but my trip there is looking less and less likely unless I get some good airfare in the next two weeks).  There are two "invitation" teams, usually from North America - Mexico and the USA this year, sometimes Canada, Costa Rica, you get the idea.

The next one will be in 2011, and will likely be in Argentina, as every other one of the nine South American countries has hosted since the last time Argentina did (1987).  

Other soccer news: The FIFA U-20 (Under-20) tournament is being held now, too.  It's celebrating it's 30th year, and has often been a harbinger of future success for players and countries.   Argentina is the defending champs, having won in 2005 (lead by Lionel Messi's 6 goals), and has won 5 times of the 15 overall tournaments, and 4 of the last 6.  Brazil is second with four wins.

Yesterday Argentina's U-20 team beat Mexico (sorry, we've been beating up on ya'll lately) 1-0 to advance to the semifinals.  They play Chile, who wrecked Nigeria 4-0 yesterday, on Thursday (July 19th).  The other semi is Austria versus the Czech Republic.

The one goal was scored by Maximiliano Moralez, who has a pretty impressive name.

Finally, wrapping up our (Argentine) soccer update:  our old buddy Carlos Tevez is in Premiership news again.  After last night's loss, he headed to England to take a physical, the last step in the 30 million pound transfer of Tevez from West Ham to Manchester United.  This makes us sad, actually.  Though playing for Man U. will no doubt raise his profile, we liked rooting for the underdog (West Ham) Hammers.  Aside from the kick ass name (The Hammers - do you know how many Hammers jokes I had stored up... just look at the pics on this post to get an idea!), rooting for Man U just seems like, well, rooting for the Yankees or the Red Sox.  They're already a big market team with big names and tons of fans... I feel like a bandwagon jumper rooting for the Red Devils. 

With West Ham transferring all their Argentine players (Javier "Masche" Mascherano has been transferred to rival Liverpool) I can't really say I logically have a strong rooting interest in them anymore.  Yet I wish them well, and may keep tabs on them, even as it appears I may have to root for either Man U. or better yet Liverpool next season.  Liverpool has Masche and is rumored to be acquiring Gabriel Heinze, an Argentine defender.  Or maybe I'll finally find a bar/cable channel that shows games from Spain, so I can watch Messi, Saviola, and crew playing for Real Madrid, Barcelona, etc.   Either way, international futbol tournaments have always been more interesting to me, so expect another update later this week after the Argentina-Chile game.

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