Brazil v Venezuela – Sunday 3rd July – La Plata, Argentina (21:00)
Maicon - Brazil
The reigning champions kick off their Copa America and will be out to defend their title. The Brazilians are one of the favorites in this competition as they should be, and all their fans will be expecting to see flair and attacking football that is common amongst Brazilian football.
The Brazilians need little introduction when it comes to football. They are by far the most dominant football country in the world and have won countless awards in their history. They are current champions of the Copa America as they demolished current hosts Argentina by 3-0 in the 2007 Copa America. There has been somewhat of a transformation in recent times as a new man has taken up the hot seat and has started to blood in youngsters. Manager Mano Menezes has wasted little time in making changes to the national squad, this will be his first real test. Menezes was brought in to replace former international and Captain Dungu who was sacked after a less than impressive World Cup campaign. Menezes has plenty of young talent at his disposal, none better than Santos sensation and wonder kid Neymar. Neymar is the world’s most wanted player currently and has attracted interest from both Real Madrid and Barcelona. The 19 year old has been likened to Brazilian greats Pele and of most recent times Robinho. If Brazil is to have a successful title defense, a lot will rest on the shoulders of Neymar and Robhino.
Venezuela will come into this match as major under dogs as they are classed as so called minors. Their last encounter was against Mexico in a friendly International, where they run out comfortable 3-0 victors. Manager Cesar Farias will be hoping for a similar performance in their opening fixture of the Copa America. Venezuela didn’t feature in the last edition of the Copa America, as their last appearance came in 2007 where they ended in an impressive 6th place and made it all the way to the Quarter Finals. They will be looking to the likes of Roberto Rosales, Tomas Rincon and Juan Arango to provide that extra experience as all of these players ply their trade throughout the top leagues with in Europe. The manager knows that their first task will be a difficult encounter, but realizes that his team can only get stronger from here on out and he will be hoping to emulate the last Copa America campaign Venezuela competed in.
As this is the opening encounter Brazil will be going all out to maintain the title and this can only be bad news for Venezuela. Brazil is outright favorites in this match up.
