Copa America: Exquisite Eight

Eight teams have advanced to the quarter-finals of Copa America. "Wait!" you say, "There were three groups with the top two advancing, that makes only six teams." Well, it would be hard to end up with two final teams if only six were in the quarterfinals, so in addition to the top two teams from each group, the two best third-place teams also advanced.

From Group A: Columbia and Peru. From Group B: Mexico and Argentina. From Group C: Paraguay and Brazil (Paraguay upset Brazil in the last game of Group C to take the lead). The third-ranked teams to advance are Uruguay and Costa Rica.

Quarterfinal Predictions:
Peru vs. Argentina
Peru scored at least two goals in every first-round game, but two of the three ended in a draw. Argentina has scored 10 goals in the games, although 6 of them were against Ecuador (the lowest ranked team in the tournament). Argentina last won the Copa in 1993. Argentina's under-20 team won titles in 1995, '97 and '99, so the blue-and-whites had a strong field of players to choose from. Host nation Peru is looking for it's third Copa title (the first two came in '39 and '75). Argentina earned 6 points in group play and Peru earned 5. I predict a close match, but I think Argentina's offensive game will get the better of Peru before the final whistle.

Colombia vs. Costa Rica
Colombia was the highest ranked team in Group A. Costa Rica is the lowest ranked team to enter the quarterfinals. I think most anyone would agree that Costa Rica will need to play nothing short of a miraculous game to knock-out Colombia, who won the Copa tournament in 2001.

Paraguay vs. Uruguay
Paraguay beat Brazil yesterday. Uruguay won only one game in first-round action. Much like the previous match, I think Paraguay will be mopping the pitch with the Uruguay players.

Mexico vs. Brazil
This is a match-up worthy of the final. Mexico and Brazil are two of the most recognized teams in football. Mexico made it to the final match in 2001, and Brazil has six Copa titles (not to mention the most recent World Cup, in 2002). Of all the games in the tournament this is the second most important game to watch (the most important being the final). I'm not going to try to guess who will win this match, but whoever does will likely be seen in the final.