There are quite a few reasons this post has lost all meaning... Firstly, it is now more of a Silver Cloud (Uruguay through clean on Copa with Brazil, Chile ex-favorites now gone.. and annoying Mexico having their worst Copa EVER!) and its dark lining (Argentina...i.e Messi, Zanetti and Banega, are also gone). Secondly, the only Argentum left in the lining is the venue (which is not enough to write a three-part blog post about... although we have written about far less...assuming you've seen the post on an Arsenal pre-'pre-league' warmup match with viewership of 1 and where nothing happened...).
But most importantly because, part 2 was supposed to be my brilliant prediction of Arg - Uru ; Par - Chile semis, effectively ruined after Bolivia, who had played with a flair that was missing from any of Colombia's games buckled against them in the last group game meaning Argentina finished 2nd and an Arg-Uru quarters was forced. Part 3 was of course my Arg - Chile final and Arg victory prediction...Obviously as an Uruguay fan, I'm quite pleased with the way things eventually played out, but quite surprised despite all the blahblah about how 'sub-par' Arg were in their opening 2 games. On evidence of those 2 games, I was happy enough to predict that Argentina would end up lifting the cup and making dumb fans look...well.. dumb...Here's why.
But most importantly because, part 2 was supposed to be my brilliant prediction of Arg - Uru ; Par - Chile semis, effectively ruined after Bolivia, who had played with a flair that was missing from any of Colombia's games buckled against them in the last group game meaning Argentina finished 2nd and an Arg-Uru quarters was forced. Part 3 was of course my Arg - Chile final and Arg victory prediction...Obviously as an Uruguay fan, I'm quite pleased with the way things eventually played out, but quite surprised despite all the blahblah about how 'sub-par' Arg were in their opening 2 games. On evidence of those 2 games, I was happy enough to predict that Argentina would end up lifting the cup and making dumb fans look...well.. dumb...Here's why.
1. Brangentina
My first Copa America, in my impressionable youth, saw Colombia, Mexico, Honduras and Uruguay in the semis, making me think wow South American football has very evenly matched countries!! Wrong! 2 Copas (and some statistics digging) later, the no longer impressionable (but still youth...) realized that was one of just 3 occasions in Copa History that the Brazil-Argentina pair was absent from the semis. My Uruguay fandom started with that 2001 Copa, and they are looking good to go all the way and in the process beat Argentina to the most number of Copa trophies this time, given that (after more statistics digging) a final with neither Brangentina nor Uruguay has, again, happened only thrice in history...
2. Captain Fanslut
Your average ignorant Indian football fan can be categorized into 3 individual fansluts.
Before every tournament, the favorite team is the unholy delta where these 3 fans find common ground and agree on something. It is usually Brazil, this year it is Argentina. Messi Aguero style for Arsenal bigots (although these are fans who usually think "Skills" means bicycle kicks, free kicks, and that annoying juggling off the air crap), Messi Tevez goal tallies for the ManU monkey "practicalists", and the highest number of RealMadrid/EPL players, for the bollywood jackasses (Argentina - 6, Brazil - 3!). Somehow before major tournaments, these 3 fans always seem to combine - giving.... Captain Fanslut, a focused spotlight for the duration of the tournament spawning 1000 articles, views and reviews each dumber than the other.
So it should really be no surprise there was 'universal dismay' at the quality of Argentina's first 2 matches (and as one of the few Indians who probably watched all their matches, I can safely say those first 2 were their best...). Meanwhile, Brazil happily played like utter crap (as usual, as far as I'm concerned) without anyone noticing. Chile, in jaw-dropping bafflingism, developed a "pragmatic" (read : defensive counter attack) approach synchronized with the departure of Bielsa, and Uruguay struggled with an injured Cavani and dreadful 2010-11 league performances that I saw for Forlan, Godin and Caceres. So while Captain Fanslut moaned about Argentina playing horribly, they really did look like the best team that time.
3. The Performances
As I said, the first 2 games I'd seen were quite excellent. Zabaleta looked like the only weak link in a defence that inspired confidence for the first time since the mega-awesome Samuel - Ayala - Coloccini trio of Bielsa times. Banega continued right where he left off from Valencia being brilliant in possession/skills in midfield, Messi was mindblowing as expected (though not as reported...since he didn't score...) and Pastore-Lavezzi were showing me why I need to follow the Serie A more...negatives - Higuain was the Nistelrooy piece of crap I always saw him for; Di Maria was the kind of headless chicken that would make Diego Capel look as composed as Riquelme; Tevez was..well...English; and just spotting Gago's name even in the subs list made my eyes pain...but I thought hey! they were so obviously horrible there was no way they would actually play...and in place of players who were playing extremely well....right???
WRONG! Unfortunately, Captain Fanslut who is usually not powerful enough to change coaches' minds, managed to make stupid Batista change the team around after the former's incessant baying. Worse, he then actually kept the team that way for the quarters (even after their last group game against Costa Rica was arguably their worst, but CF was quite blindly happy with the 3-0 result of course), at which point all bets were off and I officially rescinded my reluctant acknowledgement of possible Argentina triumph and shifted to gleeful hope that perhaps this is Uruguay's Copa after all...for the first time since 1995 (when I used to watch cricket...and no I'm not ashamed of that... Lara used to play back then...)
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