Foster’s Football Brew
Round 2 - Copa America Group Stage Wrap-up
June 16, 2016
The Copa America Elimination stage is upon us, and the US is
up first against Ecuador!
It’s really great that Team USA managed a first place finish
in their group, despite getting dominated by Colombia in the opening game. But as luck would have it, first place gave
the Yanks a tough draw: Ecuador, who I’ve ranked as 3rd best in the
tourney after Argentina and Chile. Some simulation
model on Fox Sports predicted Team USA has a 52% chance to win…I would have
given the US a 35% chance. I’m thinking
home field advantage factored into Hal’s computations…and the advantage is
DOUBLED when you’re the USA playing in Seattle.
It’s gonna be a loud one, can’t wait!
In one of my Copa America pool brackets, I picked Enner Valencia to get
the golden boot…but I’d hate to see him score against the Stars & Stripes.
Let’s cover the rest of Group B: Peru vs. Brazil. O Selecao seemed to play well the first two
games, and figured they could put the tourney on cruise control against Peru, dominating
possession and scoring opportunities.
But their efforts were half-a$$ed, as Brazil played
