Hugo Chavez: Look out for Venezuela in the Copa America

Venezuela doesn’t exactly have the best track record in international football. It is the only country in CONMEBOL to have never qualified for a World Cup. Its best finish in the Copa America was fifth way back in 1967. The team has improved in recent years, however, and it is currently ranked 74th in FIFA’s meaningless rankings.

Still, you would be hard pressed to find many people who would predict a Copa America triumph when the country hosts the tournament this summer. One person willing to buck the trend is Venezuela president Hugo Chavez who laid down the smack talk when he met with Brazil’s president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva this week.

“Don’t think Venezuela is the Cinderella team as usual,” he told the Brazilian who was visiting the country for an energy summit. “Lula, I have a surprise for you. Be careful”.

Unless that surprise is a group of referees who will throw the tournament in Venezuela’s favor or he somehow manages to get Diego Maradona circa 1986 to play for his country, I get the feeling that Lula will be the one having the last laugh come this summer.