Copa America Day One: Let the Games Begin

The first day of the South American championships features a pair of games from Group A, unquestionably the weakest of the three groups. Uruguay and Peru will get the party started after Diego Maradona kicks things off. Uruguay have brought a mostly European based team to the competition and are favored to win the group. They were just one game away from qualifying for the 2006 World Cup. They face a Peru side that might be capable of putting in a few goals with Diego Forlan, Jefferson Farfan and Claudio Pizarro in the mix.

The other match of the day will see the host country Venezuela take on Bolivia. The pressure will be on Venezuela to advance out of the first round of the tournament, something they have never done before in the Copa America. Their team isn’t exactly replete with household names, but they will have the home crowd and likely the referees behind them. Their opponent Bolivia is a longshot to advance out of the group. They bring a young, largely untested team to the competition.

You can watch the games online here.

Some Copa America news from the day:

• Forecasting the field (Goal)
• A warning to the gringos (Vivir Latino)
• The pressure is on the hosts (Soccer America)
• Some players to watch (Eurosport)
• And even more players to watch (101 Great Goals)
• Copa America blog (4thegame)