7 players to watch in the 2015 Copa America
The 2015 Copa America is almost upon us, and is set to be a tournament full of brilliant, attacking football, what with all the major teams like Argentina, Brazil and Colombia looking all set to take back the title from defending Champions Uruguay, who will be missing their talisman, Luis Suarez.
Having just finished an exhausting and exhilarating European club season, the star players of most teams will be tired, but ready to lead their national teams to glory. Here, we look at 7 players, some very well known, some not so much, who have points to prove and some great young prospects –
Lionel Messi - Argentina
Lionel Messi’s Barcelona medal collection includes 4 Champions Leagues, 7 La Liga titles, and a couple of Club World Cups, with several other cup wins thrown in for good measure.
His only international honours are a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and a FIFA World Youth Championship win back in 2005, both of which aren't really considered senior honours as even an Olympic squad consists primarily of players under the age of 23.
This means that the best footballer ever has no World Cups, and no Copas America. What makes it more unbelievable is that he’s played in teams perfectly capable of winning such competitions.
This is why the Copa is more than a post-season kick about for the four-time Ballon d’Or winner, and whilst winning this competition won’t erase the heartache of losing last year’s World Cup final, it’ll go some way towards healing the wounds, and rebuilding the confidence.
Messi won the Golden Ball award at the aforementioned World Cup in Brazil, and whilst there were some doubts as to whether he was the tournament’s best player, there’s no doubt that he’d have swapped the individual honour for an Argentina win in the final.
If Argentina are to win the Copa in Chile, then they might need one of their capable supporting cast to step up to the level of the Barcelona man, although if they fail to do so, you wouldn't put it past Messi winning it all by himself.
Neymar - Brazil
The 2014 World Cup was a disaster for Brazil on the pitch, but the one player who may have emerged with his reputation intact is their latest superstar, Neymar.
The worrying thing for Brazil is that the Barcelona forward might be the only player in their current ranks who can be dubbed a superstar, but Dunga’s squad have a fresh look about them which could see one or two other players emerge as world stars in this very tournament.
Neymar is just 23 years of age, but is already the leader of this Brazil side, both literally as their captain, and figuratively as their designated “Craque”. The former Santos forward had already amassed 24 international goals prior to putting on a Barcelona shirt in the summer of 2013, and has since take this tally to 43.
Only Pelé (77 goals), Ronaldo (62), Romário (55), and Zico (48) are ahead of him in the list of Brazil’s all time goalscorers, and at such a young age Neymar looks set to climb further up this list in the years to come.
This year’s Copa America is a chance for Neymar to start adding meaningful international honours to his CV, to go with the goals.
Although there’s no such thing as a meaningless international game for Brazil, he’ll want more than just a Confederations Cup win to his name in the coming years. Neymar was an integral part of his team’s triumph in that competition back in 2013, walking away with the award for best player.
During that tournament he was ably assisted by the goal poaching exploits of Fred, and he’ll need similar support from Roberto Firminho this time around, if Brazil are to reach the latter stages of the Copa America.