Since Friday evening, the Europe of the round ball goes through all the emotions, while the supporters of the Blues are impatient at forty-eight hours of a clash between the Germany of Manuel Neuer and the France of Kylian Mbappé. Nearly 10,000 kilometers away, his PSG teammate Neymar is preparing to enter another major continental tournament. His Brazil will launch the Copa America on Sunday evening against Venezuela (11 p.m.), for a 47th edition that nobody wanted.
Because still hit hard by Covid-19, the South American continent is going through dark times, where Europeans find terraces and the joy of breathing a little again. Initially planned in Colombia and Argentina, the competition saw the two countries withdraw in turn. Before Brazil, where more than 485,000 people have died from the virus, offers itself as a relief solution. A proposal validated… Thursday evening by the Supreme Court of the country, just two days before the opening match of the Seleção, at the Mané-Garrincha stadium in Brasilia.
Anomalies named Neymar and Messi
If the Brazilians have long left the doubt of a boycott of the tournament, Neymar’s teammates are now fully focused on the field, and concerned by a common goal: to retain their title, acquired two years ago in … Brazil, in final in a full Maracana against Peru (3-1). Injured just before the tournament, the “Ney” had only half savored the ninth continental success of the Seleção, and will be keen to bring his selection to the tenth coronation, his first Copa of his own.
Surrounded by two other Ligue 1 players (his Parisian teammate Marquinhos and Lyonnais Lucas Paqueta) and a large delegation of elements evolving in Europe (20 out of 24), Neymar will once again be the star of the team, favorite of the tournament, moreover at home. Leader of its qualifying group at the 2022 World Cup – 6 wins in 6 matches, a series that it had not achieved since the 1970 World Cup qualifiers – Brazil arrived confident, and only Argentina of its more great rival, Lionel Messi, seems able to stand in his way.
Just as unhappy as Neymar, the 33-year-old Barcelona will try to ward off the fierce fate, in a competition where he lost his three finals played (2007, 2015 and 2016), the last two on penalties against Chile . Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani’s Uruguay, the Colombia that did without James Rodriguez, and finally the Chile of aging Arturo Vidal and Alexis Sanchez, have a card to play. But will have to achieve a feat against Brazilians who, in 1919, 1922, 1949, 1989 and 2019, offered the five editions played in the country of football.
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