Group A
I was relatively impressed with Canada's defense, they did a pretty good job of keeping the Argentines bottled up around midfield and brushing aside their attempts to go through or over their back line. Canada even had a coupla nice counters, too (not enough....but some), though their finishing skills don't seem to exist. Only a matter of time before Argentina scores, right? Yup, early in the 2nd half they hit pay dirt, then flat fucking dominated the possession for the rest of the game, kinda felt sorry for Canada's goalie (actually he was pretty great, not that anyone would notice). They tacked on another one late--you knew that was coming--but if Canada had avoided the first goal, at least the 2nd half could've been more exciting. Argentina may well be the favorite in this tourney, Canada may well be the worst team in this tourney (but played okay in the opener), I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that way.
Peru 0-0 Chile
It felt like Peru was maybe half as good as Chile, but since Chile was only playing with half-effort, it made for an even match. I liked Peru's effort but Chile's talent was clearly better. And yet, Chile's lack of intensity marks them as a team I don't have much faith in. I don't see either of these teams beating Argentina and I can see both of them beating Canada, so, in short, I got nothing out of this game in terms of projecting either of these teams.
Group B
Ecuador 1-2 Venezuela
Ecuador lost a man to red card (gnarly play, I would've redded him, too), but managed to take the lead before the half. Venezuela was better in the 2nd half and were able to net two goals to move on. Not the most overwhelming performance against a 10-man team, but Venezuela got the win, can't front on that. As for Ecuador, well, they were probably the better team and maybe we'll see in their next game or.... I dunno, maybe not. Venezuela eventually looked like the better team but it took a while and even then they were playing against a side that was a man down. I thought both of these teams were just okay.
Mexico 1-0 Jamaica
Tough result for Jamaica, I thought they defended really well. Mexico's goal was a piece of chaos that swung the Jamaican defense from side to side but they only lost shape for a second (that's all it took). Otherwise Mexico had trouble getting looks or even looking all that dangerous around the goal. Also, Jamaica scored a banger of a goal (that was a nasty pass!) that got waived for offsides (close but the right call). Jamaica played hard but couldn't get the result, Mexico was okay but got the joy from their one good chance. Jamaica has a good defense that may well stand up against Ecuador and Venezuela, but I'm not sure they get wins, more likely just draws. Mexico should find more opportunities against their South American counterparts, I think I'd go with Mexico to win this group.
Group C
USA 2-0 Bolivia
USA fairly well dominated but seemed only mildly dangerous around the goal. Pulisic scored on a lovely little looper from the corner of the box around 2 minutes in. Balogun added another before halftime (nice finish). Otherwise, I found USA to be competent on offense but not all that effective getting forward, though I liked bombing the defenders up the sideline; I fear for the counterattack, but we're gonna have to score to win, so might as well as risk it. And Bolivia was just not very scary at all, good enough to parry our attack but I never worried about them scoring. USA was fine, hate to complain about a relatively dominant 2-0 win, but I was hoping for 3-0 and it felt like we could've gotten it and just didn't, hope that doesn't come back to haunt us. USA plays Panama next, never sure what to make of them. Bolivia plays Uruguay and I can't imagine they'll get a positive result.
Uruguay 3-1 Panama
Uruguay pretty well dominated the 1st half but they only scored once, a nice rip from the corner of the box (a lot like Pulisic's goal, actually). But I thought Panama outworked them after halftime. After a few decades of casual CONCACAF watching, I would dub Panama one of those trick-or-treat teams: some years they're pretty good and other years they are fucking awful and I have no idea what makes them good or not good, so you never know what you're gonna get with them (Jamaica, too, always has good athletes and sometimes their athletes are pretty good at soccer and other years....they're not). So in the 1st half, I just thought Panama sucked. I can't recall how many times I muttered, 'what the hell was that?' when, after a nice string of passes, someone boots the ball out of bounds 20 yards downfield. So many crappy passes that I just assumed this was a suck version of Panama. So I was kinda shocked at how good they were for about 30 minutes or so coming out of halftime: they connected on passes, moved the ball convincingly upfield, got good looks on goal and were legit flustering Uruguay's defense. But around the 80 minute mark, Panama ran out of steam. Even when they did maintain possession, their creativity would vanish and they just had nowhere to go. It wasn't a shock that Uruguay eventually scored another goal late--the shock was how bad Uruguay was for most of the 2nd half: they were chasing the ball, they never developed much control at all and were dictated to by Panama in a way I wouldn't have thought possible based on the 1st half. But they added another garbage time goal so the scoreline looks more like what it should have, I guess, but, man, Uruguay did nothing for long stretches of this game. As for Panama, will they get walked over by USA (like the 1st half) or will they stiffen and push the Americans backward (like the 2nd half)? I'm not sure and even though I'm pretty sure the Americans are better, the next match could go either way. Uruguay should handle Bolivia easily, but USA will be a challenge is they play as lackadaisical as they did here.
Group D
Colombia 2-0 Paraguay
Yeah, that's about right. Colombia was just better than Paraguay, though my gut feeling is that Colombia didn't play their best game, they were better in possession and on defense, never really felt like Paraguay was going to score. Colombia was, let us, say casually dominant, but I'm curious to see them against Brazil and Costa Rica. As for Paraguay, I think they're going to struggle going forward, hard to imagine them coming out of this group.
Brazil 0-0 Costa Rica
Wow, this was maybe the most captivating scoreless draw I can remember. Brazil dominated possession--dude, I'm fucking positive that Costa Rica never even touched the ball in the 1st half!--and yet, they never seemed particularly dangerous around the goal. Well, save for the goal they scored that was waived off for offsides (hmmm....didn't look off to me and there were curiously few replays considering how long they were looking at it), but otherwise, Costa Rica was stout in the back. So is Costa Rica this strong (at least on defense) or did they just play their best possible match? (Not sure) Did this Brazil side come against a strong game plan or do they have trouble scoring? (I'm inclined to go with the former more than the latter, but we'll see). This is the most interesting group, I'd say.
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