Copa America Power Rankings: Round One

Fireworks display at the opening ceremony

It certainly seems so much more indefinite and uncertain. After the first round of matches at the 2015 Copa America, there is no clear indication of who might win this tournament. That certainly points to the depth of talent in South America that makes the gaps in quality between nations that much smaller.

However, patterns are formed over time and there is some sense to be made out of all the chaos. Indeed, if any lesson is to come from the early games of Copa America, it is that those who seemed to be pre-tournament favourites are not

Brazil’s nightmare semi-final

It was not as heart-breaking as 1950, neither as regrettable as 1982. Brazil’s 7-1 semi-final loss to Germany was downright embarrassing.

Indeed, a stadium and a nation endured a harrowing experience. The rollercoaster of emotions flowed one way — downwards. Shock turned into despair, gasp, and finally a delusional reality. Was Brazil really that bad? Was the weight of a nation too much of a burden to carry? In the end, it was a little of both.

Not only was it the weight of a nation; it was also the scales of history. The most successful nation in World Cup history had not won the World Cup on

Luiz Felipe Scolari has got Brazil hoping for a sixth

A nation awaits. There will be a huge gasp every time Brazil take to the pitch and a huge cheer will always follow them. A tense mood will accompany should they seem to be fluttering. A depressing mood of disappointment any time they fail to accomplish the one mission assigned to them.

La seleccao are aiming for la hexa. A sixth World Cup title has eluded the most successful nation in World Cup history for two tournaments now. On home soil, it seems now is the best chance to clinch it.

For that, the manager in charge of

World Cup Winning Managers

The dilemma had been that while it had worked at Euro 2008, it was in danger of being found out at World Cup 2010. That dread turned into reality as Switzerland allowed Spain to tiki-taka but caught them on the break.

Vicente Del Bosque thus had to change. What he did however was to take the passing philosophy to the extreme. More midfielders were added, more passes were encouraged. Patience became the virtue as

The Top 5: World Cup Winning Captains

Sir Bobby Moore at England’s highest moment

The lofty magical heights of 1970 had seemed an eternal distance away. Yet, it was 24 years later that Brazil managed to win the World Cup again.

At the World Cup in USA however, Brazil were far from the fluid, sublime, artistic magicians who had touched the sky at the Azteca. In fact, even the team that had not won the World Cup in 1982 had carried with it more flair. Instead, it was the hard grit and determination of a Brazilian side, organised to defend while letting the attacking lights of Bebeto and Romario shine that clinched the World Cup on that sunny day in Carlifonia.

Still, that the final was decided by penalty shootouts means that it in effect ranks as Brazil’s worst ever

Brazil v Spain: The dream final?

Sometimes, we abruptly wake up from a beautiful dream and try impossibly to get back to it. No matter how vivid our imagination may be, it never manages to conjure the same dream.

That is exactly how Sunday’s FIFA Confederations Cup Final will be like.

It is the dream final. It is the final everyone wanted (outside of Italy, Uruguay, Japan, Nigeria, Mexico and Tahiti). It is however the dream final that has come four years late. Or at the least, three.

Football has this tendency to conjure big games. The greatest teams with the

Tahiti: A fantasy dream

Tahiti celebrate their goal

Like Inception, it must have felt like a dream within a dream when for the first time ever in a FIFA competition at senior level, the tune was picked for Tahiti’s national anthem.

As the anthem played on, there was emotion all-round the Tahitian players. Some were almost close to tears. Their manager, Eddy Etaeta visibly was. It was, as he would later say, a realisation that while for years Tahiti was always restricted to watching FIFA competitions on television, here they