Copa America lifts Brazil and Argentina, but low level shows

RIO DE JANEIRO >> The Copa America boosted the morale of champion Brazil and brought new hope for once chaotic Argentina.

What it didn’t do is give both enough belief that they can overcome Europe’s best to win the next World Cup in 2022.

Even without injured star Neymar, Brazil comfortably beat Peru 3-1 in the final at Maracana Stadium on Sunday to win its first Copa America title since 2007. The result makes the road ahead for the Selecao less bumpy after a lot of criticism of coach Tite and some of his veteran players for recent performances.

Even with Lionel Messi sent off in the first half, Argentina finished third after downing Chile by a convincing 2-1. That result was welcomed in Buenos Aires after the team started the tournament fearing a major embarrassment for a young group guided by an interim coach.

The only South American team to win a World Cup in this century was Brazil, in 2002. Argentina reached the final in 2014, but lost to Germany. The last four world champions have all come from Europe.

This Copa America wouldn’t have worried the Europeans. Beside being marked by poor fields, empty seats, and critical use of video review, the biggest issue for World Cup title dreamers such as Brazil and Argentina was the weak local competition that did not measure how either would fare against stronger European teams.

None of Brazil’s and Argentina’s adversaries imposed the difficulties they found in their latest World Cup elimination matches against Belgium and France, respectively.

In Brazil’s case, all of its South American rivals, including Argentina, offered less opposition than the team faced during the last World Cup group stage against Switzerland (1-1) and Serbia (2-0).

Copa America runner-up Peru, for example, eliminated traditional and once powerful teams such as Uruguay and Chile, but showed poor defending by conceding nine goals in six matches — eight of them over two games against Brazil.

Argentina’s best performance up front was in a 2-0 group stage win against Qatar, against which its new attacking backbone of Messi, Sergio Aguero, and Lautaro Martinez started playing together. But the inexperienced defense of Asian champion Qatari was far from reliable, having conceded five goals in only three Copa America matches.

When Brazil and Argentina couldn’t find an easy path to beat other South American teams it was often because of their own problems.

Both were nearly eliminated by Paraguay, a team they bombarded but could not transform their opportunities into goals.

Despite heavy Argentina pressure, Paraguay had to miss a penalty in its draw for Messi’s team to survive in the tournament.