Copa America: Top five players to watch
The star power at Copa America Centenario is one to keep you glued to your TV sets for weeks to come.
Despite recent reports of injuries or decisions not to participate, the absences or the potential will not hurt the kind of skill fans across the U.S. will see over the next few weeks in Copa America.
Unfortunately, Brazil’s Douglas Costa and Neymar will not participate in this Summer’s tournament while Luis Suarez and Messi’s participation are in doubt. With out a doubt those are some of the biggest names that were promised to fans, but don’t fret, there are many more players that will keep you excited about each and every match.
James Rodriguez
The Real Madrid star will take his talents to Copa America Centenario fresh off a Champions League title , albeit he didn’t play, and will take on South America’s best.
It’s been quite the rise for the young Colombian star since 2014 when he scored 9 goals that year. He is the undisputed star in Group A and should lead his team to a first place finish.
Chicharito Hernandez
This Summer’s Copa America comes at a great time as Chicharito is going through one of the best moments of his career. Since his move from Manchester United to Bayer Leverkusen of the Bundesliga, Hernandez has scored 26 goals in 40 appearances for the German club.
Expect Hernandez to feed off what will be familiar scenery and a Mexican dominant crowd to score goals. Toughest out for him will be what he does against Uruguay to open group play.
Edison Cavani
With the chance that Luis Suarez may not play in the tournament due to injury, the pressure now slides over to Edison Cavani to execute and score goals. Cavani is no strange to playing secondary to a star as he does for PSG and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but now he’ll become the main guy for Uruguay.
Cavani’s efficiency has been excellent in 2016, in three games he’s scored four goals and hopes to continue that streak this Summer.
Alexis Sanchez
Sanchez will be feeding off his country’s win in Copa America 2015. That heroic run in last year’s tournament has given Chile leverage as a team no one wants to face. Sanchez will have plenty of talented teammates to work with such as Arturo Vidal, but he himself needs to continue his great play as he has done in recent months with Arsenal in the EPL.
17 goals in 41 appearances for his club will surely give him the boost to excel at peak performance, especially with a looming clash against rival Argentina in the group stage.
Sergio Aguero
As more stars are troubled with potential injuries, Argentina is facing thevloss of Messi, although that is yet to be determined, La Albiceleste will look Sergio Aguero for answers. Argentina is loaded as usual, but Aguero will be have to be the catalyst that helps secure a Copa America victory for them.
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Aguero has 10 goals in the past year for his national team and will need to continue that in the next month.