2025 Copa América Femenina Group B Preview: Brazil And Colombia Set To Do Battle

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Neel Shelat covers women's soccer around the world

Recent Results and Performances After their shock group stage elimination from the last World Cup, Brazil hired Arthur Elias to lead the team on the road to bouncing back

In the cess, they have beaten the s of world champions Spain and France

The Seleção have done equally well against such strong opposition in recent friendlies, often adopting a more pragmatic style of play to get those results

They will be the dominant side at the Copa América, though, so they will have to shift to a more front-footed apach

MORE FOR YOU Key Player The legendary Marta returned to the Brazil squad recently after previously announcing her retirement at the end of the last Olympics

While she is still going strong as she apaches 40 years of age, this certainly is a high time for others to step up and take the mantle. 25-year-old Kerolin could well be one of the stars of the show as she certainly is quite dynamic and gifted on the ball

This tournament presents them with a great opportunity to make a serious statement of intent

Recent Results and Performances Colombia were one of the standouts at the last World Cup as they reached the quarterfinals before narrowly losing to would-be finalists England

They got equally far in the Olympics, where world champions Spain needed penalties to defeat them

Additionally, Las Cafeteras made it to the knockouts in last year’s CONCACAF W Gold Cup before being beaten by the eventual champions, the USWNT

Colombia were one of the neutrals' favorites at the last World Cup. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty

More Images)Getty Images All in all, Ángelo Marsiglia’s side have ly been excellent at major tournaments in recent years

Their friendly results do not look as great, but that is only because they have generally played quite strong opposition

So, they should be in good shape going into the tournament

Key Player Once the world’s most expensive player in women’s soccer for a brief period, Mayra Ramírez remains among the world’s very best strikers and will surely be key to Colombia’s Copa América campaign

From holding up play and outmuscling defenders to attacking crosses and scoring goals, she can pretty much do it all up front

Expectations On the whole, Colombia’s squad does look second-best to Brazil’s

Recent Results and Performances Paraguay appointed Fábio Fukumoto as their head coach earlier this year, so they have only had time to play a few friendlies under him

They lost both games against Uruguay but drew and won against Ecuador

The 36-year-old tactician will know a good few of the players from his time coaching at the youth levels, though, but he will quickly have to get things spot on in terms of putting an XI together

Key Player Captain Jessica Martínez is averaging around a goal per game in her international career across all levels, so she should very much be expected to star in the Paraguayan attack

She will be tasked with leading a more collective attacking effort against weaker opposition but might also have to do more of a solo job against Brazil and Colombia

Expectations Paraguay will have a chance to start the tournament with a bang as their opener is against lowest-ranked Bolivia, but the real challenges will come thereafter

Thereafter, they have never managed to make it past the group stage

Recent Results and Performances Venezuela also appointed a young Brazilian head coach earlier this year in the shape of Ricardo Belli

He too has had just four friendlies to prepare for the tournament but has done well to oversee wins over both Panama and New Zealand in those games

Key Player Venezuela have a fair few players in their squad who are currently playing in some of the world’s top leagues, so they should not be short of star quality

Deyna Castellanos could well have a couple of moments of magic in her as she certainly is capable of something special when the ball is at her feet

Expectations Much Paraguay, Venezuela only have an outside shot at a top two spot but should aim to give it a go at least

They will evidently need something special to come away with as much as a point from this tournament

Now past the age of 30, the experienced midfielder must lead the way as her team will have to outwork their opponents if they are to have any chance of getting a result

Expectations As the weakest team in the tournament, Bolivia will not have much weight of expectations on them

Of course, they should look to give a good account of themselves and fight for a result or two

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