Opinions expressed are my own. For more details on South American World Cup Qualifying and all other World Cup Qualifying competitions, please visit www.fifa.com

Ecuador 1-2 Peru

As Argentina and Chile both failed to win Tuesday, Peru cashed in on a big win in Quito and surged to fourth-place. Edison Flores opened the scoring for the guests in the 73^rd-minute, and Paolo Hurtado doubled Peru’s lead three minutes later. An Enner Valencia goal in the 79^th gave Ecuador some hope, but it wasn’t to be, as Peru would hang on to win.

The tough news for Peru is they have a mammoth game at Argentina on October 5^th followed by an October 10^th home game in Lima against Colombia to close out Qualifying. But if they close out qualifying with the grit and strong performances they’re capable of producing, soccer fans may very well see the Peruvians in Russia next summer.

Argentina 1-1 Venezuela

Jhon Murillo denied Argentina three points in what has been a nerve-racking qualifying campaign for a team that historically dominates. Argentina benefited from an effective attack that led to a Marcos Acuna cross deflecting off of Rolf Feltscher for an own-goal. It was another winless game for the Argentinians, who at least must be relieved that they merely fell to fifth-place when they could have fallen to sixth had Chile beaten Bolivia.

Bolivia 1-0 Chile

One of the elements that makes World Cup Qualifying awesome is the impact of home-field advantage. Playing big games with tremendous fan support is one reason why teams that aren’t expected to win on paper can cause upsets at home, or even dominate at home. The Bolivian national team fans and the altitude in La Paz were factors in Bolivia’s 1-0 upset of Chile Tuesday. Chilean defender Marcelo Diaz stretched his arm out to block a Bolivian shot, resulting in a penalty kick. Juan Carlos Arce stepped to the spot and scored what proved to be the game-winning goal.

Bolivia deserves credit; the team is merely playing for pride at this point, but it still put together a winning performance. As for the Confederations Cup runners-up, the Chilean national team is in sixth place, one point behind Argentina for the Intercontinental playoff spot.

Paraguay 1-2 Uruguay

Uruguay won its first away qualifier since 2015. Federico Valverde had a big performance and scored one of Uruguay’s goals in the 76^th-minute. Four minutes later, Gustavo Gomez scored an own-goal to double the lead for the visitors. Angel Romero was able to draw the Paraguayans one back in the 88^th, but it wasn’t enough for Paraguay to avoid defeat.

Uruguay now moves a step ahead of the traffic jam in the middle of the table, moving into 2^nd-place. The team’s final two games are against the two teams at the bottom of the table (Bolivia and Venezuela), and while both of those teams avoided defeat on Tuesday, Uruguay is in favorable condition to qualify for Russia 2018.

 Colombia 1-1 Brazil

In a collision of South American heavyweights, Colombia snapped Brazil’s nine-game winning streak in Barranquilla. Willian scored in first-half stoppage time for Brazil, but Radamel Falcao scored in the 56^th-minute for Colombia to draw level with the world’s current top-ranked team. Colombia is in third-place and will host Paraguay on October 5^th before traveling to Lima to close against a formidable Peruvian national team five days later.

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Many stars from the MLB are committing to their respective countries or heritages, as this may be the most profiled World Baseball Classic to date. Some stars include Manny Machado of the Baltimore Orioles (Dominican Republic), Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros (Venezuela), Adrian Gonzalez of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Mexico), and Nolan Arenado of the Colorado Rockies (USA).

While most are excited that baseball is back and would rather wait for the MLB season to start, hear me out. The World Baseball Classic is a great opportunity to see a lot of great things. The WBC provides us with the opportunity to enjoy talent from other countries who do not play in Major League Baseball. In the past we have seen current MLB stars like Masahiro Tanaka, Jose Abreu, Yoenis Cespedes, and Kenley Jansen play in the WBC before they were signed to big league contracts. Fun fact about Los Angeles Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen, who is arguably the best closer in baseball right now, played catcher for the Netherlands in the 2006 WBC. Here is a GIF of Jansen throwing out Ryan Braun from his knees.

Another opportunity that the WBC presents is competitive baseball in March. In the month of March, spring training games are just merely for the players prepping themselves for the season. Most of the game’s best players are out of the game by the fifth inning. With the WBC, the game’s premier players are in game action for nine innings. More star studded players as mentioned previously are going to play in the Classic.

Lastly, the WBC has an incredible fan atmosphere. Like the Soccer World Cup, the fans of international teams are loud, rowdy, excited, and prideful for their team. A sense of nationalistic pride comes together in one tournament, on one diamond, in between the foul lines, 60 feet 6 inches away with the winner-take-all in LA.

The first game for Team USA is on Friday, March 10 at 11 AM against Colombia, while the first official game of the WBC is between Israel and South Korea, which begins Monday, March 6 at 4 AM CT in Seoul, South Korea.

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The game itself is quite simple. You and your team have 90 minutes to score a goal. No hands, except for your goalie but he/she is there to stop the ball from going in. You and your team have to pass the ball to each other in order for someone from your team to score. A total of 11 play at one time, this number includes the goalie.

Soccer also includes no timeouts. Your coach can’t call a timeout in the middle of the game to tell you what you’re doing wrong or to give you a quick breather. Nope. He/She has to wait until 45 minutes have gone by and its halftime or the game ends. As for substitutions? Most competitions allow for only three substitutions.

From June 3 until June 26 the Copa America will be taking place. The hosts? The good old USA. (I sadly could not get any tickets for any games). The Copa America brings together every country, who qualifies, that belong in either North, Central, and South America. Due to being hosts, USA automatically qualified. Mexico also automatically qualified. There are a total of 16 teams who will be attempting to win the trophy.

You see, like any sport, winning a trophy gives you pride at the fact that the team you supported won. At the international level in soccer it’s more than just team pride. It’s national pride. Nothing feels better than telling people your team is better than theirs. Bet on your team at fun888asia. Actually, one thing does and that’s telling people that your national country is better than theirs. No matter the topic.

The reason I’m bringing this up is because there is a stereotype that all Latinos are obsessed with soccer. This stereotype is both true and false. While you can find about 30 Latinos sitting around watching a game. You will also find about 30 other Latinos who couldn’t care less. The enjoyment of soccer has nothing to do with race, culture, or family. It has to do with personality. My mother hates when I spend all day watching soccer games but my uncle will be seated right next to me.

There are may reasons why some people choose not to watch soccer and the main one is that there are times when neither team is able to score and the game, if it’s not a championship game, will end in a tie. This leads many people to say, “Soccer is boring because sometimes it ends in a tie.” Well yes and no. Matches sometimes do end in ties but that’s not boring. That’s the beauty of it. In basketball, you know that scoring will consistently happen. In soccer, you don’t know. It’s the suspense of knowing that the game could go on for 89 minutes and then someone scores. Your team could lose the game at the very last minute. On the flip side, your team could win at the very last minute.

In honor of the 2016 Copa America I wanted to show not only amazing talent done by these soccer players but also the goals in an attempt to convince people to watch the Copa America and cheer on their national side. (Or just pick the team with the hottest players).  I will of course be cheering for Mexico and USA.

The 2015 Copa America was hosted by Chile. The final came down to Argentina and Chile with the winner of the tournament being Chile due to penalties. Hopefully the host’s winning will be repeated this year.

If neither USA or Mexico wins, you will find me crying in the corner.

Here’s a video of moments that made up the 2015 Copa America. Some moments are goals and skills and others are fights and arguments. (Which to be honest, are probably my favorite part).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPzhXwm8184

As I said before a total of 16 teams will be playing in the tournament. I have decided to include those teams here as well as how they did in the 2015 Copa America and their current FIFA Ranking. From these, you can go to the Copa America website and create a bracket. If you so wish.

If you don’t care to watch, that’s fine. You can join my mother in her judgment of me. If you would like to see what the big deal is then I highly recommend you watch. You can watch on ESPN, Fox, find the matches illegally online, find the matches legally online or you can watch on the Spanish channel, Univison. Even if you don’t want to watch the actual game, just listen to the commentary. It’s hilarious.

Soccer isn’t something that every single Latino loves and it isn’t a boring sport. I would rather watch a 90 minute scoreless soccer match than a basketball game and basketball is my second favorite sport.

Regardless of whether or not you want to watch:

Here’s a video of fights that happened in 2015. Because they always make me laugh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fFABx6mAy4

Here’s a video of goal celebration fails. Because these always make me laugh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5sF4PUtnpQ

Here’s a video of some goals from 2015.  If you don’t want to see all 100, skip to 14:58 to see the top 20. 16:37 to see the top 10 and 17:30 to see the top 5. (Order is subjective).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UCGGpQCszQ

My point is, watch soccer. It’s eventful, suspenseful, blows your mind, and at times, hilarious.

UPDATE on 2016 Copa America:

Group A: U.S. and Colombia advanced to Quarterfinals. Costa Rica and Paraguay knocked out.

Group B: Peru and Ecuador advanced to Quarterfinals. Brazil and Haiti knocked out.

Quarterfinal Matches: June 16: U.S. vs Ecuador

June 17: Peru vs Colombia

Group C: Current leaders are Mexico and Venezuela.

Group D: Current leaders are Argentina with Chile and Panama.

Quarterfinals take place June 16,17, and 18.

Semifinals take place June 21 and 22.

Third place takes place June 25.

Final takes place June 26.

Click here for easy to read schedule.

This is the eighth article of the column titled “Living in White America.” Every month there will be a new article discussing how one immigrant group, Latinos, live in America. This column will have articles dealing with anything and everything that concerns Latinos, this could include political and social talks. Some articles may discuss a culture of a different Latino group and interviews with a variety of Latinos will be added as well as interviews with non-Latinos asking for their opinion. Discrimination against Latinos has gone on long enough and now it’s time people get a look into a world they dislike so much. 

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