Mexico, Argentina and Uruguay advanced into the quarterfinals.

Team Mexico was the first to reach the 2007 Copa America quarterfinals and join the tournament’s ELITE EIGHT if you will, by beating Ecuador, 2-1, over the weekend. Mexico’s win over Ecuador puts them atop Group B of the 2007 Copa America tournament with six points and guarantees at worst one of the two places in the knockout round reserve for the two best third-place finishers.

As expected, Mexican phenom Nery Castillo was key for the Mexican side against Ecuador. Castillo scored in the 2-0 win by Mexico over defending champion Brazil at the 2007 Copa America tournament opener.

Argentina, on the other hand, got to the 2007 Copa America quarterfinals with two goals by Juan Roman Riquelme. Riquelme led Argentina towards a convincing 4-2 win over Colombia to join the tournament’s ELITE EIGHT.

After penalty goals by both sides, Riquelme scored the go-ahead goals in the 33rd and 45th minutes to guarantee the Albiceleste a spot in the quarterfinals along with fellow Group C side Paraguay, and Mexico.

Argentina will be playing in the Copa America quarterfinals without star forward Hernan Crespo. Crespo will miss the rest of the Copa America tournament after pulling a muscle in his right leg.

”It’s very difficult for Hernan to play again in this tournament,” Homero de Agostino, Argentina’s team doctor, said. Crespo left their match against Colombia limping on…

The premiere international football leagues are taking their annual hiatus from our TV sets.

And in case you didn’t get that, these major international football leagues are currently in their offseason and just because we really don’t have anything to write about other than the ongoing 2007 Copa America tournament (…and the MLS… if you watch that shit…) we’ll just take a look what team is the richest of the rich.

Obviously, Real Madrid is No.1 after signing the likes of David Beckham and Robinho, among others. Real Madrid is one of two international football clubs from Spain that earned the highest revenue during the Spanish La Liga season.

Real Madrid has a revenue of $373.4 million, keeping its No.1 spot atop our little ”football money league.”

Of course, that ”other” Spanish football team rich enough to compete with Madrid is the powerhouse team of Barcelona FC. Barcelona, after signing the likes of Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry, has a revenue of $331 million. They jumped four places behind the filthy rich Madrid team.

”The two (Spanish) clubs have had contrasting strategies, with Real focusing on driving commercial revenue from recruiting its…”

Brazil just advanced to the 2007 Copa America quarterfinals but it seems that’s not enough to make Brazilian fans ”happy.”

Well, if there’s one word to describe the way Brazil made it to the ELITE EIGHT of the 2007 Copa America quarterfinals tournament, it would have to be BARELY. Yeah sure, barely making it to the quarterfinals is still a step towards the 2007 Copa America title, but they’re Brazil for crying out loud, and ”barely making it” just doesn’t cut it for a powerhouse football team like Brazil.

An example of Brazil’s difficulties in the ongoing 2007 Copa America tournament would have to be the struggles they had in their 1-0 win over Ecuador. That game was Brazil’s third consecutive fixture where they found themselves surprisingly struggling on the football field.

And of course, Brazil soccer fans don’t like what’s been happening to their favorite team one bit.

”Selecao is jeered, but wins and advances,” read a front-page headline Thursday in Brazil’s largest newspaper, Folha de S. Paulo. ”Disappointing. Selecao beats Ecuador with weak soccer,” read a headline in the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper.

To say that the pressure is now on Brazil to perform could very well be an understatement.