Copa America 2024: Five standout U23 performers who’ve lit up the continental stage – scout report

This year’s Copa América tournament has seen some quality football played from the group stage all the way to the semi-finals, the first of which Argentina managed to win, defeating Canada and becoming the only side to already book their place in the final at the time of writing.

Total Football Analysis has provided comprehensive coverage of the tournament throughout, including an in-depth analysis of the counterpressing tactics effectively deployed by Argentina, Uruguay, and Colombia — three teams that are interestingly all playing under the tutelage of an Argentinian head coach.

Today, we turn our attention to what’s been happening on the ball rather than off of it, with our tactical analysis and scout report identifying five standout U23s across the pitch who have proven vital for their respective teams in Copa América.

Before getting into the analysis, it’s worth noting that only those who have accumulated at least 250 minutes in the tournament have been considered for this analysis, and all stats/data have been sourced from Wyscout prior to either of the two semi-finals being played.

Furthermore, a notable absentee when it comes to discussing U23s who performed to a high level in this tournament is Brazil and Real Madrid star Vinícius Júnior, who you could make a strong argument for on merit; however, we analysed Brazil’s attacking dynamics; including an in-depth discussion on Vinícius and his role, earlier in the tournament in an analysis piece titled: “Dynamic Trio: How the positional rotations and flexibility of Brazil’s forward line can lead to Copa America glory and beyond – scout report” — so will be focusing our attention elsewhere for this one.

With that said, let’s get into the analysis.

Edgardo Fariña, 22 years old, Panama and CA Independiente

First up on our list is Edgardo Fariña (194cm/6’4”, 84kg/185lbs) of Panama and CA Independiente. Fariña is a right-sided centre-back who stood out in possession via relatively decent composure and accurate progressive passing with a respectable volume — having completed 6.62 progressive passes per 90 with an 82.76% success rate.

As figure 1 indicates, plenty of Fariña’s progressive passes came from deep and were of a longer nature, with a couple acting as switches of play across to the left-hand side of the pitch.

However, a good deal of the centre-back’s progressive passes were also played from a higher position, which allowed the 22-year-old Panamanian to act as a supplier for those positioned in the final third—he sent a good number of passes into the right half-space and through for attackers out on the right wing, as the image displays.