Uruguay and Jamaica face off in the first meaningless match of the Copa America 2016 on Monday night.

A meaningless match for two losers

Unlike every other match in the tournament, this one has no real meaning to either of the participants, with only pride on the line.

Jamaica is likely not too surprised to be in this position heading into its final match. Few picked it to get out of a group that included Mexico and Uruguay and the team has certainly played the part, though probably better than most expected.

The opener with Venezuela was not supposed to end the way it did - Jamaica was supposed to at least get a point out of the affair with arguably the weakest side in the group. And yet Venezuela managed triple the number of points in that single game than it has had in six CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers thus far.

The second performance against Mexico was more of the same except this time the team was utterly dominated by a superior foe.

Disastrous Uruguay comes to end of its cycle

On the other hand, Uruguay was not supposed to be in this position. This game was expected to be the first place decider for them prior to the start of the tournament. And yet here is Uruguay, flopping big time at yet another Copa America. Last year they finished third in the group but passed to the next round by virtue of the third place rule. Their trip did not last long thereafter.

This year the team was expected to turn up as a contender but everything has been a disaster since.

Superstar Luis Suarez was injured in the Copa del Rey final for Barcelona and has yet to feature in one minute of this tournament. Any playtime he gets from here on out will be utterly meaningless. Edinson Cavani, the man who was expected to fill the void left by Suarez, continues to be an utter disappointment for his national side. Cavani has not scored in this tournament and fluffed his lines quite a few times with a goal on his foot.

The loss against Mexico was the result of uncharacteristically poor defending and the defeat against Venezuela was even more shameful with the team not able to put together a coherent gameplan.

The sad part of this? In two years, Suarez will be 30 and in three he will be 31. Cavani will be 31 in 2018 and will be 32 in 2019 for the next Copa. Neither is likely to ever be as effective as they are now. Uruguay's cycle has come to an end, winning the 2011 Copa America, but ultimately coming up short in the primes of their respective careers.

Player to Watch

It will be interesting to see if Luis Suarez plays, but it will ultimately be for naught. What will be interesting to see is if Edinson Cavani somehow plays better with the pressure off.

History Favors Uruguay

Uruguay has three wins and one loss against Jamaica.

Prediction

Uruguay and Jamaica battle to an uneventful 1-1 draw. Suarez doesn't play.

Start Time and Streaming Info

The game starts at 10 p.m. and can be viewed on either Fox Sports 1 or Univision. Those with a FuboTV subscription can also catch the action on their mobile devices.


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