This is what most expected – Argentina, Brazil, Puerto Rico and the United States are in the semi-finals with two berths to the 2008 Olympics at stake.

Considering their recent history, the Americans haven’t run into any problems this tournament. Even if they did, the sheer talent of the USA would have propelled the Americans into the final four. The other three finalists weren’t complete locks but in spite of the questions or issues they ran into, they still found their way to the Semi-Finals. Despite the roller-coaster performance of Puerto Rico, the player-coach relations of Brazil, or the question of whether Argentina can compete without their superstars – these were the four teams what most expected to be the semi-finals.

There’s a lot at stake as the winners of todays games not only meet for the championship of the Tournament of the Americas on Sunday, but really the main prize will be the automatic berth to the 2008 Olympics.

Argentina: Brazil
Brazil and Argentina meet in the first match of the day. The two countries have developed a fierce rivalry that mirrors when both countries meet on the futbol field.

Brazil is looking for revenge. Argentina defeated Brazil in overtime just this past Wednesday, when the Argentines came back from a 17-point deficit, scored the last six points in regulation, and eventually put the Brazilians away in overtime 86-79. Since then, the Brazilians have disowned their coach and have nominated themselves to decide what is right for the team – we will see whether that makes any difference in their play.

The key player for Argentina is their leading scorer and rebounder Luis Scola, whose rights were obtained by the Houston Rockets. The power forward and 2007 Spanish League MVP has been the most consistent and productive player for Argentina. He scored four of the final six points to force overtime in the game against Brazil and ended up with 23 points and 12 rebounds. For the tournament, Scola is averaging 18ppg on 55. 5% from the field, and 7.6 rebounds.

On the other side, the key player for Brazil is Leandro Barbosa (pictured right). Brazilian coach Lula has given Barbosa the green light this tournament and Leandrihno has been taking advantage of it. In eight games, the Brazilian Blur has put up 23.5 points per game – and outside of the game against the US, Barbosa has put up double-figures in every game and has scored over 30 points three times. He’s shooting a respectable 47% from the field, 40% from three, and has dished out 3.0 assists per game.

In a way, Argentina’s and Brazil’s key players are representative of how each team would play — Argentina is a team of composure and poise, slowing down the pace and utilizing execution, while Brazil would love to get out and run, using their advantage in athleticism, size, and speed to give themselves the edge. IBN Prediction: Brazil by 8.

Puerto Rico: USA
It’s been an up-and-down two weeks for team Puerto Rico. They started out the tournament horrendously; winning only one of their first four games. Only a complete collapse by the Panamanians in the final two minutes against the Argentinians allowed Puerto Rico to sneak into the second round.

However in the second round, they’ve flipped their record to 3-1 by defeating Canada, Venezuela and Brazil. Their only loss in the second round came to the Americans. So I am sure they’re salivating to avenge their 39-point defeat at the hands of the United States later today.

And Puerto Rico knows this isn’t the same US team that they defeated by 19 points three years ago at the Athens Olympics – this is a much-improved, more assured and aggressive American squad. “We have to believe that we can win that game,” said Carlos Arroyo, “We know we will be playing against a very talented home team, but we will play hard.”

Coming into the game, Carmelo Anthony leads the Americans in scoring at 21.1ppg on 63% shooting, Kobe Bryant is putting up 16.6ppg on 62% shooting. Lebron James is averaging 16.4ppg on an amazing 83% conversion from the field — his field goal percentage was certainly buoyed by a 11-11, 26 point performance against Uruguay. Larry Ayuso leads Puerto Rico with a 16.2ppg on 40% from the field. IBN Prediction: USA by 34

The losers of today’s game, along with fifth place finisher Canada, will still have a chance to compete for a spot in the Olympics. Next summer, these three teams (along with also-rans from other regional tournaments) will compete in a qualifying tournament from which the three final teams of the 12-team Olympic field will be selected.

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