Porto Alegre, June 11 (IANS): The 2015 Copa America will be a difficult tournament with stronger teams participating, according to Brazil coach Dunga who believes Chile are the favourites, with Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay close behind.

The mega event starts on Thursday night.

"After listening to the media, I can say Chile is favourites, with Argentina and then Brazil and Uruguay close behind. It's going to be a difficult Copa America," Dunga was quoted as saying by goal.com on Thursday.

"The teams are stronger and the players are at the end of the season. And when you have three days to recover from a match with this rhythm and acceleration, we have more difficulties and we have to keep an eye on it during the tournament," he said.

Brazil open the Copa America in Chile on Sunday against Peru, before rounding off Group B with fixtures against Colombia and Venezuela.

Dunga also shrugged off any criticism of his side's performance in their 1-0 victory over Honduras on Wednesday in an international football friendly here, insisting it was natural to see a slight blip so close to a major tournament.

"The competition is approaching and it's normal to be out of rhythm. Our opponents defended the whole game, our goalkeeper didn't have anything to do and we made four or five good chances to score," Dunga said.