2024 COPA AMERICA PREVIEW
The Copa America returns to the United States for the second time, but for the hosts and the participants, the real test will come in 2026
Ecuador was due to host the 2024 Copa America. Under pressure, itpulled out –probably for the best given the country’s explosion of drug-related gang violence –giving the United States the opportunity to step in. And so, for the second time, the Copa moves out of South America. Just like 2016,the USA will stage a16-team tournament, with the ten South Americans joined by six nations from CONCACAF.
Asprawling tournament will take place in 14 stadiums across13 cities –clearly designed as atest run for the 2026 World Cup, with eight ofthe giant stadiums also set for use in two years’ time. But there isnoplace for Boston or Philadelphia –two World Cup venues that were employed in the 2016 Copa –while Seattle, another World Cup city, is also out. This is atournament, then, almost entirely taking place below the Mason-Dixon line –meaning that, although some of the venues are covered with air conditioning, extreme summer heat will beafactor. This is important given the experience of the1994 World Cup final, when both Brazil and Italy’s coaches concluded that the heat had anegative effect on the quality of the spectacle.
The heat will certainly be on the CONCACAF teams. The USA are preparing for what they hope will be abreakout performance in their home World Cup, Mexico are struggling to show that they are not the worst side the country has produced in decades, while the other four (with Canada replacing Haiti) will want to do better than they did in 2016,when they were all eliminated in the group phase, prompting CONCACAF authorities to admit that they were trailing well behind the South Americans.
For the ten footballing nations of South America, the Copa has immense prestige. It is, after all, the world’s oldest continental competition, first contested while Europe was tearing itself apart on the Somme. But there isone sense in which the Copa is no longer adirect equivalent of the Euros: no one has specifically built towards this competition, all the more sosince there isnoSouth American host desperate todo well in front of their own public. Ever since the continent embarked on its marathon format of World Cup qualification in 1996, the Copa has had to play a secondary role. It fits into the context of the qualifiers. Sometimes this has meant that it has been full of reserve sides. At others, it has kicked off a new cycle of competitive matches. This time it gives a selection of new coaches some much-needed time together with their players.
The interval between the Qatar World Cup and the start of the 2026 qualifiers was shorter
