The U.S. men’s national team will be looking for some real tests at the 2024 Copa América, but a clash with Argentina or Mexico will require going all the way to the final.
The competition regulations for next summer’s massive tournament preclude a meeting with Lionel Messi and the World Cup champions, or against the USMNT’s oldest rival, at any stage before the final.
CONMEBOL’s tournament structure will see 16 teams divided up into four groups by a traditional draw. Each group will have a seeded team, which are as follows:
The defending Copa América champions (Group A)
The defending Gold Cup champion (Group B)
The best-ranked team in the November 2023 FIFA rankings to qualify for Copa América through the 2023-24 CONCACAF Nations League (Group C)
The best-ranked CONMEBOL team in the November 2023 FIFA rankings (Group D)
The first two seeds are straightforward: Argentina won the 2021 Copa América and will be the seed for Group A, while Mexico’s 2023 Gold Cup title places them in Group B.
In the current CONCACAF Nations League, four teams (the USMNT, Mexico, Panama, and Jamaica) clinched berths at the Copa América by winning quarterfinal ties last month. The USMNT, ranked 12th in the world by FIFA, is the highest-ranked team of the bunch, placing them in Group C.
Could CONMEBOL have simply said the hosts get a seed? Perhaps, but the outcome is fortunately the same.
Group D would go to Argentina, the world No. 1, but since Argentina is also the defending champion, that seed goes to Brazil, who are ranked fifth in the world by FIFA.
🤩 Confirmados los bolilleros para el sorteo de la #CA2024 ✅
Potes confirmados para o sorteio! 🤓
Pots confirmed for the draw 😎#VibraElContinente #VibraOContinente #RockingTheContinent
— CONMEBOL Copa América™️ (@CopaAmerica) December 1, 2023
The remaining twelve teams will be placed in pots for a draw on December 7, which mercifully just follow the FIFA rankings.
What guarantees that the USMNT can’t face Argentina or Mexico beyond the methodology behind the seeds is the structure of the knockout stage. CONMEBOL’s knockout bracket will see Groups A and B to one side, and Groups C and D to the other.
If the USMNT won Group C, their opponent in the quarterfinal would be the runner-up in Group D; finishing second would line up a match with the winner of Group D. This sets up a potential clash with Brazil, which would already draw the most attention to a USMNT match since the 2022 World Cup.
The winners of the quarterfinals involving the teams from Groups C and D will then face each other in the semifinal, with the same dynamic playing out on the other side of the bracket with Groups A and B.
Therefore, a titanic clash between the USMNT and Messi’s Argentina, or against their oldest rivals El Tri, can only come about in a dramatic final in Miami.
Follow all of Pro Soccer Wire’s USMNT coverage right here.
Source link : https://prosoccerwire.usatoday.com/2023/12/01/usmnt-copa-america-argentina-mexico-group-draw/
Author :
Publish date : 2023-12-01 03:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.