The football tournament Copa America is played by the South American countries. Football is the most popular sport in South America and is governed by CONMEBOL which stands for South American Football Association. It has 10 member nations thus making it FIFA’s smallest confederation. Because of how the tournament is formatted, two nations are invited every match.
The United States was first invited in 1993 together with Mexico and Costa Rica. Only seven nations have hoisted the trophy in its 42 tournament history. The nations meet to play every two years. The best indication of the quality of football in the tournament is that nations participating in the games have won nine World Cups. Brazil won it 5 times while Argentina and Uruguay won the World Cup twice.
This year’s tournament will be held in Argentina from July 1 to 24. Brazil is the defending champion. The invited nations are Mexico and Costa Rica who came in as a replacement for Japan. Eight cities in Argentina will act as hosts for the tournament.
Each team will be composed of 23 players. There must be three goalkeepers in each team. The referees of the match all come from CONMEBOL member countries.
The honors of hosting the opening game was given to the city of La Plata in its 53,000 seat Estadio Ciudad de la Plata. There will be three groups in the opening stage with four teams a group. In the first round, there will be six games per group.
There will be 18 games that will be played in the group stage. Those who finish first and second plus the two best third place finishers will qualify for the quarterfinals. Thus the next round will only be composed of eight teams.
The games are still at the group stage. Argentina is with Group A and with two drawn games hasn’t started spectacularly. The quarterfinal round will take place on July 16. On July 19, the semifinals will be played and finally the finals will take place on July 24 at Buenos Aires at their Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti.
The Copa America has always been one of the most popular sporting events in world. The defending champion is Brazil but it looks like Argentina is favored because the greatest football player plays for the host country. So as it stands, it will be Robinho with 25 goals from Brazil who will be pitted against Messi who has 17 goals. As the game unfolds, it is anyone’s guess who will become the eventual champions.
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