Copa América is knocking at the door. Will Argentina, led by Messi, defend its title?

While the club season is ending, with a few exceptions, for footballers around the world, national team football is yet to reach its peak. In addition to the upcoming European Championship in Germany, the Copa América will also be on the agenda, which this year will have an unconventional but all the more attractive model.

Countries from South America will take part in the tournament and will be joined by one of the invited teams. In the past, for example, Qatar and Japan have participated. This time, the ten South American participants will be joined by six teams from North and Central America. In addition, the originally planned venue of the tournament, which was to be Ecuador, is moving to the United States.

The latter already tried hosting the event in 2016, when it was last played in this format with four groups of four teams. Back then, Chile were crowned champions, surprisingly beating Argentina in the final after penalty kicks.

This year’s edition will kick off on 20 June, with the final scheduled for 14 July. The opening match will pit defending champion Argentina against Canada at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The final will then be played in Florida at the 64,767-seat Hard Rock Stadium.

Group A

Chile and Peru will round out Group A. Argentina, led by Lionel Messi, will be the main favourite to qualify, but second place should be a tough battle.

Chile is on the decline from glory after a prolific year. After failing to qualify for the last World Cup and failing to do well in the battle for the next one, it is only eighth after six games played.

Even worse off is Peru in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, which closes the ten-team table with two points. Canada could qualify from the group. The latter, unlike its rivals among the world’s elite, competed in Qatar in 2022 and could thus benefit from the experience gained.

Group B

Group B consists of the traditionally strong Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela and Jamaica. The first two teams will be big favourites to advance to the next stage of the tournament, but Venezuela will not want to be left behind. The latter is even one position above Ecuador in the aforementioned 2026 World Cup qualification. The Jamaicans, on the other hand, recently won bronze in the CONCACAF Nations League and can shake things up in the group.

Group C

The hosts United States then figure as the main favourite in Group C along with Uruguay. Bolivia and Panama will be looking for a surprise. In this group, the cards are fairly clearly dealt, with Bolivia usually one of the weakest teams in South America and Panama still not reaching the quality of the USA or Uruguay despite the growing popularity of football.

Group D

The last group D seems to be the strongest, where Brazil should play the main role. However, it will have tough matches against Costa Rica, Paraguay and, above all, Colombia. It is the last-named national team that will be the second favourite to qualify.

Two teams will advance from each group and will then be looking to reach the quarter-finals and semi-finals. For the losing teams, the tournament is over.

Source: Copa América