I think Mexico and Japan will be guest countries for Copa América 2015 as Mexico always is invited and Japan will be re-invited after having to cancel this year. However, with the schedule of the Copa America going to be likely quadrennial then I would like to review the process of sending out invitations to non-CONMEBOL countries. Mexico had to send a lesser squad to Copa America this year because of the proximity with the Gold Cup (and it being extra important as the champion gets to go the Confederations Cup). I know Mexico wasn't too pleased with their performance this year but I have to imagine it was an outstanding experience for their young players that should payoff soon enough. Mexico has been the second best performing team in recent Copa America history (behind Brazil) and has been a vital link for Americans like me in terms of sponsorship and broadcasting on accessible US television. The second invitee was always supposed to be the US but since the US has turned down invites frequently it tends to go to another CONCACAF nation such as Costa Rica or Honduras but also Japan was invited and went in 1999. How about inviting the European Championship host to the Copa America? I'm sure they would want a tune up as they would be unable to go through qualifiers as the rest of the participants in the Euros would have to. Imagine France (host of the 2016 Euros) being in Copa America 2015? I know sometimes there are co-hosts but even then something can be worked out. I actually think Poland and Ukraine would've been more competitive than Mexico's and Costa Rica's U-22 sides.
Then I guess that means no more US on the Copa América. Also any invited side will have the trouble of being denied players by the clubs even if they aren't limited to U22 players like Mexico and Costa Rica, which is why Japan withdrew. How about not inviting anybody? I think that's the best idea, period.
Actually, after the embarrasment of seeing in this years edition, how the four semifinalist teams played only not to lose, I would eliminate the knock-out phase too and go back to the 2 groups of 5 teams each (no invited guests), and have semifinals between the first of one group against the second of the other, to get the 2 teams who would play for third (losers in semifinals), and the 2 teams (winners in semifinals), who would actually play for the title....
There are talks of inviting even more teams for the next cup. You could be looking at a 14 team tourney for next Copa America. 10 team tournament is not a feasible plan. What do you people want 8 teams advancing out of 10???? Or just ******** the groups stage and go straight elimination 'cause you can't have groups without 8 teams in the next stage.
2 groups of 5 teams. Then straight into semifinals (1a vs. 2b, 1b vs. 2a) or a second group stage like it was done for 1989, 1991
Yes, we will have 2 groups of 5 CONMEBOL teams in them, where the 2 first of each group advance to semifinals as I already explained, and afterwards will decide who will the champion be. At the same time there is going to be a third group, with 4 invited teams, who will play between each other, and who wins is going to be declared, the Champion of the invited guests group and sent back home with a small 2 inch tall copper replica (donated by Chile) of the Copa America, with a small badge that will say : "Thank you for participating, try again next time"
Apparently, the current format has its days numbered. http://www.canchallena.com/1391242-se-viene-una-nueva-copa-america The idea is to merge Copa de Oro and Copa America into one "Copa de las Americas" with 16 teams (10 CONMEBOL teams and 6 CONCACAF) Thoughts?
I doubt that will happen. USA will want the tournament to be played in the US every time, or every other time. I doubt CONMEBOL would allow that. Their egos are too big. As for Mexico: they are really the 11th team. They will always play the Copa America because they bring both US and Mexican TV dollars. And as long as the money talks, they can bring their worst team to play for all they care.
The Copa America is a proud stand-alone tournament. Two groups of 5 with the the top two in each playing semis and the the final. Every team gets four games and the finalists 6. An easy and good solution me thinks.
Yes, another thing could be having the top team of each group qualifying to the semi-final and have the second and third of each group eliminate another so they meet the top ones in the semi-final. Meaning that the teams that finish on top of the group would play 6 matches, the teams that finish 2nd or 3rd between 5 and 7 matches and the ones that don't make it out the group 4 matches, meaning that there could be less matches in total but more matches for each team. The best is idea is 10+0. Even if they were invited the rotation is only between south american teams, so they'd never host it.
error craso de ser asi, que saquen la copa oro de USA viajes de mas 3 o 4 hrs Incluso entre equipos del mismo grp? wTF que roten la sede entre 6 paises (no islas por favor), a pesar que fifa jugo un mundial juvenil en trinidad y T. O porque no lo juegan al mismo tiempo, con 10 en cada lado (2 grps de 5) y la misma sede. avanzan los dos mejores de cada GRP.....partidos de ida y vuelta, el mejor por puntos es el campeon!!! quieren otro formato? No se si lo anterior propone ganacias monetarias....pero volvemos al mismo tema de copa Libertadores con invitados (un viaje de 9 o 11hrs para un partido) ....que desgaste usa.....tiene de sede a boston-foxboro y los charruas el Centenario??