Now that it's official, let's use this thread to talk about the tournament set-up, qualifiers, etc. First: I can't help but reiterate that I really, really hope this 10+6 format becomes the norm for 2019 onward. Having said that, there are still plenty of questions about this tournament, such as: - Will FIFA will render it an official tournament for both confederations or (as I suspect) only CONMEBOL? If it is the latter case, CONCACAF countries will be unable to demand their best players from Europe (those clubs could always voluntarily give up their players, since they would be in the off-season). - How will the groups be set up? The US will likely get a top seed as a host; would the pots then be set up based on FIFA rankings? If so, the pots would currently be: Pot 1 USA Colombia Uruguay Argentina Pot 2 Brazil Chile Mexico Ecuador Pot 3 Honduras* Costa Rica* Panama* Venezuela Pot 4 Peru Paraguay Bolivia Trinidad and Tobago* One expects that Brazil would move up to Pot 1 after the World Cup, but there's a chance they or Argentina could be floating around in Pot 2 for an instant Group of Death. - How will the two qualifiers from the Gold Cup be determined? ...no clue. - Where will the games be played? My guess is almost entirely in NFL stadiums with grass placed down for the tournament. A list of practical shoe-ins: Miami LA Chicago Dallas-Arlington NY/NJ Boston-Foxboro DC or Baltimore Beyond that, here's to Florida getting two venues (Miami-Orlando or Miami-Tampa), in which case I'm aiming to go to every game possible. - Where will the Final be played? I can't see anyone other than LA, NY or Miami doing the honors. Lastly, here's an update on the qualifying process: - The 2014 Copa Centroamericana will take place in September in the US, with the following groups: Group A Honduras El Salvador Guatemala Belize Group B Nicaragua Costa Rica Panama The top two in each group move on to the semifinals (and now towards a Copa América berth for the winner), while the third-placers head to a fifth-place game...with the winner of that facing off against the 5th-place finisher in the Caribbean Cup for the last spot in the Gold Cup. - The Caribbean Cup will run from qualifiers this month to the finals in Jamaica in November. The top four qualify straight to the Gold Cup, while the 5th-place finisher will go to the playoff with their Central American counterpart. 2016 Copa América Centenario qualifiers 1. Uruguay 2. Argentina 3. Brazil 4. Paraguay 5. Peru 6. Bolivia 7. Colombia 8. Chile 9. Ecuador 10. Venezuela 11. Mexico 12. USA
Apparently the top four teams from the 2015 Gold Cup not already qualified will be paired 1 v. 4, 2 v. 3 for playoffs to determine the last two in.
Well, obviously if they stick with this format going forward and sticking with their post-WC quadrennial format (2015, 2019, etc), how will that mesh with the Gold Cup? NT's can't really send their "A" team to both in one summer and presumably the Gold Cup is the only way to figure out who qualifies in those 4 remaining spots.
Awesome, if all goes well, I'll be there in person to watch it. Now, I hope this marks end of the Gold Cup. NAM teams should now start playing CA qualifiers.
Not going to happen: CONCACAF has to send a team to the Confederations Cup, and the Gold Cup is still a massive money-maker (not on the scale of what this Copa América could be). And my guess is that if we keep collaborating on the Copa América, the Gold Cup could get bumped back a year (e.g. 2020 instead of 2019), rendered a quadrennial event and problem solved.
Not necessarily: we'll see how FIFA decides to handle the tournament, but they had no problem putting the African Cup of Nations on their calendar for back-to-back years (2012-13). Besides, in all honesty, I think Brazil is the only country in the hemisphere that would rather send its best players to the Olympics than the Copa América...and that simply because they've never won Gold. On another note: if CONCACAF and CONMEBOL make this a permanent arrangement, then in order to appease Nicaragua, Belize and the smaller Caribbean countries that need extra games, they could continue to play the Copa Centroamericana and the Caribbean Cup every two years, under the arrangement that if one team wins both editions, they qualify directly to the Copa América; if there are different champions, they then play off for the respective "Central American" and "Caribbean" berths.
You also have to consider World Cup qualifying though. If the CONMEBOL sticks to their long Marathon qualifying tournament then those summer matches will take priority over this special Copa America. B teams and C teams could be the residual result.
But there are qualifiers that summer too. Plus a South American team (or two) in the Confederations Cup itself that would see that tournament as the priority.
Teams are going to bring their best players 2 years in a row.............I don´t see it. I don´t think they will care what fifa says.
I think that completely defeats the purpose of this edition of the tournament from the South American point of view. The first Copa took place in 1916, not 1917.
Meh. It's a nice little tourney, I guess. I just hope its format isn't permanent and that its results aren't counted towards the all-time stats of the"regular" Copa America.
Or maybe CONCACAF teams send their A teams while CONMEBOL send a B squad? There are alot of big tournaments coming up, its doubtful teams will want to risk their players
Because it distorts the nature of the tournament. Every confederation has their own, members-only championship and for South America it's Copa America. This amalgamation of two confederations is ok, but it's not Copa America. And yes, I'm also against Mexico and the other guest team that's been added on for the last couple of decades.
everything about Copa 2016 sucks and furthermore the way we invite guests to our continental comp also sucks sucks big time that is all
The Confed Cup is not that important. Brazil and Argentina have sent B squads to Copa Americas that have determined the Confed Cup spot.
...back when the Copa América and the Confederations Cup happened way too often. Now that each is only once every World Cup cycle (2016 notwithstanding), "A squads" are the norm.