Without Mexico television networks in the USA and in Mexico would not pay as much money for the rights. When it comes to Qatar I don't find it a coincidence that beIn Sports has the rights in many countires and in many languages to the Copa America. It all makes sense and it all comes down to money.
Maybe they should break the tournament into 4 regions to save on travel expenses and jet-lag effects. Qatar goes in the mid-east division. China and maybe Guam and Easter Island in the Asian-Pacific division(?). Thoughts?
I wouldn't want my MLS team to let players go for two tournaments in one year either. Nor should any club, too much over-working the players.
Meh. No one 20 years from now is going to care or say that the Copa was tarnished due to Qatar or whoever playing a Group stage match. No one really remembers or talks about Japan playing in Copa America 1999 or calls it mickey mouse. Everyone remembers how brilliant Brazil was with Rolando and Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos, etc. People tend to focus on the crappy stuff in a short sided point of view but in the grand scheme of things the good teams and players will be what counts. Life goes on and we remember the good things from tournaments.
@HomietheClown - Fair point, but do you think the location can tarnish the tournament? It's in Qatar, they'll be few fans, etc... The visuals won't be good.
Up until now there have only been 2 invites with Mexico (still part of latin America at least) being one of them. Six invites takes it to another level IMO. It means you’ll have multiple teams in the same group from outside South America. So China v Qatar playing each other in the South American championship? Apart from being ridiculous, doesn’t it also become just a friendly at that point? Another problem is that AFC, CAF and CONCACAF are having their regional championships at around the same time. I agree though, by the time we’re down to the semifinals and there are only 4 CONMEBOL teams left a lot of this might get forgotten. Well, unless Mexico are playing Japan in one of those semifinals.
Would be a heck of an achievement if Japan's D team plays Mexico's C team in a Semi in Sao Paulo or Rio. I would just tip my cap to them and their managers for those astonishing results.
Japan is bringing Supercampeones (Captain Tsubasa) back, so there is that... That's a bigger merit than half the other invites.
Ah. I thought it was in Qatar. Like the one that was in the USA. Whatever then, I agree with you; the guests are not a big factor. If anything, Qatar might be kind of funny to watch.
True. Although I do wonder if CONCACAF teams will start sending their A team to Copa America now that the Confederations' Cup looks to be toast. Especially since there is another Gold Cup 2 years later, as well as the new CONCACAF Nations League => teams may want to test their A team against those from another region, and an expanded Copa America would be one way to do that. Remember in 2016 USA got to the semis and with a little more luck from the draw Mexico could have got there too.
Part of me wishes that Spain would have accepted the invitation with the intention of sending a strong team to win the Copa America. A Spanish victory would have forever engraved CONMEBOL's greed into the tournament history. At the same time I sympathize with all the South American fans who feel their tournament's standing is being dragged through the mud with this invitation galore.
I don't imagine CONCACAF will be pleased with B-Teams at the Gold Cup and they have the power to block Copa America participation for Mexico and the US. In fact, I believe Mexico has once before been at the receiving end of that threat.
As good as Spain is I don't think they would win a Copa America. The rare times they have played friendlies in South America they have not looked good. And we saw how they played in Brazil in 2014. But we may never know. They have the talent to win of course.
For a sixteen-team tournament, it should be the ten CONMEBOL teams plus the six teams from the CONCACAF hex. Shouldn't be any teams from other federations.....
I wouldn't be against that, although it takes us back to a familiar problem => that almost half the teams in the tournament would send their "B"/"C" teams since the Gold Cup takes place at the same time. Although when I look at this thread title it suggests that there's some talk of moving the Copa to even years which might solve that issue. (I'd still prefer the CONCACAF nations league to determine the six qualifiers since its more up-to-date. "HEX" qualifying basically takes place 3-4 years before a Copa America).
Sorry to interrupt and go off topic but I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm doing a prediction contest for the upcoming World Cup. It basically consists of predicting the results of each match, from group play all the way to the final. Different points will be awarded based on whether you predicted the outcome (who won or was it a tie?) or the exact result (including penalties after extra-time). Depending on how much interest there is, I might do a second one starting from the Knockout Stages. Anyway, let me know if anyone is interested and please feel free to tell others (the more the better).
Why Concacaf teams worry about a second class cup as the Gold Cup is beyond my understanding. If you want to make a unique Copa America then it's great, actually I am in favor of that, we need a cup for the whole continent that can dispute in prestige with the Euros. But in that case Gold Cup shouldn't exist anymore, simple as that. Concacaf teams want to play against bigger rivals on one hand but also want to keep playing a cup they can win on the other. It simply doesn't work like that.
The Gold Cup will exist as long as there is money to be made on it by the CONCACAF. They just expanded it to 16 teams so be prepared for it to get even bigger in its existence,