Copa America Brasil '19: USA Invited

Assuming it's considered FIFA dates for us. If it isn't, then we'd either have to decline or send a B team (almost the same thing).

 

Going to 16 teams, eh? That will make for a fun tournament but not a particularly South American one.

 

The article mentions at the end that this will be the last time the Copa America will be played in the odd year and that it will go on during the same year as the Euro's after that. Is that the Copa America in the USA they are talking about? I remember them saying that the copa america in the US will become a regular thing now...

 

so what happens to the Gold Cup? Going for 2020?
I would be surprised that the US and Mexico would play 2 times in the same year.

sounds like there won't be a Gold Cup in 2019.

also LOL, who wants to see China play....

 

could be a good way to inflate Higuain's goal scoring.

 

People in China. TV right$ go right into CONEMBOL's pocket.

 

People in China really care very little about soccer. They've recently started investing a lot into the sport (especially their domestic league), but it's safe to say that it hasn't resulted in the level of popularity they've been hoping for.

They're playing a rather cynical numbers game here - with a population of 1.3 billion people, if even 5% of China watched, that'd be 65 million viewers. They won't get anywhere near that figure, but even 1% of China means 13 million viewers..

They may also be playing another cynical game - one involving the discreet passing of large amounts of money from unscrupulous Chinese investors.

 

Should have invited Ivory Coast, Ghana, South Korea instead of China and the UEFA teams.

Make it the most traditional 16 outside Europe.

 

I feel like FIFA might have be behind the China invite. They have mentioned wanting China for the '30 World Cup host. Having them involved in a big name international tournament that they don't have to qualify (or not qualify) for would be a good way to justify naming them as hosts instead of Argentina/Uruguay.

 

The US needs to play this tournament, it shouldn't be optional. We need this.

 

Will be good for the new US manager to have a tournament to work through which, ultimately, is an exhibition tournament (to my eyes, anyway).






Damn well better be a new manager by that time....

 

This is the the best of the best from this side of the world, like I said, it shouldn't be an option, this is a great great opportunity to compete vs the worlds finest.

 

China should be an easy 3 points. They're a joke team. Japan's usually a solid opponent, though.

 

The Euro-Copa summers between World Cups is about to become for soccer junkies what the Winter Olympics are for Summer Olympics junkies and US mid-term elections are for political junkies! I wouldn't mind keeping the Gold Cup in odd-years just to give us more chances to test out young/fringe NT players in official matches and cap-tie dual nationals.

 

One Gold Cup to qualify for Confeds, one to qualify for Copa.

 

Last I heard with The Gold Cup was that they're looking at expanding to 16 for 2019, but beyond that it may be going away if the combined CONCACAF/CONMEBOL Copa becomes the new regular tournament. There's also been rumors swirling that the Confed Cup is gone after 2021, so that might negate the Gold Cup's purpose entirely.

https://www.si.com/planet-futbol/20...re-16-teams-conmebol-copa-america-montagliani

That still leaves a massive question for how we're going to handle 2019 though, it could very well just be a B team to The Copa America unless we actively decide we don't care about The Gold Cup.

 

But you could certainly argue that the invited countries have a cultural link to South America.

There are many people in Brazil descended from Japanese emigrants, as well as many Chinese emigrants in Peru. Spain and Portugal were, of course, the colonizers of South America. While I can't speak to the number of people from South American countries in the US, there are certainly pockets of them here, too.

 

how does ditching the Gold Cup make sense? Aren't those small nations the same ones they expanded the WC for. to begin with? Are we supposed to believe that the smaller Caribbean countries or central America would have a chance to qualify for a CONCACAF/CONMEBOL Copa? Doubt it.

the Gold Cup doesn't exist just for the Confederations Cup either. It's a regional tournament that has existed before FIFA took over the Confederations Cup.

if they plan to expand the Gold Cup then why would that be the final Gold Cup?

 

What's the likelihood of this happening? I remember Bruce considering it a non-starter a decade ago so I don't want him involved in decision making with it (doubt he would be). Did they just make an ungodly amount of money with the Copa Centenario? I would absolutely love this if it happened.

 

I'm a bit skeptical too, since money talks but that was from the CONACAF president and not a speculative blogger.

Keeping the 2 year Gold Cup would clog up the calendar quite a bit as it would essentially guarantee a tournament every single summer, every single cycle which would be great for fans but might annoy some players.

For the smaller nations, the league of nations would get them more competitive games and I imagine the sub regional tournaments like The Carribean and Central American Cups would still exist. Additionally Copa America slots would be available to them, which is probably a bit more of an incentive than the Gold Cup. We don't know exactly how bid allotment would work but hypothetically you could see a 2/2/2 split with North America, Central America and the Caribbean getting 2 slots each (maybe have Canada qualify with the Central Americans). That would still give a path to the smaller Caribbean nations.

For example this year The Caribbean Cup involves Jamaica, Martinique, French Guiana, and Curacao. If you allotted 2 Copa spots to that group than you'd at least be guaranteeing one smaller team a trip to The Copa America which is not something they probably ever expected before.

Again I'm still skeptical that this will actually happen, but it would lighten the load for the bigger teams in the region and the league of nations not only offsets the loss of the GC but probably gives more competitive games to the smaller teams.

 

According to this football/soccer is the most viewed sport in China.

That is true but I would argue the current popularity of the Gold Cup has been built on the back of the Confederations Cup "ticket" to a large extent next to the US-Mexico rivalry of course.

 

well there goes Logic. It never stood a chance against Capitalism

I hope eventually the Gold Cup is played every 4 years. It adds dramatic tension instead of it being every 2 years.