Yeah, the obsession with Messi makes sense in the MLS world where he's by far the best player, but there are lots of good players in the Copa, including some that are better. So the obsession is weird. People might be sleeping on Brazil. They've won 3 Copa Americas in-a-row that Neymar wasn't involved in. Seriously though, they could totally win this thing.
Just hard to imagine them winning with a new manager and with a make shift defense. Their Fullbacks are not that good. If their defense can improve and their Keeper gets hot maybe Brasil can win it but they need a major mentality shift and some leaders to step up.
Good news (for me). Just found out that Australian rights to both the Euro and the Copa America are held by a streaming service that I'm already subscribed to. Lots of international football to watch in June/July.
La Conmebol aprobó la inscripción de 26 jugadores por país para la #CopaAmerica 2024. Una buena decisión adaptada a lo que estamos viviendo @CONMEBOL— Cesar Augusto Londoño (@cesaralo) May 16, 2024
La lista de convocados para la CONMEBOL Copa América USA 2024™️ aumentará de 23 a 26 jugadores 🙌#VibraElContinente— CONMEBOL Copa América™️ (@CopaAmerica) May 16, 2024
This is interesting. A sixth substitution for concussions available for teams at 2024 Copa America https://mundoalbiceleste.com/2024/0...ions-available-for-teams-at-2024-copa-america/
Makes sense. Hopefully teams won't take advantage of that new rule (i.e. faking a head injury if they need to make a 6th sub), but health first. Amazing that Otamendi still makes the squad of the world champs. I know its only a preliminary list but I don't think he'd be on the prelim list if it wasn't intended to put him on the final one.
They did say the medical team has to give them a report after the game so I assume it will be detailed and confirmed by a third party medical staff. But this is CONMEBOL so never assume anything.
You can prevent teams taking advantage of it by simply banning players suffering a concussion from training and games for a period after the game, all in the interests of player health of course. In Rugby league in Australia we ban players from playing for 11 days (or 14 if the player is under 19 years of age). As its a contact sport with heavy collisions the risk of repeat concussions is considerable.
Hmmm...but doesn't it take several minutes, if not longer to determine if a player suffered a concussion? In the meantime, the substitution would happen right away, as a precaution and to avoid playing a man short for too long
In the NRL a player is replaced for up to 15 minutes while they undergo a head injury assessment (HIA). They have a bench of 4 and are allowed 8 changes during the game with replaced players able to return. The HIA counts as a free swap if the player passes the HIA and returns to the field within the 15 minutes. If the player is ruled out then it counts as an injury replacement but the club are allowed to add an extra player to the bench to keep numbers at 17.
Since I know there were some complaints about this earlier in the thread, the parent company of Ticketmaster is under major fire from the US government for running a monopoly. 'bout frickin' time, I'd say. U.S., states sue to ‘break up’ Ticketmaster parent Live Nation (msn.com)
CONMEBOL says the card will be used to allow players who have suffered a concussion or concussion-like symptoms to be substituted without using one of the team’s five allocated replacements 🤕 pic.twitter.com/YzyGxe9Qta— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 23, 2024
Sources: The 2024 Copa America is set to pay out a record $72m in participation fees and prize money, with $16m going to the winner.https://t.co/niRmk6uAY9— Jeff Carlisle (@JeffreyCarlisle) May 25, 2024
I was just about to post that. Here is an ESPN article that talks a little bit more about it.: https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40205153/copa-america-2024-winner-prize-money-usa
So going back to previous arguments in the thread... ...you can see why a sixteen team tournament is really only viable in the USA. There really are not too many other Countries that can guarantee that amount of money for Federations participating in it.
So I guess we can put this pesky 16-team Copa experiment to rest after this edition and instead add another Gold Cup to the calendar.
This is why we are going to see this tournament in the US often. No one in South America can even host it without losing money. They will be driven by the pay days.
By it, you mean the 16-team format, or the Copa América in general? And at some point, would Mexico not be a viable host?
Yeah, there was a bigger Copa scheduled for 2020. Two groups of six played in Argentina and Colombia. At least that was the plan until COVID hit. Such a tournament would have consisted of 38 matches compared to this summer's 32 match tournament.