so satisfying.. a high stakes game.. physical but “clean” enough for the talent to shine.. Messi is merely a passenger along for the ride.. the question is does his presence as a talisman provide enough of an intangible drive to his teammates to push on.. that extra time was all kinds of good
Messi is old and that ankle is WRECKED. But when he is healthy Messi is still one of the best on the pitch, just the cherry on top of this team. But this is a legendary Argentine team now, Messi could retire tomorrow and this team would still probably be a favorite for 2026.
Argentina has now equaled that great Spanish team, winning 3 major tournaments in a row. Colombia was great in the first half. Argentina started improving in the second half and was slightly better the rest of the way. Both teams played fairly cleanly and the ref was good. IIRC, Argentina only allowed one goal the entire tournament.
Of course you are. I saw some Messi shirts scaling the fences too, though. But maybe they were from Pakistan, Bangladesh, or India, like in Qatar.
Average attendance Copa America: 49,239 Average attendance Euros: 52,093 Its just that the Euros weren't a cash grab. The games weren't played in massive NFL stadia that looked half full. They were playing in Bundesliga stadia that were built for the game. The fan atmosphere at most games looked night and day compared to Copa America. When you watch a game from Jerryworld in Arlington, Texas and the stadium looks 50% full, that's how many people fit into most of the stadia at the Euros. ~40k. It just looks completely different. Yes, and I think the fan and security incidents are a wake-up call to everyone with WC26 approaching. We weren't prepared for a lot of that. We're used to isolated security incidents at our games. And who didn't know the fields were going to be like that? We on these boards knew the fields were going to be like that. If you're rolling turf down inside indoor stadia like Dallas, what do you expect? People driving by that stadium in Arlington didn't know why it was glowing pink for two weeks. They were shining some sort of light on that turf to desperately have it set in time the game. [I don't know how that works.]
pretty clearly a serious review is in order to be ready for WC2026 (don't think they will change the venue) .. 1. security, security, security .. even the Secret Service and local police can screw things up ... 2. fields, fields, fields - just should not maximize the cash grab by settling for poor fields (the final looked great but that pitch always gets enough water and it was wide enough). 3. Euros are an example of how to keep attendance up even in smaller stadiums (hint - don't use NFL stadiums unless it is a last resort) ... 4. Copa America in northern hemisphere summer is just brutal on the players ... the World Cup will be the same way in 2026 ... have to really think through the games being played south of the 40th parallel ... I don't have any heartburn with the passion of CONMEBOL soccer .. just historically the way it is - the point is to work hard to keep it within limits so no one gets hurt ...
Mbappe made this argument shortly before Argentina and Messi beat France in the World Cup final. Both are major tournaments and while there are more good teams in Europe, anyone who is good enough to win the Copa is good enough to compete globally with anyone.
While FIFA is a corrupt organization I do expect they’ll do better on things like the fields and security compared to CONMEBOL. As for CONMEBOL they shouldn’t be doing this on their own the next time there’s a Copa America in the US (and I expect there will be a text time as this was likely far and away for more successful financially than doing it in South America).
I know they already picked the stadiums, but I feel like especially with 48 teams, there are going to be some pretty unfashionable 1st round games that won't sell out a big stadium (or might sell out because people have to buy packages but won't actually be full). I know it won't work this way, but picking a pot 3 team from FIFA's 25-36 ranked teams and a pot 4 team from FIFA's 37-48 ranked teams, you could very well have a match-up like Hungary v. Tunisia. It seems like you might still get a full stadium for that with a good atmosphere in an MLS stadium that holds 20-25k, but I have a hard time imagining 60-70k going to that game.
And with that, we are not having another copa America here for awhile, you can count on that. South America or Mexico can have that party
We had some unfashionable games at WC94, in a country that was less interested in soccer at the time, and the attendance was fantastic. 1994 still holds the records for highest attendance per match and highest aggregate attendance at a World Cup. We had 93,000 show up to the Rose Bowl for Cameroon versus Sweden, for Heaven's sake. Copa America isn't the World Cup.
Ticket prices are an issue. I hope they use some sort of dynamic pricing model to adjust primary market tickets at least in the group stage according to the demand for that specific matchup. Obviously certain teams are going to be high demand either because they have large numbers of fans living here (US, Mexico, Colombia etc), they're a big name team (Spain, Germany, England), or both (Argentina, Brazil) and if you want to see one of those teams play and don't luck into a ticket through the lottery the secondary market has you over a barrel. But especially in a 48 team WC there are going to be plenty of matchups between teams that don't fit either of those criteria and I hope FIFA/the USSF make it affordable to go to those games. My dad took me to Italy-Norway in 94 and it sparked a lifelong love of the game, I was 10 so I'm not really sure what it cost but I don't remember him ever grumbling about the expense so I assume it wasn't too bad--and this was Italy in North Jersey, so not even exactly low demand. There are probably 8-10 high demand teams where if you want to see them even in the group stage you'll need to either luck out or pony up, I get that, but for the sake of the game in this country I hope the organizers make it possible for a dad to take his kids to see Ecuador-New Zealand or Senegal-Uzbekistan or whatever without taking out a second mortgage.
To add to the above--I found this old article: http://latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-..., ticket prices range,sold for all 52 matches. That's $51/$977/$119 today. If the Copa is anything to go off of, prices could easily be 4-5x that at minimum.
I think it’ll be sooner than you think. They definitely made a significant amount of money off this tournament. More than they would anywhere else.
...................................and they will sell out all of the games. This is the World Cup. We were the 2nd leading buyers of tickets to the World Cup in Qatar. Heck, Americans and Canadians were gobbling up tickets to the Euros. Fans from USA lead all ticket sales for Euro 2024 in Germany (worldsoccertalk.com) According to Viagogo, there is a surprise country buying more tickets than any other. In total, fans from 134 countries have bought tickets to Euro 2024. The leading nation in that statistic is the United States, which, according to the reselling service, has purchased 27% of all tickets to Euro 2024. That is more than even the host nation, Germany. The service claims Germans have only purchased 25% of tickets to the games.
Maybe, but given the scenes from the Copa group stage I don't think it's a given. We can get 90k people to pay $50/ticket to see a Sweden-Cameroon type game just like we did in 1994, sure, but what about when the tickets even for that level of matchup start at $200 or $250? Remember too that while soccer is a lot more popular here today than it was in 1994 the market is also more discerning, the best players and most famous clubs in the world come through every summer.
Copa America ain't the World Cup. I have no concerns. It cost a lot of money to get airfare, hotels, game tickets, etc. to Qatar. Americans went in droves. 2nd leading buyers of tickets to Qatar.
I think alot of it will have to do with ticket prices and how reasonably they are priced. I ultimately wasn’t able to go to Qatar but I did get tickets from FIFA for it and they were actually pretty decently reasonably priced considering it was the World Cup.