Copa América Centenario

[Lineker]

GROUP A

United States (hosts)
Colombia
Costa Rica
Paraguay

GROUP B

Brazil
Ecuador
Haiti
Peru

GROUP C

Mexico
Uruguay
Jamaica
Venezuela

GROUP D

Argentina
Chile
Panama
Bolivia

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SQUADS

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The Copa América Centenario is a celebration of the centenary of CONMEBOL and the Copa América, and is to be the first Copa América hosted outside of South America.

The tournament, 100 years in the making, which will be the 45th edition of Copa América since its inception in 1916, will be held as part of an agreement between CONMEBOL (the South American football confederation) and CONCACAF (the football confederation for North and Central America and the Caribbean) as a special edition between the usual four-year cycle, and will feature an expanded field of 16 teams (an increase from the usual 12), with all ten teams from CONMEBOL and six teams from CONCACAF.

The football will kick off on 3rd June and run for just over three weeks in ten venues across ten American cities in nine states: Seattle (WA), Chicago (IL), Foxborough (MA), Santa Clara (CA), Philadelphia (PA), Pasadena (CA), Glendale (AZ), Houston (TX), Orlando (FL), and East Rutherford (NJ), which will host the final at the MetLife Stadium on June 26^th.

The tournament is purely ceremonial; the winner of this tournament will not receive an invitation to the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, as Chile have already qualified by winning the 2015 Copa América.

Premier Sports are the UK television broadcasters.

[MDK]

WAR PARAGUAY 

[Lineker]

Jürgen Klinsmann has gone for a blend of youth and experience in his 40-man preliminary roster for this summer’s Copa America.

There are two notable young attacking talents in the US squad, with Seattle Sounders’ Jordan Morris and Borussia Dortmund’s 17-year-old forward Christian Pulisic included. The roster has to be cut down to 23 players no later than 20 May. The US kick-off their campaign against Colombia on 3 June in Santa Clara, California.

There are 19 MLS players on the roster, with 17 based in Europe and another four plying their trade in Mexico. The US training camp starts on 16 May, although MLS players will not start to arrive until 21 May due to league duties.

USA preliminary roster for Copa America
Goalkeepers: David Bingham (San Jose Earthquakes), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Ethan Horvath (Molde), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

Defenders: Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas), Ventura Alvarado (Club America), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Edgar Castillo (Monterrey), Timmy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Omar Gonzalez (Pachuca), Eric Lichaj (Nottingham Forest), Matt Miazga (Chelsea FC), Michael Orozco (Club Tijuana), Tim Ream (Fulham), DeAndre Yedlin (Sunderland)

Midfielders: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (FC Nantes), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC), Fabian Johnson (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Jermaine Jones (Colorado Rapids), Perry Kitchen (Heart of Midlothian), Alfredo Morales (Ingolstadt), Darlington Nagbe (Portland Timbers), Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution), Danny Williams (Reading FC), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Ethan Finlay (Columbus Crew), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders FC), Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund),Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes), Bobby Wood (Union Berlin), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy)

[Blaze09]

So we're holding a training camp and the majority of the players coming won't be in until after the roster is due.

Sounds like a brilliant plan!

[Gazz]

Group of Death for Brazil.

[Adam]

Yeah, Group A looks really evenly matched yet the other three groups all look hopelessly one sided before a ball is even kicked.

 

[MDK]

1 hour ago, Temporary Gazz said:

Group of Death for Brazil.

Haiti looking tasty

[Rich]

War Ecuador!

[MDK]

7 minutes ago, Permanent Rich said:

War Ecuador!

 

[Lineker]

The Barcelona forward Neymar has been left out of Brazil’s squad for the Copa América, which will be played in the United States next month.

Brazil’s coach, Dunga, accepted Barcelona’s request to use the striker either at the Copa América or at the Rio Olympics in August, and will select him only for the latter competition.

Dunga’s squad, named on Thursday, includes seven players under the age of 23, all of whom will also be eligible for the Rio games. Two British-based players have been selected, Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho and the Chelsea midfielder Willian.

Dunga said: “We are bringing a competitive team for an important tournament.”

Brazil are in Group B with Ecuador, Haiti and Peru and start their campaign on 4 June against Ecuador in Pasadena, California. The competition, which is celebrating its centenary, will take place for the first time outside South America.

Brazil squad:

Goalkeepers: Alisson (Internacional), Diego Alves (Valencia), Ederson (Benfica).
Defenders: Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Fabinho (Monaco), Filipe Luís (Atlético Madrid), Douglas Santos (Atlético Mineiro), Miranda (Internazionale), Gil (Shandong Luneng), Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain), Rodrigo Caio (São Paulo).
Midfielders: Luiz Gustavo (Wolfsburg), Elias (Corinthians), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Rafinha (Barcelona), Renato Augusto (Beijing Guoan), Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool), Lucas Lima (Santos), Willian (Chelsea).
Forwards: Douglas Costa (Bayern Munich), Hulk (Zenit), Ricardo Oliveira (Santos), Gabriel (Santos).

[DavidMarrio]

Can't believe they've let Barca bully them. 

If this was FM you'd call him up and ignore any requests to play him for only 45 minutes. 

[EddieG]

Originally I read that he was only going to play this, as this is more important than the Olympics.

But not calling up Firmino? Travesty.

[Szumi]

No, they value the Olympics more. It's in their country and Brazil has never won the Gold in soccer, apparently. This Copa has no value at all; the winning nation gets nothing out of it (no Confederation's Cup berth)

[Adam]

You're probably right in the Olympics being a bigger deal for Brazil this year, but do teams only enter the Copa America to earn a place in the Confederations Cup? I don't want England to win the Euros to get into a pointless warm-up tournament for the World Cup, I want them to win it for the glory and achievement of winning a major tournament.

[gunnar hendershow]

Copa is a big deal to countries that aren't Brazil and Argentina basically. For them it's just a tournament, for someone like Chile or Colombia it's a chance to triumph over a hated rival.

[MDK]

Might put a cheeky quid on Costa Rica winning this

[HailtotheYo]

special trophy for this year:

[MDK]

Oooh, shiny 

[Rich]

NEED

[Lineker]

The US will have to do without one of their most experienced players for next month’s Copa America after it was confirmed Jozy Altidore will miss the tournament with a hamstring injury. Altidore’s club, Toronto FC, confirmed the forward will miss six to eight weeks after he strained his hamstring during Saturday’s match against the Vancouver Whitecaps. USA kick off their Copa America campaign against Colombia on 3 June in Santa Clara, California. The final will take place on 26 June.