Copa America

The Copa America kicked off yesterday in Venezuela. This is the South American continental championship.

SoccerTV says ALL 26 games will be broadcast. GolTV has the English broadcasts, Univision & its WC affiliates tienen los partidos en espanol.

The 10 countries of the S American continental group CONMEBOL are all participating, along with N American guests los gringos (USA) y los bueys (MEX).

I am really happy USA & MEX get an invitation. I feel it's tough for USA & MEX to ever be prepared for the World Cup, since they mainly only play tiny Carribean & Central American countries in their non-WC games. This will give USA & MEX to go up against world-class BRA & ARG.

I am also pleasantly surprised that the beef bt world-class douches Gee Dubbz & Hugo Chavez, didn't preclude USA from playing this tourney in VEN.

The format is
1 round robin, 3 groups of 4 teams. 1st & 2nd in each group, along with 2 of the 3 3rd place teams, advance to quarter-finals (QF) round
2 Knock out rounds, starting with QF round

The rosters of all 12 teams are available. Off a quick glance, I am very disappointed that the USA seems to be sending the "B team" to Copa America. 4 USA players made the All Tournament Team for the Gold Cup: Hejduk, Mastroeni, Beasley, & Donovan. These 4 dudes inexplicably are not on the Copa America squad. As I said, Copa America is a great chance to go up against real world-class competition to prepare for the World Cup. Why not bring the "A team". I don't care if the MLS wants their stars (all 4 guys play in the MLS, except Scottish league Beasley) for random regular season league matches. Fan interest in the MLS will increase if the USA makes a good run in Copa America. With the USA being in a tough group with ARG, COL, & PAR, I don't have much expectation for the USA without having their top players playing.

Anyways, Copa America should be interesting. Between Wimbledon & Copa America, the sporting world is great right now.