Alejandro Dominguez, the president of the South American football federation CONMEBOL recently told Mexican journalists that talks are underway to have the USA host the Copa América in 2024. The tournament would be very similar in format to the Copa América “Centenario” that took place in 2016 in the United States. This means that not only Mexico, Canada and the United States are in line to get an invite from CONMEBOL to participate in the tournament. Other CONCACAF teams like Panama, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Honduras and others could be invited to participate.
Mexico Is The One That Withdrew From CONMEBOL Competitions
In the aforementioned interview Alejandro Dominguez would try to “clear the air” in regard to the rocky relationship that the Mexican federation has had with CONMEBOL over the years. According to Dominguez there is no ill will from CONMEBOL towards Mexico. In fact he went on to say that it was the Mexican federation who decided to stop participating in tournaments like Copa Libertadores, and Copa Sudamericana. He would go on to say that the doors of CONMEBOL remained open to Mexico and essentially Mexican teams.
Could Mexican Teams Return To Copa Libertadores Soon?
Since Mexico was eliminated from the World Cup plenty of people have speculated over whether it would be a good idea for Mexican teams to return to the Copa Libertadores to compete with South American sides. As previously stated the president of CONMEBOL made it very clear that there was no ban for Mexican teams from CONMEBOL competitions. What’s the issue then?
The problem that will likely keep Mexican teams away from South American competitions is the already tight schedule that the teams have. Domestically it hasn’t even been feasible to reactivate the Copa MX tournament. The league headed by Mikel Arriola is actively looking to increase the number of games that Mexican teams play on US soil. Although a return to the great South American tournament is probably preferred by the fans the reality is that we’re more likely going to get more Leagues Cups and Campeones Cups between Liga MX and MLS teams before there’s a return to Libertadores.
Nothing Is Set In Stone With Regard To The 2024 Copa América In The US
Heading into the 2026 World Cup the US, Mexico and Canada are going to have to actively look for competitive games to prepare themselves for the World Cup. Playing in the tournaments of different confederations much like Qatar did through their previous 4 years before hosting the 2022 World Cup. With that in mind it makes a ton of sense for CONMEBOL and CONCACAF to once again unite and play a tournament of the America’s. There are still certain elements that Dominguez should be very careful with before he does business with the USA. That could be one of the hurdles that CONMEBOL is going to have to climb to ensure that the tournament takes place.
Let’s not forget that the Copa America Centenario which took place in the USA ultimately landed basically all of the CONMEBOL nation’s presidents in hot water. Since negotiations regarding funds for the tournament took place on American soil, and the competition was of American interest the FBI was able to step in, and unveil CONMEBOL’s dirty laundry. This is something that people in South America are not going to want to repeat. Expect a ton of lawyers to be part of the conversations that will inevitably take place before we play a minute of football. Ultimately there’s a lot of money to be had, and that’s the biggest reason why the tournament is going to take place. We expect CONMEBOL executives to be more careful this time though!
