Copa America review What we have learned prior to 2026’s World Cup

USA, Mexico have lot of work to complete before the 2026 World Cup; field conditions and officiating needs to improve.

A month of action-packed international soccer draws to an end, Euros and Copa America will be over. Copa America will disappear from our T.V. screens and we’ll only be left with a an image of Lionel Messi’s revered Argentine fans that encroaching onto Times Square, a sea of orange Dutch supporters who marched to German stadiums and Colombian yellow fever spreading across crowds from Texas across California all the way from North Carolina to South Florida and South Florida, where the Copa ended the next day, on Sunday, in Hard Rock Stadium.

We’ll be thinking of Spanish star Lamine Yamal, who was 17 Saturday and scored that stunning goal against France as well as English’s Jude Bellingham saving England with his last chance of 95 ^{in the} minutes of the bicycle kick that he scored to Slovakia.

We’ll remember the joy and happiness from the Argentine team that escaped an intense penalty kick shootout with Ecuador at the end of quarterfinals due to the bravery by Albicelestegoalkeeper Emiliano “Dibu” Martinez. It will be difficult to forget the disappointed home U.S. national team, leaving the field following having been eliminated in the first round at home.

Copa America 2024 was the equivalent of a practice for the dress rehearsal 2026’s World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. It offered us the chance to look at how teams across the Americas are looking forward to in the two years ahead and also how World Cup venues would fare.

Here’s what we’ve learned:

Argentina remains a force, even regardless of Messi isn’t performing at his best. There was a time when whenever Messi was injured on the field his team would be harmed. That’s not the case. Messi remains the leader and captain of the team in and out of it. He’s still able to create memorable occasions. He has been a eight times Ballon d’Or winner is revered by his teammates. It’s yet to be decided the age at which Messi will be over the coming two years, but the team has proved that it is able to keep Messi and will serve Argentina by attempting to regain its World Cup title.

Colombia, Canada, Ecuador and Venezuela are all on the increase.

Los Cafeteros of Colombia returned to the Copa America final for the first time in 23 years. They had a winning streak lasting 28 matches prior to the final match with Argentina. James Rodriguez is 32, yet his skills were the same that made him the most popular in this years World Cup. Coach Nestor Lorenzo is back to his best so keep an eye for him in 2026.

Canada has seen huge improvements with the help of new American coach Jesse Marsch, despite him believing that CONMEBOL and officials of the tournament did not treat the team along with the other South American teams “like second-class citizens.” It was never expected by anyone in Canada to to advance in the tournament alongside Argentina being in the group of A ahead of Chile and Peru. There was more unlikely for Canada to reach the finals. They did.

Ecuador as well as Venezuela both had a flurry of fits against the strong teams of the past, which provides them with reason to be hopeful for the 2026 season.

It’s clear it is evident that United States and Mexico have many tasks to finish. When the moment came to make progress ahead of CONCACAF the neighbours Canada and Panama were unable to do so, both were left behind and failed in the group stage, despite relatively easy draws and an abundance of resources that teams from the region lack.

U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter got dismissed on Friday, which was to be expected. He steered his team to the knockout phase of the 2022 World Cup, and expectations were high for a squad made up of players who earn money at the very top levels of Europe. The team, however Team USA fell flat after an easy win over the struggling Bolivia after losing by a score of 2-1 in the final against Panama (Tim Weah’s yellow flag wasn’t helping) and losing 1-0 against Uruguay. Team USA was forced to shift their strategy.

Whoever going to be the next USA manager will be going to face a lot of pressure to right what’s wrong with the team. Jurgen Klopp, the former Liverpool director of football Jurgen Klopp, who is loved by fans, has was graciously rejected. The other foreign managers to look at include Marcelo Gallardo, Herve Renard, David Moyes, Joachim Low and Jose Pekerman. Columbus Crew coach Wilfried Nancy is mentioned. One of the most well-known names among U.S. coaches is Los Angeles FC coach Steve Cherundolo, who played for the U.S. team and spent his career as a professional soccer player playing in Germany. If I had to assumption, I’d suggest they select Cherundolo and it makes sense. But another coach players will offer new perspectives and ideas for the team to use.

Argentina head coach Scaloni was not happy about the condition of the field’s turf in Mercedes-Benz Stadium after Copa opener and was subsequently critiqued by players and coaches across the venues of the event. Uruguay head coach Marcelo Bielsa was the most vocal. In the 14 Copa stadiums, six the venues had artificial turf which require temporary turf pitches over the turf, including Mercedes-Benz Stadium, MetLife Stadium and AT&T Stadium. Each of these are NFL stadiums with a lot of luxurious suites, but the pitch is vital to the world’s best athletes in soccer. World Cup organizers must ensure that grass is properly laid out before the event to keep from embarrassing situations.

The officiating at games at the Copa America was a constant source of controversy. This shouldn’t be the like this. The issue lies in the fact that there was a lot of jumping and bouncing around between players looking for the call. There was plenty of debate. Marsch claimed in defense of his Canadian teamthat “They’ve never berated referees, never rolled around on the ground like children looking for calls and yellows from referees.” The majority of Copa referees had a hard managing the games to keep under control. If you watched Euro games it was clear that the difference was noticeable. The players with much more respect for referees that were in control. And in the event of players who were avoiding their way around, they would dismiss them and tell the players to stop. Copa refs should be sent home with a red card owing to their conduct and ought to be reprimanded and banned before 2026.

The is now returning in MLS. Inter Miami is playing in the home stadium on Wednesday, with Toronto. What date will Messi return? Watch out for an announcement.