Argentina will target to revenge against the reigning Copa America champions Chile on Sunday after being pitted against the team on group stages in this summer’s centenary edition of the competition.
Chile gave Argentina an agonizing beating during last June’s tournament in Santiago as their championship proceeded.
Luckily for Argentina, Messi and his team mates have a chance to strike at Chile. This is after they were all put in Group D with their South America rivals. The match shall be held on Sunday.
As the Copa America tournament marks 100 years of being the world’s oldest international football competition, its matches will be taken outside South America for the first time.
The games which will be held from June 3rd to 26th of the same month will be hosted by ten different cities across the United States. They will feature 6 sides from CONCACAF region and 10 from South America.
The clash between Argentina and Chile is already viewed as the standout of the fixture. It will be held at Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan. The other two teams that are in group D are Bolivia and Panama.
The US is the host and will kick off the tournament with a match against Colombia on the 3rd of June at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
In the 1994 world cup group stages, the US beat Colombia. Thus, this match may carry a good omen for them. Andres Escobar of Colombia own goal made the match infamous. He was later on killed in his homeland in what was seen as a reprisal.
Is Brazil Luckier?
Group A of the Copa America is a demanding one. It has finalists such as Costa Rica and Colombia as well as Paraguay who are the 2015 semi-finalists in the Copa America. America is in this group and its coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, admits that it is a challenge but that’s what the tournament is all about.
He said he can’t wait to get started so as measure his team against the best in South America.
Brazil on the other hand has been placed in group B by the draw. The five time world champions will fight against Peru, Haiti and Ecuador. This looks as though it is a direct passage for them.
Their first match will be against Ecuador at Pasadena Rose Bowl on the 4th of June.
Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela and Jamaica are in group C. Luis Suarez’s Uruguay will be looking forward to proceed on from the knockout stages.
An important thing to note is that Messi trial for tax fraud will occur on 3rd of June and three days later on 6th of June, Argentina will compete against Chile.
Brazil’s star, Neymar will on the other hand face a grueling summer with Copa America in June. He has shown interests to play in both tournaments but we will wait to see if Brazil will be ready to release their star for the back-to-back events.
The Copa America tournament generates high revenue. However, there is also the negative side in millions of dollars in bribe are generated in business deals surrounding the Copa America matches.
