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US Men’s Path into Copa America 2024

By Jaime Broitman

ORLANDO, FLORIDA - MARCH 27: Tim Ream #13, Weston McKennie #8, Christian Pulisic #10, and Antonee Robinson #5 of United States of America converse during the first half of a game against the El Salvador at Exploria Stadium on March 27, 2023 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FLORIDA - MARCH 27: Tim Ream #13, Weston McKennie #8, Christian Pulisic #10, and Antonee Robinson #5 of United States of America converse during the first half of a game against the El Salvador at Exploria Stadium on March 27, 2023 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /
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The Nations League will go into a new format as CONCACAF often changes the formats to their cups. In this new iteration the three leagues: A, B, and C would be composed of different teams. For starters League A will expand from 12 to now being 16 teams. Here is where League A is different from all other leagues, the top four in the CONCACAF rankings of March 2023 would get a bye into the quarterfinals. The United States will be in the top four of those rankings as confirmed by the CONCACAF Ranking Index’s newest iteration on March 31st.

In the quarterfinal stage of the Nations League, the United States would go to the home stadium of one of the teams that place in the top two of the groups. Knowing the history of the draws made by CONCACAF, they would go to the second weakest group winner which in theory would be either Haiti or Panama. The second leg which would be played between the 22nd and 26th of March.

If the United States wins the quarterfinal round series they will go to the Copa America of which they will host. This was brought after an agreement was made between the two confederations in allowing 6 CONCACAF nations into Copa America in exchange for hosting the prestigious tournament.  If the US doesn’t reach the semifinals of the 2023-2024 Nations League, they will have to win a play-in series in order to play in the Copa America. If by any remote chance that the United States doesn’t win either, they will become the first or a part of a select few hosts of a regional cup to not play in one. The only instance of this phenomenon was in the 2020 Euro where Romania which played host to some games in Bucharest, were not able to play in front of their own fans. Another host from this tournament was Azerbaijan, which didn’t show up in Baku to play games there.

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