Messi's Argentina to face old foe Chile in Copa America
Reigning Copa America champions Argentina will defend their title in the United States next summer in an expanded 16-team tournament which features 10 South American teams and six qualifiers from the CONCACAF region. Argentina, winners of last year's World Cup, will kick off the tournament on June 20 in Atlanta against either Canada or Trinidad & Tobago, who meet in a playoff next year to determine one of two remaining CONCACAF slots.
The Argentines will then face Chile in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on June 25th in a repeat of the 2016 Copa America Centenario final held at the same venue. Argentina, beaten by Chile in Santiago on penalties a year earlier in 2015, also lost the 2016 final on spot-kicks, with Messi blazing his penalty over the bar.
The Argentine captain later announced a shortlived retirement from international football after the defeat, before reversing the move and continuing his career. The world champions will wrap up their Group A campaign in familiar territory for Inter Miami' Messi, facing Peru in Miami on June 29th in their final first-round game.
Elsewhere, Mexico were drawn in a Group B alongside Ecuador, Venezuela and Jamaica, while the United States face Uruguay, Panama and Bolivia in Group C. Five-time world champions Brazil, beaten in the 2021 final on home soil by Argentina at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, have a potentially tricky group containing Colombia, Paraguay and either Costa Rica or Honduras.
Next year's Copa America is being seen as an effective test run for the 2026 World Cup taking place in the United States, Canada and Mexico. CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez said at Thursday's draw that the tournament would be a "Copa America of the World."
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