CARSON, Calif. – The United States and Mexico will learn their fate at the upcoming Copa America Centenario on Sunday evening when the tournament's draw is held.
This summer’s special edition of the Copa America, which is being hosted by the United States for the first time, will run from June 3 to June 26. The tournament will feature all 10 CONMEBOL nations, as well as six teams from CONCACAF. Pasadena’s Rose Bowl will host three matches during the competition.
The draw will be held Sunday at 4:30 p.m. PT at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. The event will feature a double-blind draw of eight pots, half of which will contain the 16 teams while the other pots contain the team’s respective placement in the groups.
Both the United States and Mexico were placed into Pot 1 along with Brazil and Argentina, who were chosen as seeds for the event. The remaining three pots will be broken down by confederation with Pot 2 featuring the highest ranking CONMEBOL nations while Pot 3 will include only qualifiers from CONCACAF. The remaining South American nations were placed in Pot 4.
The competitors are below:
Pot 1: United States, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina
Pot 2: Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay
Pot 3: Costa Rica, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama
Pot 4: Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela
As the hosts, the United States are placed in Group A, which will give them three matches with considerable travel. Jurgen Klinsmann’s squad will open up the tournament on June 3 in Santa Clara, California before heading to Chicago on June 7, and then East Rutherford, N.J. just four days later. The U.S. will not play in Southern California, but two of the Americans’ group-stage opponents classified "A2" and "A4" will face off at the Rose Bowl on June 7.
Mexico, who is expected to be one of the largest draws of the tournament, was placed in Group C. El Tri will start the tournament on June 5 in Arizona, and then travel to Pasadena four days later, before ultimately ending the group stage on June 13 in Houston. The Copa America Centenario will be Mexico’s 10th time in the competition.
Also, keep an eye out for Brazil, who will begin the competition on June 4 at the Rose Bowl. The eight-time Copa America champions were placed in Group B.
The Rose Bowl will only host three matches this summer, but a total of seven games will be played in California. The remaining four games will take place at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at www.LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com.