Football Is Argentina getting help from Conmebol? How the groups and final round of a Copa America under fire were formed

The Argentine team aims for the double American championship. The transandean team qualified for the final of the Copa América 2024 on Tuesday night, after beating Canada in New Jersey. One of the big favorites to win the crown fulfilled the predictions and settled into his seventh definition in 10 years aspiring to its fourth consecutive title (Copa América 2021, Finalíssima 2022 and World Cup Qatar 2022).

Although the Albiceleste arrived in North America as a candidate due to its status as world champion and its squad full of big names, starting with Lionel Messi, a cloudy halo has settled in the environment This has changed the course of Lionel Scaloni’s team, beyond strictly footballing issues. Is there any help for Argentina? The “gifts” of the South American Football Confederation ? Raising a series of questions, from the performance of the referees in their matches, to the quality of the rivals they had compared to the other candidates, the Albiceleste was portrayed despite the stripes on its squad.

Different visions arise from this type of debate, which intersects with the visceral nature of each person’s nationalist sentiment. To understand the development of the 2024 Copa América, which is taking place in a country whose federation does not belong to Conmebol (United States), it is worth going back to the draw for the competition and review the official rules to identify how the group stage and knockout rounds were conducted.

On December 7th of last year, the draw took place. To form the groups, the 16 teams were divided into four pots of four castings each. Article 21 of the tournament regulations establishes that the distribution of bolilleros is carried out “according to sporting criteria and their position in the FIFA ranking of national teams published before the draw.” What are these sporting criteria? As the current Copa America champion, Argentina were directly seeded in Group A. In zone B was Mexico, current champion of the Concacaf Gold Cup, ranked by the Nations League 23/24.

The top seed in Group C was the United States, being the best team in Concacaf according to the FIFA rankings. What is striking is that the host is not in zone A, as is the case in other competitions (Germany in the European Cup for example or in the World Cup). For its part, the best team in Conmebol, according to the ranking, was the seed of Group D. In this case, it was Brazil, because Argentina was in Group A. The other teams were distributed according to the FIFA ranking. That is why Chile, for example, entered pot 3.

It is good to remember that The four seeds fell directly into each of the groups. There was no draw as to which zone to enter. For the reasons mentioned above, Argentina went to A, Mexico to B, the United States to C and Brazil to D. A marked difference with the Copa América Centenario 2016, which was also played with 16 teams. On that occasion, The United States, as the host nation, was seeded in Group A.

Regarding the final phase, one or another question has arisen in the analysis of the preparation of the keys. In the current edition, Argentina found themselves with a relatively “clear” path to reach the final, as the strong rivals for the Cup (Uruguay, Colombia and Brazil) were on the other side of the table. and only one of them would meet the definition. In this case, the quarter-final matches were played as in 2016, which is useful for comparison by having the same number of participants. The first of A against the second of B; the first of B against the second A; and so on.

But there is a substantial difference that serves those who consider Argentina to be “favored.” The 2016 knockout stages only allowed teams from groups or the adjacent zone to meet in a possible final. This is what happened with Argentina and Chile. Example: Albiceleste wins Group D and faces Venezuela (2nd in C). The rival in the semi-final came from the intersection between 1st in A (United States) and 2nd in B (Ecuador). Now, the teams from Zones A and B kill each other in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, just like those from Groups C and D. In line with the 2016 edition, Argentina, winner of group A, would have faced Colombia in the semi-final (1st in D, who beat Panama, 2nd in C) and not Canada.

Regardless of the back and forth that this has generated, the concrete fact is that Lionel Scaloni’s Argentina is in the final on Sunday and will face Colombia, in Miami (where Leo Messi plays). What a coincidence.