Lots of International footy going on this summer…

The COPA America runs pretty much concurrently with the European Cup. However, unlike the European Cup being the championship for the European (UEFA region), the COPA American isn’t only CONMEBOL nations playing this time around. CONCACAF have six teams playing that all qualified through CONCACAF Nations League (top three) or a playoff - USA, Mexico, Jamaica, Panama, Costa Rica and Canada.

It all kicks off Thursday, June 20th with Argentina vs. Canada for the opening game in Atlanta, USA. I expect Canada to get drubbed by Argentina, but I remain hopeful that we can get out of our group that also contains Peru and Chile. Canada have shown they can hold a very good team to a draw when they drew with France yesterday in France.

My hope is that we can draw Argentina and squeek out a couple of 2-1 games against Peru and Chile that provides more opportunities for Canadians to be in the stands than their opponents because the whole tournament is being held in the US. I think we’re good enough to get to the group stages, but that’s I think that’s where it will end for us.

That said, we’ve got a new coach in Jesse Marsch who’s quite literally only had two friendly matches against Netherlands (4-0) and France (0-0) to get us tuned up for the games that matter. He’s had less than a month in charge and there’s not been much to go on other than the two friendlies this past weekend.

Group A - Argentina, Canada, Chile, Peru

Group B - Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Venezuala

Group C - Bolivia, United States, Panama, Uruguay

Group D - Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay

Predictions (other than the obvious Canada slagging)?