ith the Copa America staging an
extra tournament next year to aid
the competition’s switch from odd
to even years, an offer to stage
the event in the United States
has been rejected by the South
American Football Confederation, CONMEBOL.
Kicking off in June, Brazil will stage this year’s
edition, while Ecuador will be hosts in 2024. And
in trying to find a location for 2020, CONMEBOL’s
decision to reject the USA is likely to be politically
motivated, with one eye on the 2030 World Cup.
The confederation’s plan is to celebrate the
centenary of the World Cup by taking it back
to Uruguay. However, with only one city of note,
Uruguay cannot dream of doing it alone. Paraguay
are involved, Chile are knocking at the door and
Bolivia want in. But no matter how many South
American countries share the tournament, the
bulk of the games would be in Argentina.
However, the fact that December’s Libertadores
Cup Final second leg had to be moved to Madrid
is hugely damaging. After being seen as incapable
of organising a match between its two biggest clubs,
hosting a successful Copa in 2020 might help to wipe
the slate clean.
There may also be a financial explanation for
CONMEBOL’s rejection of the offer from the north.
When the United States staged a successful
Centenary Copa in 2016, the superiority of the
South American sides over their rivals from
the CONCACAF region was quite obvious,
and this strengthens the hand of the former
as they continue to look northwards in
expectation of securing a slice of the
growing US football market.
This much is obvious from a decision
announced by CONMEBOL in March in
which the confederation gave its blessing for
an Ecuadorian league game to be played in the
USA. The plan is for Barcelona of Guayaquil to face
Deportivo Cuenca in New Jersey, on April 14, in the
ninth round of Ecuador’s top flight.
There is little doubt that this would draw a big
crowd as Barcelona have a huge fan base and there
is a sizeable Ecuadorian community in the area. Three
years ago, fans flocked to the stadium in New Jerseyto watch Ecuador thrash Haiti 4-0 in the Copa.
This move, then, is less predatory than, say,
teams from England or Spain taking league games
to the US. It is not a case of teams from outside
parachuting in to the possible detriment of local
clubs; here the target audience would be peoplewho grew up as fans of Cuenca or Barcelona
and who already support these teams.
Even so, if the game is allowed to go ahead it
would set a significant precedent and one of great
interest to the major European countries.
Seldom have the Premier League and La Liga had
such cause to pay close attention to developments in
the championship of Ecuador.US Copa
offer is
rejected
But Ecuador game could set
precedent for European clubs
approved by the Spanish Football
Federation assembly in April.
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Lyon
draw 0-0 at home to Barcelona,
while Liverpool’s game at home
to Bayern Munich is also goalless.
USA: A second third-tier league
is set to get underway after the
US Soccer Federation provisionally
sanctions the National Independent
Soccer Association.
Wednesday February 20
BOTSWANA: National coach David
Bright is sacked following the team’s
failure to win any of their five Africa
Nations Cup qualifiers so far.
CHINA: Manchester City’s owners,
City Football Group, buy a stake in
Chinese third-tier club Sichuan
Jiuniu – their seventh club.
EGYPT: Al Masry Club Stadium,
which was known as Port Said
Stadium when 74 people died
during a riot in 2012, is chosen
as one of the six venues across
five cities, to stage this year’s
WORLD SERVICEGoalless...Liverpool (in red) and BayernW
April date...Ecuador’s Barcelona
South America are set to play in the USATIM VICKERYThe plan is for Barcelona of
Guayaquil to face Deportivo
Cuenca in New Jersey, on April
14, in the ninth round of Ecuador’s
top flight