LOS ANGELES — Brazil missed a string of chances and were left to rue a lack of quality in the final third after they were held 0-0 by Costa Rica in their Copa America Group D opener in Los Angeles on Monday.
Brazil, who came into the Copa America on the back of a run of poor results in recent months, dominated possession but lacked precision in front of goal with just three of their 19 shots on target.
It’s finally Copa América week, which means it’s time for The18’s latest and final power rankings.
As the highly anticipated Copa América 2024 approaches, soccer fans are eager to see which national teams will dominate the now bi-continental South American tournament this summer.
From CONMEBOL powerhouses like Brazil and Argentina, rising contenders such as Colombia and Uruguay and the highly-anticipated performances and return of Concacaf giants Mexico and USMNT, the question of who will take the tournament home is up for grabs.
Argentina defeated Guatemala 4-1 Friday night at FedEx Field near Washington D.C. in a friendly with Lionel Messi scoring twice. The first Messi goal vs Guatemala came after a terrible goalkeeper blunder and gave the Inter Miami star the easiest goal of his career.
In the 12th minute Guatemala had a surprise 1-0 lead against the defending world champions. Disaster then struck in the Guatemalan penalty area as goalkeeper Nicholas Hagen had a careless giveaway.
If there’s one guy you don’t want to give the ball away to in front of your goal, it’s Messi.
A Trinidad player in El Salvador has taken the modern world’s small-shin-guard-trend to a whole other level, using foam cups as protection in a professional game.
Player uses styrofoam cups as shin guards
Jomal Williams, a Trinidad and Tobago attacker playing for L.A. Firpo in El Salvador, made headlines on Sunday after TV broadcast cameras caught the player replacing his shinguards for half-cut styrofoam cups before the start to a game.
The manager, Gabriel Álvarez, was giving him game instructions while he made the incredible switch.
The March international break recently finished which means it’s time for The18’s latest Copa América power rankings. The big tournament is only about three months out!
Two Concacaf teams secured the final two qualification spots with Canada and Costa Rica booking their tickets for this summer’s big event.
These rankings are based on recent performances and how we feel each team will perform in the tournament. After each person listed their top 16 teams, we aggregated the results into one official power rankings list.
Here’s our spring list for the 16 teams.
Panama midfielder Marta Cox vowed not to play for the national team again after the president of her country's soccer federation (FEPAFUT) called her fat and "out of shape" following their Concacaf W Gold Cup exit.
Panama left the tournament without getting a single point in the group stage, suffering heavy defeats by Colombia and Brazil.
FIFA announced on Sunday that its revamped Club World Cup, to be held for the first time in 2025, will feature 32 teams and will be played from mid-June to mid-July.
Following are details of how the tournament will work:
- The United States will host the 2025 edition of the expanded event, which will be held every four years thereafter.
- The tournament will have eight groups of four with the top two teams from each group going through to the knockout stages -- the same format as the 2022 World Cup.
The anticipation for Copa América 2024 continues to grow especially with the recent reveal of the group stage. In the months leading up to the tournament The18 will be doing power rankings and list our picks for the best 2024 Copa América teams.
The United States men’s national team will face Uruguay, Panama and Bolivia in Group C of the 2024 Copa América. The USMNT Copa América group is looking great.
The draw for the tournament took place on Thursday. It took 50 minutes until a ball was drawn, but the groups for the 2024 Copa América are now official.
2024 Copa América groups
The CONMEBOL Copa América 2024 draw is set
Mexico was the last Concacaf nation of four to qualify to next year’s Copa America this week and all after defeating Honduras in one of the craziest and controversial matches we’ve seen this year thus far. This game had everything.
El Tri is in.