Copa America 2024 Group A Primer: Argentina, Canada, Chile, Peru

Lionel Messi could see out his international career with three straight international trophies but the race for second in Group A could be just as interesting.

Photo By J. Alexander Dolan

The 2024 Copa America begins tonight with Argentina-Canada from Atlanta, GA. The USMNT will start play in Group C on Sunday, June 23 against Bolivia.

But today we focus on the legend that is Lionel Messi and his quest for another international trophy. Argentina are the defending world and continental champions and number one ranked team in the world and runaway favorites in this group.

So that’s the analysis on who is going to win the group, which means the only thing left to settle is who else joins Argentina in second and that is an absolutely wide open race. Can Peru muster just enough offense to nab a couple of results? Can Chile’s stars shine one last time on the continental stage? Can Jesse Marsch get Canada’s act together or will they suffer another disappointing tournament run?

As always I do not advertise this as a full preview, I am not an expert, but rather this is a list of relevant information about the teams/players I find interesting or noteworthy and of course the almighty TV schedule (subject to change). If you have a specific player shoutout or group prediction, leave them in the comments below.

TV SCHEDULE

June 20

Argentina vs. Canada: 8 p.m., FS1, Univision/TUDN — Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA

June 21

Peru vs. Chile: 8 p.m., FS1, UniMas/TUDN — AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX

June 25

Peru vs. Canada: 6 p.m., FS1, UniMas/TUDN — Children’s Mercy Park, Kansas City, KS

Chile vs. Argentina: 9 p.m., FS1, Univision/TUDN — MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ

June 29

Argentina vs. Peru: 8 p.m., FS1, Univision/TUDN — Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL

Canada vs. Chile: 8 p.m., FS2, UniMas — Exploria Stadium, Orlando, FL

Revolution Recap: Copa America Preview Special

ARGENTINA [ARG/A1] 

Head Coach: Lionel Scaloni (ARG) 

FIFA Ranking* (as of seeding in November 2023): 1 Nickname: La Albicelesta 

Qualification: CONEMBOL, Automatic 

Appearance: 44th Best Finish: Champions (15 times, last in 2021) 

Roster Breakdown: 1 Domestic, 9 England/EPL, 5 Italy, 5 Spain, 2 Portugal, 1 Netherlands, 1 Germany, 1 France, 1 USA/MLS 

Recent Matches: Friendly W vs Ecuador 1-0, Friendly W vs Guatemala 4-1 

Player To Know: FW Lionel Messi, Inter Miami FC (USA/MLS), 182 Int’l caps/108 Int’l Goals – Okay this isn’t a surprise, Messi has been killing it in MLS with his buddies and this could be his last hurrah internationally so we should enjoy watching him in the iconic Albiceleste jersey while we can. 

Player To Watch: FW Julian Alvarez, Manchester City (ENG), 31 Int’l caps/7 Int’l goals – If you can score 11 goals with 9 assists as the third cog at Man City with Erling F Haaland and Phil Foden you’re probably doing something right. We’ll see how much time Alvarez gets with future powerhouse strike partner Lautaro Martinez. 

Tournament Outlook 

Argentina are good at soccer, they’re the defending champions, and sending off Messi with another international trophy would be pretty awesome. The old guard of Di Maria and Otamendi eventually will give way to an abundance of younger talent but if this is the last ride for that group than going out with three major trophies on the trot (1 World Cup, 2 Copa America) would be a fitting end to a legendary generation. 

CANADA [CAN/A4*]

Head Coach: Jesse Marsch (USA) 

FIFA Ranking: 48 Nickname: The Canucks 

Qualification: CONCACAF Play-In Winner vs Trinidad and Tobago 2-0, * -CONCACAF Play-in winners were seeded in Pot 4

Appearance: 1st Best Finish: N/A 

Roster Breakdown: 14 Domestic/MLS, 4 England, 2 Scotland, 1 France, 1 Germany, 1 Italy, 1 Portugal, 1 Spain, 1 Sweden 

Recent Matches: Friendly L at Netherlands 0-4; Friendly D at France 0-0 

Player To Know: W Tajon Buchanan, Inter Milan (ITA), 38 Int’l caps/4 Int’l goals – As always we stan former New England Revolution players in this section and congratulate Tajon on his Seria A title with Milan this past season. Genuinely intrigued to see how Marsch deploys the versatile wide man who can do a lot of jobs and cover a lot of ground. 

Player To Watch: MID Stephen Eustaquio, Porto (POR), 37 Int’l caps/4 Int’l goals – There's a ton of talent on this Canada side, but Eustaquio to me is the quiet workhorse/engine of this team. Yes, Tajon, Jonathan David, Alphonso Davies, and Cyle Larin may take the bulk of the offense plaudits but it will be the more subtle influence of players like Eustaquio in the midfield that will get them into the quarterfinals. 

Tournament Outlook 

We know the star power Canada have, and we also know their World Cup campaign was a borderline disaster and the fact they needed a play in win to get here is a tad disappointing. Recent tournament results aside, the Netherlands dismantling them 4-0 on Marsch’s debut was pretty eye opening and they’ll need a lot of adjustments (and goals cause they scored zero on their Euro warm up trip) if they want to balance things out and advance out of a tricky three way race behind Argentina. 

USMNT Recap: 1-1 Draw Should Leave Fans Hopeful

CHILE [CHI/A3] 

Head Coach: Ricardo Gareca (ARG) 

FIFA Ranking: 40 Nickname: La Roja 

Qualification: CONEMBOL, Automatic 

Appearance: 41st Best Finish: Champions (2015, 2016) 

Roster Breakdown: 7 Domestic, 6 Argentina, 3 Brazil, 2 England, 2 Mexico, 1 Denmark, 1 France, 1 Monaco, 1 Italy, 1 Russia, 1 Spain 

Recent Matches: Friendly W vs Paraguay 3-0 

Player To Know: FW Alexis Sanchez, Inter Milan (ITA), 163 Int’l caps/51 Int’l goals – The all-time leader in appearances and goals for Chile, the former Barca/Arsenal man has largely been with Inter Milan the last several years though the goal production will never be what it was during his EPL heydays.  

Player To Watch: FW Ben Brereton Diaz, Sheffield Utd (ENG), 30 Int’l caps/7 goals – There are certainly more renowned players to pick here but Brereton Diaz’s story is pretty neat - his mother is Chilean and there was a grassroots effort to call the English youth national up to the senior Chilean team because someone learned of his heritage via Football Manager.  

Tournament Outlook 

The stars of La Roja’s back-to-back Copa-winning teams in 2015-16 are still around, but the old guard has fallen off in a major way. Chile has failed to make the last two World Cups and got eliminated in the quarters in the 2021 Copa after a fourth place (out of five) group finish. This team has fallen off significantly from their peak golden days but when the score they usually do so in bunches and that might be enough to see them scrape by here.

PERU [PER/A2] 

Head Coach: Jorge Fossati (URU) 

FIFA Ranking: 35 Nickname: Los Incas 

Qualification: CONEMBOL, Automatic 

Appearance: 34th Best Finish: Champions (1939, 1975) 

Roster Breakdown: 10 Domestic, 4 USA/MLS, 2 Mexico, 2 Argentina, 1 Denmark, 1 Italy, 1 Netherlands, 1 Portugal, 1 Saudi Arabia, 1 Spain, 1 Sweden, 1 Unattached 

Recent Matches: Friendly D vs Paraguay 0-0; Friendly W vs Ecuador (in Philly) 1-0 

Player To Know: GK Pedro Gallese, Orlando City FC (USA/MLS), 106 Int’l caps 

The longtime netminder for the Incas, Gallese is well known in MLS circles as one of the league’s most consistent keepers, it hasn’t been a great campaign for Orlando this year but Gallese absolutely has the ability to steal a result for Peru in the group stage by standing on his head if needed. 

Player To Watch: MID Christian Cueva, Unattached, 98 Int’l caps/16 Int’l goals 

The playmaking stalwart for Peru is listed without a club but was with Saudi Club Al-Fateh this season. He was Peru’s leading scorer during WCQ last cycle overtaking the legend Paolo Guerrero and star winger Edison Flores. He has played a bit in LigaMX and if he’s auditioning for a future contract there should be a decent number of MLS teams paying attention to him during this tournament. 

Tournament Outlook 

Peru was a penalty shootout away from making back-to-back World Cups but had to settle for a playoff loss to Australia instead. They’ve still made the semifinals of the last two Copa Americas and four of the last five which is an impressive streak for a national team that still gets the bulk of its player pool domestically. In a group with no clear cut second place team, it could be the Incas’ ability to grind out results that sees them through. 

GROUP OVERVIEW

This is 100% a race for second behind Argentina and you can make a legitimate case for all three teams here. Peru has the most consistent results in CONEMBOL of late, Chile we know has the firepower to score goals in bunches, and if Canada puts it all together quickly under Jesse Marsch they are absolutely a threat. I’m going to lean Peru because of their knockout streak in this tournament but if it comes down to goal difference and/or goals scored, Chile especially would have an edge and I have my doubts about Canada (and CONCACAF as a whole) after that result against the Netherlands.

Second place in Group A plays the winner of Group B which might be Ecuador so it’s entirely possible Argentina sees one of these teams in the semis cause they didn’t reverse the knockout draw for some reason. Argentina would be favored all the way until a potential final against Brazil.

GROUP PREDICTIONS

Argentina - Peru - Chile - Canada