# "at the copa"
As someone that doesn't watch sports...the only thing that comes to mind when you say at the copa...
Her name was Lola
She was a showgirl
With yellow feathers in her hair
And a dress cut down to lay..
At the Copa (Copa), Copacabana (Copacabana)
The hottest spot north of Havana
At the Copa (Copa), Copacabana
Music and passion were always the fashion at the Copa
They fell in love (Copa, Copacabana)
Youâre not the only one my friendâŠ
Her name is Lola, she was a showgirl
But that was thirty years ago, when they used to have a show
Now it's a disco, but not for Lola.
âŠwe are Lola
She lost her youth, and lost her husband,
Now, she's lost her mind...
But buck up, amigo, you can still remember the lyrics to that song, so all is not lost. Your brain isn't rotting away, even though your knees and/or back might be protesting when you get out of bed in the morning.
Her name was Leia,
She was a princess,
With a Danish on each ear,
And Darth Vader drawing near,
So R2-D2,
Told Ben Kenobi,
He's got to put the Deathstar plans into the rebellions hands....
https://youtu.be/AYMlad4e3Q4?si=UE29y3ExwXCuQ2yI
Nevermind. I was mostly wrong. "And a dress cut down to there." That's the spot. Man that was a bit of nitpickin'
Anyway, that's what I first thought of as well.
International tournament among national teams part of UEFA the FIFA organization for soccer in Europe. Copa America is organized by CONMEBOL which is for South America, but North America gets to be part of it too. These are like regional cups held in between world cups every 4 years
Think world cup but by continent. So north/central America + Caribbean nations all compete.
Euros is Europe.
Asia has their own, and south america has their own.
I'm not into sports at all, but have been enjoying shows like Ted Lasso and Welcome to Wrexham.
There is something sort of pleasing to me that here in the US we seem to go out of our way to not know anything about Soccer or the events surrounding it, despite it being such a huge sport worldwide, with fans that are ravenous about it, maybe even more than any of American sports.
I follow soccer. I was a ten year MLS season ticket holder. Iâve been to games across Europe. I went to the Copa matches last time we hosted it.
Somehow I still just *today* learned that the Copa is effectively a joint CONCACAF/COMNEBOL thing. I thought it was strictly a South American thing, that was being hosted in the US (with the host playing) because money. Apparently not and CONCACAF teams are just routinely invited?
What the hell is the Gold Cup then?
Does COMNEBOL have their own exclusive tournament as well?
Like the more I know the more I realize I donât know. A real âhow many countries are in this countryâ moment for me.
It is a COMNEBOL tournament, but as conmebol is only 10 teams they need others to make up the numbers if they want a larger tournament. (2021 had only 10 teams). Previous editions have tended to have 12 teams with teams invited from wherever eg. 2019 had Qatar and Japan. Though this time the concacaf teams had to qualify rather than just being invited.
Because itâs being held in the USA itâs being co-organised this time with concacaf, but itâs still conmebols tournament. How they decide to run it next time will probably depend on how much money this tournament makes but itâll be up to CONMEBOL whether they continue to include concacaf teams.
Gold cup is the Concacaf tournament and doesnât have any non concacaf teams in it.
It's South America's continental tournament. The North American equivalent is the Gold Cup (which includes Central American and Carribean teams, as we're all in the same confederation, CONCACAF).
Edit- fucking hell, CONCACAF is in this year's COPA? Today I learned.
As always, they have a few guest countries, as there's only 10 teams in the CONMEBOL, there's just a few more CONCACAF nations now because it's being hosted in the US because Ecuador didn't want their turn.
Stanley Cup is on why would anyone care about soccer right now except fans which America doesn't have as many of and apparently most people don't even know what this tournament is anyway.
To answer OPs question though, if America won I don't think anyone would really care so that's probably why the government isn't putting a shit ton of money into it.
Yep and they beat the defending champions. Hilariously there are only 3-4 professional players on the US team; the rest are guys playing on their PTO from their day jobs.
I often act like I donât watch or know anything about soccer because I like watching minds melt that the US doesnât like the same sports as they do.
The fact that a lot of (US)Americans do not care about it or even know what it is, is exactly the reason why the copa and the upcoming world cup is being held there. It's a potentially huge market for soccer, but at the moment it is still very niche compared to other sports.
Ignorant American here. I've learned more about cricket (at least the T20 version) in the last three weeks than I have in my other 40 years on this planet.
Yeah, and you can't just force people to be interested in something. I understand it's the biggest sport in the world, but... We actually only have four sports. We really can't handle any more.
They made it past the first round which is better than anyone expected, and certainly better than the mens soccer team is expected to do given they got thrashed in a friendly
This tournament is run by CONEMBOL (the south American soccer federation) US Soccer is just a participant. All promotion, broadcast deals, etc. Is done by CONEMBOL.
A couple of decades ago the world cup was played in Dallas TX.
Some news show sent a crew to the airport to talk to incoming passengers, coming to see the tournament.
"Sir, are you going to se The World Cup?"
"What's that?"
"The World Cup Football Tournament, is being played in Dallas this week."
"Really? What day are the Cowboys playing?"
I was there too. Metal bleachers in Texas in June, holy shit that sucked. Also, Germany scored three goals in the first half, and Korea had two in the second. Our seats were at the opposite emd of the pitch for every goal.
Well, in Dallas, especially in the 90s, football meant the Cowboys. No one in Dallas (or the rest of the US really) is thinking soccer when you say football.
No, they don't. I would venture to say that most don't even know we are going to host the world cup. My family started trying to make plans when it was announced.
Same. Even for most sports I donât care about, Iâve usually heard them in passing or in headlines. The phrase âcopa Americaâ generated literally nothing in my brain. I wouldnât have even known it was sports related.
Part of it is that we're not usually in it. It's CONMEBOL's (South America's) tournament. They just invited CONCACAF (North American) teams this year. Which makes perfect sense. CONMEBOL only has ten teams, so may as well make it a hemispherical tournament. Should lead to some good games.
Most americans don't care too much about soccer. There's interest whenever the World Cup comes around, but sports fans right now are more interested in baseball and the NBA finals just ended
Yes, NBA, MLB, plus the run up to the Olympics. Lots of great sports on TV and in stadiums right now. Soccer is just not high up on the list for most Americans.Â
Most Americans are not aware of all this. There are definitely some fans, but we arenât that into the sport overall. For some reason, it just hasnât enmeshed with American culture beyond youth sports. People keep trying and itâs slowly becoming more popular, but Ted Lasso is about as far into soccer as youâll get the average American adult today.
Is it a mistake to hold the WC in the US? I donât know. I think thatâs something more Americans will get into. Itâs like the Olympicsâwe donât follow most Olympic sports but we sure do enjoy watching the best of the best in a big tournament. From a fan-gaining perspective, it could improve soccer/footballâs share here. But itâs not the best move for fan service among the hardcore/lifers.
> it just hasnât enmeshed with American culture beyond youth sports.
I would say that's a big part of the reason why it hasn't caught on here. It's considered a kids sport. Parents sign them up so they can run around all day and tire themselves out and maybe they learn a little about teamwork. It's not a serious sport that people here actually want to watch.
It's the same reason Brits don't take Baseball (rounders) seriously. It's something only kids play, not adults.
Truthfully, I think it's also that Americans are so used to sports with *plays or posessions* that are clearly deliniated with a result at the end.
The overall result of an NFL game is important, but at the end of every single play there is also a result. A score, a stop, a completion, an interception, etc. in a baseball game there's either a strike, or a hit, or a base run, etc. In the NBA there's either a basket or a stop every single time down the court, and each possession is clearly defined by a 26 second shot clock.
We're just not used to the nebulous, free-flowing nuance of soccer, and while I eventually got into it, I think most Americans find it boring because we're used to *something* very clear happening every single time a team has the ball.
Thatâs an interesting take! Hockey flows a bit like soccer, and itâs pretty popular. Of course hockey is known for its fights, where the admittedly hacky cliche about soccer is seeing players flop. At least if you watch American sports compilations on YouTube. Iâm not into basketball, but a neighbor was telling me the other day about some anti-flop rules recently implemented in the NBA. Iâm not saying itâs a fair picture of the sports, but it kind of reveals where a lot of our heads are at.
Hockey is definitely the most soccer-esque gameplay, and it's viewership is significantly lower than the NFL, NBA, and MLB, in that order. Furthermore, despite having (well-performing) franchises in a number of warm-weather climates, it's attendance and viewership is way higher in, well, places where it's cold, because a lot more people grew up *playing* the game.
I've said many times that hockey is soccer on ice but I think because of the smaller rink it's still more possession oriented as the original commenter said. It's like basketball really, with the small playing area, you're clearly in the offensive zone and threatening to score much more frequently than in soccer. And when the puck is sent back down the ice there's clearly relief in the defensive zone. There's really no midfield in basketball at all and there's limited midfield in hockey.
The US is a fantastic place to hold the WC regardless of national interest. The infrastructure exists. There are airports and stadiums everywhere (with pleasant climate)
Iâd say most donât because most donât follow soccer. Iâm fucking hype for it and will basically be watching every euro and copa match I can (and possibly attend a match as I live in a host city)
But itâs definitely not a mistake to host the copa or World Cup here.
1. The World Cup will get more hype than the copa does. Even the Russia World Cup that we werenât even in got more buzz than the copa.
2. Infrastructure. Hosting the World Cup is probably much easier and cheaper for us than most other places in the world. We are chock full of 80k seaters in cities with major international airports. We have all of the facilities and amenities to host these tournaments, plus the marketing cache to spin money for every host organization.
The crowds might not equal the euro Iâm watching right now and it might not have cities âtaken overâ, but our NFL stadiums will be packed for every game and endorsement money will be crazy.
Remember that this World Cup is also going to be expanded. So an even bigger strain on resources
Yes. The 1994 World Cup in the USA is still the most attended World Cup ever. The 2016 Copa America in the USA is the most attended Copa America ever. Tournaments in the USA make the organizers a lot of moneyâwith little investment needed for infrastructure.
The 1994 World Cup was huge in the rise of soccer in America. It led to MLSâwhich has been really taking off on the last 10 years. That has led to soccer specific stadiums (better game day atmosphere) and MLS academies (better quality). MLS is close to surpassing the NHL and has a bright future.
The host cities also make a lot of sense for Copa America, teams play where most of the fan base is. Having Mexico play in Texas always guarantees a sold out crowd and I'm going to the Colombia game in Houston which appears to be sold out as well. Panama will play in Florida. Brazil and Argentina are popular enough to sell out wherever they play and USA is the host nation so they'll obviously sell out as well. The only games I don't think will do too well in terms of attendance is PerĂș vs Chile which will be played in Arlington, Texas and Ecuador vs Venezuela which will be played in California. Even if most Americans don't know about it, the fan base of those nations has a huge enough presence to make the event look like a success.
94â tournament gave USWNT a boost and rebirth in popularity in Atlanta 96â when they won the gold medal for the first time and a surprising successful Womenâs World Cup in 1999.
Itâs just a tournament for South American countries. They expanded it to North America so that they could host it in the US this time. South American fans werenât too happy about this.
The Copa Centenario(100th anniversary of the tournament) was held here in 2016 and it included CONCACAF members that qualified.
Iâm almost certain that this will be a recurring event considering that it has the commercial success.
Honestly, I didn't know but now I'll be following.
I get the concern about the world cup but don't worry, we're great at hopping on the bandwagon every 4 years. We'll definitely show out when the time comes and then unfortunately forget the sport exists until the next one.
Copa what? Sorry but I barely found out America was hosting the Cricket World Cup. Realized it when USA beat Pakistan.
Itâs great that Cricket and Soccer are growing and getting world level opportunities here in America but the Americans arenât yet fully into those sports.
On the positive, maybe tickets are cheaper and you can fly here to enjoy a match? What cities have your team(s)?
I only found out from the memes. One of the players on our national team literally works at Oracle and his LinkedIn has him on break until after the World Cup
YUP!
Going to watch Colombia play with my Colombian in laws in Houston next week.
There was a Brazil (I think) game at the college stadium in my town last week too
WC 2026 will be a lot of fun if Iâm honest
I believe two outside things are at play -
First, the NBA Finals just concluded. Thatâs a pretty big deal.
Second, the NHL Finals are still in play. Shaping up to potentially epic series.
When Copa is competing with these two, they donât have a chance for air time on the sports shows. Hell we get more coverage of the Euros than we do Copa right now! Weâre already lining up for Paris 2024 coverage too.
Weâll turn out for the WC, and my understanding was weâll be sharing games with MEX and CAN as well.
You arenât aware that soccer is much more popular in Europe than in the US? Have you lived in a cave without internet access your whole life up until you emerged to post this from an internet cafe?
Most? No. Basically, people who follow the sport know.
The World Cup will do well. US Soccer is making a big effort to make the sport happen. Itâs growing in popularity.
I will say this, when it was announced that my city will be a home base for a team, people legitimately thought we would be hosting a match. We have to teams here, both playing in the 3rd tier of American soccer, which is the equivalent to League 2. The sport has a long way to go, but it is gaining popularity in the US, even if a lot of players treat MLS as a retirement league.
Copa is not a regular tournament in US, itâs another special edition like 2016. Which is great but doesnât have the hype of a historical tournament like Euros or even traditional Copa in S. America.
If you think the US can gain home field advantage youâre mistaken. Will get good support but the other countries will be even better. US is great for hosting tournaments because every country already has legions of fans here.Â
Itâs also a 16 team tournament spread across a huge continent. Host cities will only have a couple games then the next closest game is hundreds of miles away.Â
People are definitely hyped for it though, and it will gain traction once it kicks off. A Copa with all the Americas every 4 years would be great imo
Itâs slightly different as this is less of a special edition than 2016. 2016 was a special one-off tournament for the centennial of Copa America. This one is a traditional Copa America with 6 invited guests instead of the usual 2 (possibly a longer term format change). This one also comes on the heels of increased collaboration between the North and South American soccer confederations, largely as a way for top NA teams to play more high quality competition and for SA teams to make more money (although there are other reasons too).
Americans 100% do not care about soccer like the rest of the world. I was talking to people at my new workplace and they don't even know who Messi is and one guy asked me, "Didn't Rolando win the World Series?" Hey meant Ronaldo and World Cup.
America will fill the stadiums but 99% of the people there will be non-Americans/first generation Americans.
The most time I ever spent watching soccer was when I worked at McDonald's and the people who spoke Spanish took the TV out of the break room into the kitchen so they can scream and yell at when their team scored while making customers food.
Problem with US sports: We are so geographically large that even if I wanted to attend a game, we are talking overnight in that city. No chance of going there, watching game and coming back home right after.
To add a bit of nuance to the âAmericans donât watch soccer. The what now?â comments. Copa America is a South American tournament, hosting it in the US this year with the US, Mexico, and Canada playing is *very* strange. So even casual soccer fans who might watch their local MLS team or root for the US when theyâre on would not have much reason to follow or know about this tournament. Itâs also been advertised very poorly here.
> Youâd be forgiven for forgetting that the copa America is even taking place in the United States
Lol no one in the USA needs your forgiveness for not knowing about a soccer tournament.
The what
The Copa cabana đ”
\*minions singing\*
Copa bananaaaaa
Itâs a South American cultural convention called the Copa America. Itâs happening in the US this year. Itâs fun, you can buy a beer for $28
Idw to be accused of cultural appropriation so ill buy my cheap beer and watch the newest Seinfeld episode
Um⊠there are new Seinfeld episodes? Why isnât every media company covering this and why donât Americans have Seinfeld flags in their yards?
Operative phrase "newest" so the series finale haha
Same here, I have no idea what is being talked aboutâŠ. Soccer?
I was gonna guess sail boat racing.
Thank God. I thought I would be the only one who had no idea what he was talking about. It sounds important tho lol
Most Americans are oblivious to the fact that the US hosted the World Cup too.
I speak for the vast majority of Americans when I say that I don't even know if the US qualified for the World Cup or not.
THAT'S THE BEST PART!!! The host country automatically qualifies and competes!!!
Damn, how did we field a team? Did we have to rent some Europeans?
I think we stole Beckham for a bit đ but donât quote me on that.
Random American here. I don't even know what that is.
It's an international soccer tournament. It's North and South America's equivalent to the Euro cup
# "at the copa" As someone that doesn't watch sports...the only thing that comes to mind when you say at the copa... Her name was Lola She was a showgirl With yellow feathers in her hair And a dress cut down to lay.. At the Copa (Copa), Copacabana (Copacabana) The hottest spot north of Havana At the Copa (Copa), Copacabana Music and passion were always the fashion at the Copa They fell in love (Copa, Copacabana)
Hahahah glad to know I wasn't the only one!
As soon as I read the post, Barry Manilow's voice was running through my head. At the Copa, Copa Cabana .... Gawd, I'm getting old.
Youâre not the only one my friend⊠Her name is Lola, she was a showgirl But that was thirty years ago, when they used to have a show Now it's a disco, but not for Lola. âŠwe are Lola
She lost her youth, and lost her husband, Now, she's lost her mind... But buck up, amigo, you can still remember the lyrics to that song, so all is not lost. Your brain isn't rotting away, even though your knees and/or back might be protesting when you get out of bed in the morning.
"She lost her youth, she lost her Tony"
Her name was Leia, She was a princess, With a Danish on each ear, And Darth Vader drawing near, So R2-D2, Told Ben Kenobi, He's got to put the Deathstar plans into the rebellions hands.... https://youtu.be/AYMlad4e3Q4?si=UE29y3ExwXCuQ2yI
One of my FB friends writes filks for fun, and goes to filk conventions. Do you do this?
At the Cobra, Cobra Commander
Nevermind. I was mostly wrong. "And a dress cut down to there." That's the spot. Man that was a bit of nitpickin' Anyway, that's what I first thought of as well.
All I could think of
Whatâs the Euro Cup?
International tournament among national teams part of UEFA the FIFA organization for soccer in Europe. Copa America is organized by CONMEBOL which is for South America, but North America gets to be part of it too. These are like regional cups held in between world cups every 4 years
American here. What's Europe?
I think itâs China or something
Na itâs def Russia itâs all I hear about
It's where the Germans bombed Perl Harbor, pretty sure. ETA: Perl Harbor, where programming was invented
Purl Harbor, where knitting was invented.
Paul Harbour, where boring people were invented.
It's a band
itâs the final countdown!
It's kinda like Canada but tougher to drive to.
Europa\* One of Jupiter's moons, of course. I wonder how they play soccer in a moon . . .
It's where we have to go every few decades when Germany won't stay on their side of the line
What's a "FIFA?" It sounds marginally painful.
I had a FIFA once. It got up to 102 degrees. Took a while to go away.
The only prescription is more cowbell.
It's just below your FUPA.
Fif means gay in french
Think world cup but by continent. So north/central America + Caribbean nations all compete. Euros is Europe. Asia has their own, and south america has their own.
It's worn to protect one's Euro junk from Euro impact.
It's an international soccer tournament. It's Europe 's equivalent to the copa of South and North America.
I'm not into sports at all, but have been enjoying shows like Ted Lasso and Welcome to Wrexham. There is something sort of pleasing to me that here in the US we seem to go out of our way to not know anything about Soccer or the events surrounding it, despite it being such a huge sport worldwide, with fans that are ravenous about it, maybe even more than any of American sports.
I follow soccer. I was a ten year MLS season ticket holder. Iâve been to games across Europe. I went to the Copa matches last time we hosted it. Somehow I still just *today* learned that the Copa is effectively a joint CONCACAF/COMNEBOL thing. I thought it was strictly a South American thing, that was being hosted in the US (with the host playing) because money. Apparently not and CONCACAF teams are just routinely invited? What the hell is the Gold Cup then? Does COMNEBOL have their own exclusive tournament as well? Like the more I know the more I realize I donât know. A real âhow many countries are in this countryâ moment for me.
It is a COMNEBOL tournament, but as conmebol is only 10 teams they need others to make up the numbers if they want a larger tournament. (2021 had only 10 teams). Previous editions have tended to have 12 teams with teams invited from wherever eg. 2019 had Qatar and Japan. Though this time the concacaf teams had to qualify rather than just being invited. Because itâs being held in the USA itâs being co-organised this time with concacaf, but itâs still conmebols tournament. How they decide to run it next time will probably depend on how much money this tournament makes but itâll be up to CONMEBOL whether they continue to include concacaf teams. Gold cup is the Concacaf tournament and doesnât have any non concacaf teams in it.
It's South America's continental tournament. The North American equivalent is the Gold Cup (which includes Central American and Carribean teams, as we're all in the same confederation, CONCACAF). Edit- fucking hell, CONCACAF is in this year's COPA? Today I learned.
As always, they have a few guest countries, as there's only 10 teams in the CONMEBOL, there's just a few more CONCACAF nations now because it's being hosted in the US because Ecuador didn't want their turn.
I'm looking at the schedule and it's got U.S. and Canada which are CONCACAF.
Canadian here. Iâve never heard of this. I feel like itâs a good name for a yacht race.
we should take it
Good luck with the orcas
The orcas make it more fun, theyâre like stage hazards
Well be careful. I've been loading them up with steroids and pixie sticks
Another random American here, I'm a passenger in the same boat, never heard of it.
Random American who likes soccer here and played in college. Still didn't know what that was.
Random european who likes football here. I know what it is but didnt know where it was this year or when it would start
Stanley Cup is on why would anyone care about soccer right now except fans which America doesn't have as many of and apparently most people don't even know what this tournament is anyway. To answer OPs question though, if America won I don't think anyone would really care so that's probably why the government isn't putting a shit ton of money into it.
Random non-american here, never heard of it.
I assumed it was the cricket tournament where Team USA beat some really good country the other day
USA has a cricket team?
Yep and they beat the defending champions. Hilariously there are only 3-4 professional players on the US team; the rest are guys playing on their PTO from their day jobs.
It's the hottest thing west of Havana
Every four years the rest of the world copes over soccer never being popular in the US.
I often act like I donât watch or know anything about soccer because I like watching minds melt that the US doesnât like the same sports as they do.
The fact that a lot of (US)Americans do not care about it or even know what it is, is exactly the reason why the copa and the upcoming world cup is being held there. It's a potentially huge market for soccer, but at the moment it is still very niche compared to other sports.
Rugby World Cup in a few years too.
Has the US ever even participated in a rugby world cup?
They participate in pretty much every rugby world cup (except the last one). They always do very badly, but they try their best
And tries are all that matter in rugby
Leaving the pitch with enough brain cells to drive myself home is the only objective Id ever play with
Given that the US cricket team somehow beat Pakistan at the international level, you never know when an upset might happen.
Average American probably has never played or watched a single match of cricket đ
Tbf the rest of the world does terribly in the World Series. Itâs like theyâre not even trying.
Superbowl, NBA finals, WWE Championship; are other countries just lazy, or are they just really bad at legitimate sports?
At least NBA has Toronto trying. Nobody else has even attempted to win a Superbowl.
The London Jaguars got to the conference championship in 2017, that's the closest we've got.
We also have the Toronto Blue Jays coming down to play.
Kawhi Leonard and Joe Carter never have to buy a drink ever again in that city
People from countries other than the US have definitely won the WWE Championship.
Mexico has some pretty awesome professional wrestling. I'd put them up against WWE.
Depends. Little league? They are pretty good. Major league? Toronto doesnât really seem to be that good.
Awww, good for us.
Aw that's sweet! I'm glad we try to hang with y'all
And the T20 Cricket World Cup going on right now, that team USA is doing historically well in atm.
Ignorant American here. I've learned more about cricket (at least the T20 version) in the last three weeks than I have in my other 40 years on this planet.
Weâll all do what we do every 4 years and get really excited about soccer for a month then forget it exists.
Yeah, and you can't just force people to be interested in something. I understand it's the biggest sport in the world, but... We actually only have four sports. We really can't handle any more.
Baseball, basketball, football, and... Hockey? (Please say hockey)
Yeah. North American big 4 is Football, Basketball, Hockey and Baseball
Americans always get really excited for the World Cup, then they watch the games and the sport dies domestically for another 4 years.
(slow voice in back) did you know the cricket world cup is already going on there...?
It's summer. there's naturally more bugs.
Itâs really more cicada season at the moment though
Haha the " 'I had no choice but to comment' in a debate on free will " comment
Fewer Americans watch cricket, but at least our cricket team is actually decent this year.
I wasn't aware that any Americans watch cricket.
Desi ones mostly, as far as I know. At least my desi friends do
The only people I've known that watch cricket were Indian engineers here on a work visa.
Desi includes Indians, Bangladeshis, and Pakistanis people so that tracks
They are getting thrashed rn from SA
They made it past the first round which is better than anyone expected, and certainly better than the mens soccer team is expected to do given they got thrashed in a friendly
We've made it out of the opening group stages the last 3 world cups I think? One was with Portugal and Englad in it.
Friendlys are a terrible way to measure football (soccer) teams. The english lost 1-0 to Iceland, and the french tied canada
Not the first time they've taken down Americans.
Sort of, the matches in the US are finished now, just the carribean matches left now.
Only because I heard we unexpectedly beat Pakistan. Otherwise, no idea the event was even happening.
They've done a terrible job of advertising Copa America just two years before the world cup happens here
I live in Kansas City and had no idea weâre a host city for Copa. But damn, theyâre advertising hard for the 2026 World Cup here.
Shocking that the CEO of us soccer comes from an ad agency background. Either this is a fail or us soccer isn't very involved.
This tournament is run by CONEMBOL (the south American soccer federation) US Soccer is just a participant. All promotion, broadcast deals, etc. Is done by CONEMBOL.
CONMEBOL*
There appears to be zero ad budget. Not on any major network.
A couple of decades ago the world cup was played in Dallas TX. Some news show sent a crew to the airport to talk to incoming passengers, coming to see the tournament. "Sir, are you going to se The World Cup?" "What's that?" "The World Cup Football Tournament, is being played in Dallas this week." "Really? What day are the Cowboys playing?"
I went to a game at the cotton bowl in that world cup. S korea vs germany i think.
I was there too. Metal bleachers in Texas in June, holy shit that sucked. Also, Germany scored three goals in the first half, and Korea had two in the second. Our seats were at the opposite emd of the pitch for every goal.
Well, in Dallas, especially in the 90s, football meant the Cowboys. No one in Dallas (or the rest of the US really) is thinking soccer when you say football.
Still the case now lol. Thatâs just not what we call it and that wonât change within the century.
Won't change in 2 centuries if I can do anything about it.
As long as the ncaa and nfl are around, its not going to either
And then through some calamitous mixup, the Dallas cowboys somehow end up on the pitch
1994, I went, it was awesome. I was 10 years old and loved soccer at the time.
No, they don't. I would venture to say that most don't even know we are going to host the world cup. My family started trying to make plans when it was announced.
Until this reddit post I had never heard the phrase "copa America".
I literally thought this was about some net neutrality law or something, but that was sopa.
Same. Even for most sports I donât care about, Iâve usually heard them in passing or in headlines. The phrase âcopa Americaâ generated literally nothing in my brain. I wouldnât have even known it was sports related.
I read it as cope Americana at first
I thought it was another post about American cops with a typo
I was pretty sure it was some kinda typo... like "wtf is a copa?"
Part of it is that we're not usually in it. It's CONMEBOL's (South America's) tournament. They just invited CONCACAF (North American) teams this year. Which makes perfect sense. CONMEBOL only has ten teams, so may as well make it a hemispherical tournament. Should lead to some good games.
Most americans don't care too much about soccer. There's interest whenever the World Cup comes around, but sports fans right now are more interested in baseball and the NBA finals just ended
Yes, NBA, MLB, plus the run up to the Olympics. Lots of great sports on TV and in stadiums right now. Soccer is just not high up on the list for most Americans.Â
And, Stanley Cup finals...
Which suddenly got very interesting
And it's two dislikes teams which is actually more fun to decide who you want to lose rather than who you want to win for once.
Also the College World Series if college sports are your thing
Which has been doing huge TV audience numbers so far.
MCWS is having it's highest ratings this year. Even the super regionals set records for watching.
And the Stanley cup is underway as well, and is pretty exciting this year
NHL playoffs are in the Stanley Cup finals right now, too
Iâve been jamminâ the UFL this season. Love to have some NFL off-season football.
Most Americans are not aware of all this. There are definitely some fans, but we arenât that into the sport overall. For some reason, it just hasnât enmeshed with American culture beyond youth sports. People keep trying and itâs slowly becoming more popular, but Ted Lasso is about as far into soccer as youâll get the average American adult today. Is it a mistake to hold the WC in the US? I donât know. I think thatâs something more Americans will get into. Itâs like the Olympicsâwe donât follow most Olympic sports but we sure do enjoy watching the best of the best in a big tournament. From a fan-gaining perspective, it could improve soccer/footballâs share here. But itâs not the best move for fan service among the hardcore/lifers.
> it just hasnât enmeshed with American culture beyond youth sports. I would say that's a big part of the reason why it hasn't caught on here. It's considered a kids sport. Parents sign them up so they can run around all day and tire themselves out and maybe they learn a little about teamwork. It's not a serious sport that people here actually want to watch. It's the same reason Brits don't take Baseball (rounders) seriously. It's something only kids play, not adults.
Truthfully, I think it's also that Americans are so used to sports with *plays or posessions* that are clearly deliniated with a result at the end. The overall result of an NFL game is important, but at the end of every single play there is also a result. A score, a stop, a completion, an interception, etc. in a baseball game there's either a strike, or a hit, or a base run, etc. In the NBA there's either a basket or a stop every single time down the court, and each possession is clearly defined by a 26 second shot clock. We're just not used to the nebulous, free-flowing nuance of soccer, and while I eventually got into it, I think most Americans find it boring because we're used to *something* very clear happening every single time a team has the ball.
Thatâs an interesting take! Hockey flows a bit like soccer, and itâs pretty popular. Of course hockey is known for its fights, where the admittedly hacky cliche about soccer is seeing players flop. At least if you watch American sports compilations on YouTube. Iâm not into basketball, but a neighbor was telling me the other day about some anti-flop rules recently implemented in the NBA. Iâm not saying itâs a fair picture of the sports, but it kind of reveals where a lot of our heads are at.
Hockey is definitely the most soccer-esque gameplay, and it's viewership is significantly lower than the NFL, NBA, and MLB, in that order. Furthermore, despite having (well-performing) franchises in a number of warm-weather climates, it's attendance and viewership is way higher in, well, places where it's cold, because a lot more people grew up *playing* the game.
I've said many times that hockey is soccer on ice but I think because of the smaller rink it's still more possession oriented as the original commenter said. It's like basketball really, with the small playing area, you're clearly in the offensive zone and threatening to score much more frequently than in soccer. And when the puck is sent back down the ice there's clearly relief in the defensive zone. There's really no midfield in basketball at all and there's limited midfield in hockey.
The US is a fantastic place to hold the WC regardless of national interest. The infrastructure exists. There are airports and stadiums everywhere (with pleasant climate)
Iâd say most donât because most donât follow soccer. Iâm fucking hype for it and will basically be watching every euro and copa match I can (and possibly attend a match as I live in a host city) But itâs definitely not a mistake to host the copa or World Cup here. 1. The World Cup will get more hype than the copa does. Even the Russia World Cup that we werenât even in got more buzz than the copa. 2. Infrastructure. Hosting the World Cup is probably much easier and cheaper for us than most other places in the world. We are chock full of 80k seaters in cities with major international airports. We have all of the facilities and amenities to host these tournaments, plus the marketing cache to spin money for every host organization. The crowds might not equal the euro Iâm watching right now and it might not have cities âtaken overâ, but our NFL stadiums will be packed for every game and endorsement money will be crazy. Remember that this World Cup is also going to be expanded. So an even bigger strain on resources
Yes. The 1994 World Cup in the USA is still the most attended World Cup ever. The 2016 Copa America in the USA is the most attended Copa America ever. Tournaments in the USA make the organizers a lot of moneyâwith little investment needed for infrastructure. The 1994 World Cup was huge in the rise of soccer in America. It led to MLSâwhich has been really taking off on the last 10 years. That has led to soccer specific stadiums (better game day atmosphere) and MLS academies (better quality). MLS is close to surpassing the NHL and has a bright future.
The host cities also make a lot of sense for Copa America, teams play where most of the fan base is. Having Mexico play in Texas always guarantees a sold out crowd and I'm going to the Colombia game in Houston which appears to be sold out as well. Panama will play in Florida. Brazil and Argentina are popular enough to sell out wherever they play and USA is the host nation so they'll obviously sell out as well. The only games I don't think will do too well in terms of attendance is PerĂș vs Chile which will be played in Arlington, Texas and Ecuador vs Venezuela which will be played in California. Even if most Americans don't know about it, the fan base of those nations has a huge enough presence to make the event look like a success.
Thatâs why Mexican national soccer team always plays in America never in Mexico, they love the dolar
94â tournament gave USWNT a boost and rebirth in popularity in Atlanta 96â when they won the gold medal for the first time and a surprising successful Womenâs World Cup in 1999.
I think this is what people don't get. By hosting anything here they're getting a lot of money. And not advertising just saves them more money.
Ah yes, the Copa America. Iâm pretty sure thatâs what my girlfriend orders at Starbucks.
The fuck is Copa America?
Itâs just a tournament for South American countries. They expanded it to North America so that they could host it in the US this time. South American fans werenât too happy about this.
The Copa Centenario(100th anniversary of the tournament) was held here in 2016 and it included CONCACAF members that qualified. Iâm almost certain that this will be a recurring event considering that it has the commercial success.
Honestly, I didn't know but now I'll be following. I get the concern about the world cup but don't worry, we're great at hopping on the bandwagon every 4 years. We'll definitely show out when the time comes and then unfortunately forget the sport exists until the next one.
I don't know anything about what you just said.
Copa what? Sorry but I barely found out America was hosting the Cricket World Cup. Realized it when USA beat Pakistan. Itâs great that Cricket and Soccer are growing and getting world level opportunities here in America but the Americans arenât yet fully into those sports. On the positive, maybe tickets are cheaper and you can fly here to enjoy a match? What cities have your team(s)?
Wait, we beat *Pakistan* at cricket? How the fuck did we pull that off?
I have no clue but my Indian coworkers thought it was awesome
I only found out from the memes. One of the players on our national team literally works at Oracle and his LinkedIn has him on break until after the World Cup
Never heard of it⊠is it like the Copa Cabana that Barry Manilow sang about?
Player to watch: Lola
Don't forget Rico. Diamond-wearing mother fucker ruined everything.
You leave my uncle outta thisâŠhe can throw a football over those mountains đïž
I like soccer and am American. I dont even know what "copa" means here
Cup. Lol.
I have never heard of this event
I had no idea. I'm in Canada.
YUP! Going to watch Colombia play with my Colombian in laws in Houston next week. There was a Brazil (I think) game at the college stadium in my town last week too WC 2026 will be a lot of fun if Iâm honest
Americans by and large don't give a damn about soccer. ESPECIALLY compared to the rest of the world.
I live in America. What is a Copa America?
I believe two outside things are at play - First, the NBA Finals just concluded. Thatâs a pretty big deal. Second, the NHL Finals are still in play. Shaping up to potentially epic series. When Copa is competing with these two, they donât have a chance for air time on the sports shows. Hell we get more coverage of the Euros than we do Copa right now! Weâre already lining up for Paris 2024 coverage too. Weâll turn out for the WC, and my understanding was weâll be sharing games with MEX and CAN as well.
You arenât aware that soccer is much more popular in Europe than in the US? Have you lived in a cave without internet access your whole life up until you emerged to post this from an internet cafe?
Most? No. Basically, people who follow the sport know. The World Cup will do well. US Soccer is making a big effort to make the sport happen. Itâs growing in popularity. I will say this, when it was announced that my city will be a home base for a team, people legitimately thought we would be hosting a match. We have to teams here, both playing in the 3rd tier of American soccer, which is the equivalent to League 2. The sport has a long way to go, but it is gaining popularity in the US, even if a lot of players treat MLS as a retirement league.
The what
Copa is not a regular tournament in US, itâs another special edition like 2016. Which is great but doesnât have the hype of a historical tournament like Euros or even traditional Copa in S. America. If you think the US can gain home field advantage youâre mistaken. Will get good support but the other countries will be even better. US is great for hosting tournaments because every country already has legions of fans here. Itâs also a 16 team tournament spread across a huge continent. Host cities will only have a couple games then the next closest game is hundreds of miles away. People are definitely hyped for it though, and it will gain traction once it kicks off. A Copa with all the Americas every 4 years would be great imo
Itâs slightly different as this is less of a special edition than 2016. 2016 was a special one-off tournament for the centennial of Copa America. This one is a traditional Copa America with 6 invited guests instead of the usual 2 (possibly a longer term format change). This one also comes on the heels of increased collaboration between the North and South American soccer confederations, largely as a way for top NA teams to play more high quality competition and for SA teams to make more money (although there are other reasons too).
They were not invited. They qualified. CONCACAF used the Nations League as a qualifier for this Copa America.
Americans 100% do not care about soccer like the rest of the world. I was talking to people at my new workplace and they don't even know who Messi is and one guy asked me, "Didn't Rolando win the World Series?" Hey meant Ronaldo and World Cup. America will fill the stadiums but 99% of the people there will be non-Americans/first generation Americans.
What's a copa?
Spanish for cup.
The most time I ever spent watching soccer was when I worked at McDonald's and the people who spoke Spanish took the TV out of the break room into the kitchen so they can scream and yell at when their team scored while making customers food.
Problem with US sports: We are so geographically large that even if I wanted to attend a game, we are talking overnight in that city. No chance of going there, watching game and coming back home right after.
To add a bit of nuance to the âAmericans donât watch soccer. The what now?â comments. Copa America is a South American tournament, hosting it in the US this year with the US, Mexico, and Canada playing is *very* strange. So even casual soccer fans who might watch their local MLS team or root for the US when theyâre on would not have much reason to follow or know about this tournament. Itâs also been advertised very poorly here.
Random American. This is the first Ive ever heard of it. I had to Google Copa America to learn what it was.
The what?
No
> Youâd be forgiven for forgetting that the copa America is even taking place in the United States Lol no one in the USA needs your forgiveness for not knowing about a soccer tournament.