A Lot of Things You May or May Not Want to Know about the Copa America

I’m back. Well, I never left — just slacked off on sending these emails out.

Over the past few weeks, I wrote about Kylian Mbappe’s move to Real Madrid, why the ESPN FC 100 is bad, how much club playing time matters for national team performance, and the pressing transfer needs for Europe’s biggest clubs.

This week — and most of the next month: It’s all about the Copa America. I previewed the entire tournament yesterday:

Luck of the draw plays a bigger role in tournament soccer than anyone would like to admit (see: Croatia's run to the 2018 World Cup final), and Mexico and Ecuador both got lucky before a game was even played.

Although El Tri feel like they're at their lowest point in, I don't know, 25 years, they got a cushy draw and will have a bigger home-field advantage than any other team in the tournament. Without the underlying quality of the talent or even the recent performances changing at all, Mexico could very easily make the semis and suddenly change the vibe surrounding the program.

And today, I wrote about the USMNT:

Ream has declined a bit from 2022, but he'll still be the one that moves the ball out of the back. Robinson will do pretty much everything down the left. There's a question mark over Adams's health -- the World Cup was pretty much the only time there wasn't a question mark over Adams' health -- but he, McKennie and Musah are known quantities when they wear the red, white and blue. Pulisic will try to single-handedly drag the team as far as he can. And Weah will try to capitalize on the space Pulisic creates for him.

Where the variance comes in is from everyone else: Can Scally add defensive solidity to make up for his on-ball deficiencies in comparison to Dest? Will Richards and Ream be a physical enough pairing in the center of defense? Could Cardoso provide more calm and control to the transition-happy midfield?

Does it matter that Reyna hasn't played consistent club soccer in four years? Is there a role on this team for a tweener midfielder-slash-attacker like Tillman? Could Wright provide substantial wing depth behind the starters? Can Pepi make an impact in limited minutes against a top team?

Lastly, I was the Eric Gagne of our 12-hour livestream yesterday, coming on for the second half of Argentina-Canada and wrapping things up with my guy LME. If you want to hear me talk about the Copa while a game that already happened happens in the background, check out the last 50-something minutes of this video:

It’s been a shockingly fun week of international soccer. Hope you’ve all enjoyed the games so far. Long may it continue.