U.S. Men’s National Team to Face Uruguay, Panama and Bolivia in Group C of 2024 Copa America

MIAMI (Dec. 7, 2023) – The U.S. Men’s National Team will face Uruguay, Panama and Bolivia in Group C of the 2024 Copa America. The Official Draw was conducted at the James L. Knight Center in Miami this evening. The prestigious tournament will take place from June 20-July 14 in 14 venues across 13 cities in the United States.

The USMNT opens group play against Bolivia on Sunday, June 23 at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, then faces Panama on Thursday, June 27 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and concludes on Monday, July 1 against Uruguay at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. The tournament will open at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Thursday, June 20, when 2022 FIFA World Cup champion Argentina meets the winner of the Canada-Trinidad and Tobago play-in match.

“It’s a tough group,” U.S. Head Coach Gregg Berhalter said. “I think any group that was going to be drawn was going to be difficult. Copa America is a very difficult tournament. For us, we’re excited to finally know our competitors. Now, it’s about planning our game plans and getting ready to compete.”

The Copa America will feature some of the world's best teams and players. Concacaf and CONMEBOL have partnered to host the competition outside of South America for only the second time in tournament history, having previously held the hugely successful 2016 Copa America Centenario in the United States. The tournament will feature six teams from Concacaf and all 10 teams from CONMEBOL. 

The full tournament match schedule can be found HERE.

Group A: Argentina, Peru, Chile, Canada-Trinidad & Tobago Playoff Winner
Group B: Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, Jamaica
Group C: USA, Uruguay, Panama, Bolivia
Group D: Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, Costa Rica-Honduras Playoff Winner

USA HISTORY IN COPA AMERICA

The U.S. has participated in Copa America four times since the tournament’s inception in 1916. After its inaugural appearance in 1993, the Americans surprised the world with a 3-0 win against Argentina in the group stage in 1995 en route to a fourth-place finish , losing to Brazil in the semifinal. After not advancing from the group stage in 2007, the U.S. shone in the 2016 Copa America Centenario, again finishing fourth after falling to a No. 1-ranked Argentina team led by Lionel Messi in the semifinal.

The United States is one of six guest teams in the CONMEBOL confederation championship. No invitee from outside South America has ever won the tournament. Since 2011, only two of 12 have even reached the knockout rounds, with the USA and Mexico both advancing at the 2016 Copa America Centenario.

VS. URUGUAY

Head Coach: Marcelo Bielsa (Argentina)
USA Overall Record vs. Uruguay: 2-2-4 (Last Meeting: 0-0 T; June 5, 2022; Friendly in Kansas City, Kan.) 
USA Overall record vs. Uruguay in Copa America: 0-1-0 (Last Meeting: 0-1 L; June 16, 1993; Group Stage; Ambato, Ecuador)
Best Copa América Finish: Champion (1916, 1917, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1935, 1942, 1956, 1959, 1967, 1983, 1987, 1995, 2011)
Current World Ranking: 11

• Uruguay have won the Copa América on 15 occasions, level with Argentina for the most times in the tournament’s history.
• Uruguay is coached by Marcelo Bielsa, who took the reins in May 2023. As a manager, Bielsa previously led Argentina to a runner-up finish in the 2004 Copa América tournament.
• Uruguay is currently sitting in second place in CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying after back-to-back 2-0 shutout wins against Brazil and Argentina
• Uruguay hosted and won the 1995 iteration of the tournament in which the USA finished fourth in its second time participating.
• Uruguay was eliminated in the group stage during Copa América Centenario, the last and only other time the tournament was held in the United States.
• Uruguay have not advanced past the quarterfinals in the four tournaments held since their last championship in 2011.
• The Uruguay National Team pool includes three players who play for U.S.-based clubs in Major League Soccer: Diego Rossi (Columbus Crew), Facundo Torres (Orlando City SC), and Cristian Olivera (LAFC). All three featured for Uruguay in 2023.

VS. PANAMA

Head Coach: Thomas Christiansen (Denmark)
USA Overall record vs. Panama: 17-3-6 (Last meeting: 1-1 AET 6-5 PKs L); July 12, 2023; Gold Cup Semifinals in San Diego, Calif.)
USA Record vs. Panama in Copa América: 0-0-0
Best Copa América Finish: Group Stage (2016)
Current World Ranking: 41

• Panama qualified for the 2024 Copa América by winning their home-and-away series with Costa Rica in the 2023-2024 Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals. All four of the tournament’s victorious quarterfinalists automatically qualified for Copa América, while the four teams that were defeated in the quarterfinals advanced to one of two play-in matches to be held in Match.
• Panama defeated Costa Rica 6-1 on aggregate in the Nations League quarterfinals to earn their qualification to Copa América, winning 3-0 in the away leg and 3-1 at home in November 2023.
• Panama has participated one other time in the Copa América tournament, when they took part in the Copa América Centenario held in the United States in 2016. They won 2-1 over Bolivia in their opening match in Group D, but then fell to Argentina 5-0 and Chile 4-2 to be eliminated after the group stage.
• While the U.S. owns a 17-3-6 record all-time against Panama, Panama were the most recent victors in the fixture. Matched up in the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup semifinals, Panama came away with a 6-5 win in penalty kicks after a 1-1 finish to extra time. They ultimately finished runners-up to Mexico, matching their previous best-ever finish in the competition in 2005 and 2013.
• Panama is coached by Thomas Christiansen, a former Spain international who was born in Denmark. Panama is his first international coaching opportunity, after previously managing on the club level in Abu Dhabi, Cyprus, England, and Belgium.
• The current Panama player pool is well-spread out internationally on the club level, but there are some U.S. ties via the quartet of regulars who play in Major League Soccer: Adalberto Carrasquilla (Houston Dynamo), Eric Davis (D.C. United), José Fajardo (D.C. United), and captain Aníbal Godoy (Nashville SC).

VS. BOLIVIA

Head Coach: Antônio Carlos Zago (Brazil)
USA Overall record vs. Bolivia: 2-2-4 (Last meeting: 3-0 W; May 28, 2018; Friendly in Chester, Pa.)
USA Record vs. Bolivia in Copa América: 0-1-0 (Last meeting: 1-0 L; July 11, 1995; Group Stage; Paysandu, Uruguay)
Best Copa América Finish: Champions (1963)
Current World Ranking: 85

• Bolivia’s lone Copa América title came in 1963, which was also the first time the country hosted the tournament.
• Since finishing as runners-up in the 1997 tournament, Bolivia has only advanced beyond the group stage once in nine attempts. They reached the quarterfinals in 2015, where they fell 3-1 to Peru.
• Bolivia is coached by Antônio Carlos Zago, a former Brazilian National Team player and long-time manager at the club level in Brazil. His appointment to Bolivia in October 2023 marked his first opportunity to manage at the international level.
• In CONMEBOL 2026 World Cup qualifying, Bolivia is currently ninth in the table, with three points earned (1-5-0) through six matches played.
• The overwhelming majority of Bolivia’s player pool currently plays domestically in the Bolivian Primera División, however, Atlanta United 2 defender Efraín Morales earned his first call-up to the senior squad in September.

VENUE HOPPING

The USMNT is no stranger to AT&T Stadium, bringing an unblemished 3-0-0 record back to Arlington. Remarkably, all three games took place during the knockout rounds of the Gold Cup – two semifinals (2013, 2017) and a quarterfinal (2021) – and each time the U.S. went on to win the tournament. Overall, the United States is 11-1-4 in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.

Having been chosen as the future home of U.S Soccer’s National Training Center, Atlanta will host the USMNT at Mercedes-Benz stadium for the first time. This is only the second visit for the U.S. to the Peach State since 1977, having fallen 2-1 to Jamaica on July 22, 2015, at the Georgia Dome in the semifinal of the Gold Cup.

This will be just the second visit for the USMNT to Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The first was a big one, as the team faced Costa Rica in a final round World Cup Qualifier on April 25, 2001. A goal by two-time World Cup veteran and former USMNT assistant coach Josh Wolff led the U.S. to a 1-0 shutout in front of 37,319 fans. The only other appearance on the Missouri side of the city came in a World Cup qualifier in 1968, a 6-2 win against Bermuda at Municipal Stadium.