In the upcoming months, a one-in-a-hundred year sporting event is coming to the Greater Philadelphia Area. The Copa America Centenario is a tournament that celebrates the centenary of CONMEBOL (South American Soccer Federation) and the Copa America and will bring together the best soccer national teams from South, Central and North America.
This event comes to Philly a year after the 2015 Gold Cup, which had its Championship Game celebrated at the Lincoln Financial Field where 68,930 people gathered to watch the soccer event with the most attendance in Philadelphia.
This year, the home of the Philadelphia Eagles will host three group stage games for the Copa America Centenario, and I wanted to provide you (soccer fan or non-soccer fan) a short preview of these games.
1. Venezuela vs. Uruguay (June 9th, 2016)
This match will have two teams going through very different situations in the CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers.
The Uruguayans have won three out of their four matches which put them at the second place on the road to Russia 2018. They have shown very strong performances, including two 3-0 victories against Colombia and Chile (current Copa America Champions) at home.
On the other side, the Vinotintos have been struggling and have not earned any points in their four World Cup qualifying matches. They come to the Copa America Centenario with lots of internal issues, which include the release of a letter signed by 15 national team players where they state their nonconformity with the FVF's (Venezuelan Football Federation) current president Laureano Gonzalez.
Los Charruas are the clear favorites to win this match and the group, but the Venezuelans will give them a good a fight. It should be an interesting match, with lots of opportunities for both sides.
2. United States vs. Paraguay (June 11th, 2016)
This match is, without a doubt, the most anticipated by the United States fans in the Greater Philadelphia Area and it is expected to be the biggest soccer game in the history of the Lincoln Financial Field.
The team representing the stars and stripes banner, comes off an outstanding 6-0 victory against St. Vincent and Grenadines at Busch Stadium and a disappointing tie 0-0 against Trinidad & Tobago at Port Spain, which is enough for leading Group C of the CONCACAF 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
Los Guaranis, have seven points so far in the CONMEBOL 2018 World Cup Qualifiers earned from two victories (0-1 win at Venezuela and 2-1 win vs. Bolivia), one draw (0-0 vs Argentina) and a loss (1-0 at Peru), which are enough to be fourth place for the CONMEBOL 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
3. Chile vs. Panama (June 14th, 2016)
The last match at the Lincoln Financial Field will be a battle between Chile, the current champions of the Copa America, and the always complicated, Panamanian National Team.
Chile is one of the favorites to win the tournament, mainly, because of their recent victory at the 2015 Copa America where they defeated Argentina in the final. Currently, La Roja have seven points and are sitting on fifth place in the CONMEBOL 2018 World Cup Qualifiers.
Panama comes into Group D as the underdogs and are expected to surprise everyone. After two World Cup Qualifying games, the team coached by Hernan El Bolillo Gomez has three points and currently sit on the second place of Group B for the 2018 CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers.
If you like soccer, or just love to attend to these kind of events, I would definitely recommend you to get your tickets as soon as possible. Ticketmaster.com has great presale deal for as low as $150.00 for all three Philadelphia games. And, if you would only like to attend to one of these games, you would have to wait until the single game tickets come out, which would be closer to the inauguration day.
