Can the USMNT realistically win Group C at the 2024 Copa América?
The United States men's national team was drawn into Group C for the 2024 Copa América on Thursday, and while there is optimism that the U.S. will advance out of the group, the unlucky draw of Uruguay in Pot B has cast doubt on whether the Americans can advance as the group-winners.
"I think this is a great draw in terms of advancing, but a terrible draw in terms of winning the group," David Mosse said on "Alexi Lalas' State of the Union Podcast" following the draw. "They got the toughest top-two team in the group. In fact, I think Uruguay is the second-best team in this tournament behind Argentina. I'm very high on them."
The United States and Uruguay are only separated by one spot in FIFA's most recent men's rankings, but La Celeste has a long history of success at major international tournaments and is expected to continue that trend with a hungry young group.
"This is a nation that, historically, going all the way back to World Cups, Copa Américas, has been one of the most successful nations, especially considering their size," FOX Sports analyst Stu Holden said of Uruguay. "But I think when you look back at recent World Cups, they had a good run in 2010 and made it to the semifinal, in the last World Cup, they weren't as good as we've seen them before, but they have real talent.
"You think about Federico Valverde, a player playing at Real Madrid; Darwin Núñez, playing at Liverpool; Facundo Pellistri is one of the talented young players at Manchester United. They're stacked from front to back and now they have the one, the only, Marcelo Bielsa as the coach and I think he's found a style that suits this team better than previous coaches have."
Can USMNT win Group C in Copa América! | SOTU
But there's reason to believe that the U.S. will have control of its own fate by the time it faces off with Uruguay in its group stage finale on July 1.
"The U.S. play Bolivia first — if the U.S. can't beat Bolivia in the United States in 2024 in the Copa América, then we've got much bigger problems," Lalas said. "Then Panama, we know them well. They're a good team — not a great team — and the U.S. should be favored in that game and therefore, in those first two games, I woud be disappointed they came out with anything less than six points.
"Now you're sitting an opportunity to win the group against the biggest competition, which is Uruguay. Everyone I've talked to in the hallways and even you guys here, they're not scared, but it's ‘Woah, this is Uruguay.’ I'm not as scared of Uruguay as others."
The U.S. will open group play at the Copa América against Bolivia on June 23. The tournament will broadcast on the FOX family of networks from June 20 to July 14.
Alexi Lalas is a soccer analyst for FOX Sports and host of "Alexi Lalas' State of the Union Podcast." He represented the USMNT at the 1994 FIFA World Cup and had a nine-year professional career. In 2006, he became the president of the LA Galaxy and helped bring David Beckham to Major League Soccer.
