Three Factors Turned the Copa America into a Debacle: Will the USA-Canada-Mexico World Cup Show Improvement?

With Lionel Messi and Argentina lifting the trophy once again, the curtain has fallen on the 2024 Copa America. The excitement of the final night in Miami was marred by off-field controversies, and a match delayed by nearly 90 minutes will be remembered for all the wrong reasons, with discordant scenes leaving a lasting regret.

Poor Ground Quality American sports are notorious for their love of artificial turf, but FIFA required the host to install natural grass for this Copa America. In the opening match on June 20th, Argentina defeated Canada in Atlanta. Afterwards, Argentine goalkeeper Martinez minced no words in his criticism of the pitch quality: “The state of the field is simply disastrous; the ball moves unevenly. We must improve in this area, or the Copa America will always seem one notch below the European Championship.”

Conditions varied wildly in existing stadiums – some fields were laid over artificial turf, others on sand, concrete, etc., leading to inconsistencies in moisture and firmness. Besides turf issues, football pitches converted from American football grounds faced problems with line markings and the size of the goalposts. Regardless of the host city or weather conditions, the fields and pitches did not enhance the tournament.

Inconsistent Refereeing Standards The intensity of Copa America matches is always high, but the refereeing team seemed unable to keep up with the pace of the event. Fans witnessed blatant handballs ignored, inconsistent penalty decisions, and even the bizarre spectacle of the referee prematurely blowing the whistle to end a game.

In the final group stage match between the USA and Uruguay, we saw the referee blow his whistle and show a yellow card to an American defender, only to raise his arm seconds later signaling play-on advantage, allowing Uruguayan players to continue, while the American players had already stopped playing upon hearing the whistle. This was just one of several peculiar decisions we saw almost every night…

The Organizational Fiasco Before the final, events at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami became the biggest blot on the entire competition. Large numbers of ticketless fans stormed the stadium, causing chaos that forced security to close the gates, ultimately leading to dangerous crowd congestion, putting thousands of fans in unsafe conditions. When asked who should be held accountable for the catastrophic security operation, various accusations and finger-pointing have emerged, but when the safety of spectators is threatened, all else becomes irrelevant.

It’s astounding that organizational issues weren’t confined to Miami. Several coaches expressed dissatisfaction with their experiences during the matches. After Uruguay lost to Colombia, usually composed Uruguayan coach Bielsa lashed out because his players and some fans clashed near the stand where family members were seated. Bielsa quickly criticized the security measures for failing to prevent such safety issues, saying, “All security measures failed, even the emergency exits were useless. What would you do if you saw your mother, wife, and children being attacked?” Canadian coach Marsch echoed these sentiments after the third-place playoff: “For me, this tournament wasn’t professional. There were too many flaws in daily treatment and overall experience.”

Will Things Change Before the 2026 World Cup? Fortunately, there is ample time between now and the summer of 2026. Just in the summer of 2025, the Club World Cup will come to the US, another test, albeit on a smaller scale and with less pressure. The blemishes of this summer don’t preclude the possibility of a magnificent 2026 World Cup hosted by the USA, Canada, and Mexico, but the hosts will undoubtedly need to put in considerable effort to ensure success.