South America's nations tournament's centennial to be played in the U.S. with six CONCACAF teams.
The news broke late Wednesday afternoon, CONMEBOL has confirmed the 45th edition of the Copa America will be played in the United States in 2016 with 16 teams, 10 from CONMEBOL and six from CONCACAF.
According to South American sources, these six CONCACAF guests would be the United States (hosts), Mexico and "four other teams with the best standings in the previous CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament." This has yet to be confirmed by CONCACAF.
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South American football authorities also invited Japan and Mexico to play Copa America 2015 in Chile.
A few days after a catastrophic elimination for Brazil 2014, this can only be good news for Canada with a new important pit stop on its way to Russia 2018. The summer of 2016 should also be the stage for the semi-final round of qualifying for CONCACAF nations for the Russian World Cup.
It will be interesting to see how this will translate also for the 2017 Confederations Cup tournament since the CONCACAF and CONMEBOL representatives usually come from their separate nations tournament and not from a joint event.
Uruguay, winner in 2011, holds the record with 15 continental titles in South America.