With the most important World Cup in soccer historical past now simply two brief calendar years away, the summer time of 2024 gives the proper gown rehearsal.
This June and July, three of the planet’s six FIFA-designated areas will align in the shape of the European Championship and the second expanded Copa América in eight years — one that can carry present World Cup-holders Argentina, file five-time champions Brazil and eight different South American groups to the United States to compete with the hosts, Mexico’s fanatically supported El Tri plus 4 extra of North and Central America and the Caribbean’s finest.
It all begins when the Euros kick off on June 14. Over simply 20 years, the gorgeous sport’s second-largest worldwide event has gone from a distinct segment pay-per-view product in the U.S. to a quadrennial staple on the American sports activities calendar.
“Not a lot of big sporting events are going on in the U.S. in the summer, and soccer kind of takes center stage,” former U.S. midfielder and present FOX Sports soccer analyst Stuart Holden mentioned in a telephone interview this week. “The Euros kind of feels like a mini World Cup.”
This 12 months’s occasion guarantees to be the highest-profile but. Host Germany boasts extra giant stadiums than every other nation on the continent; only one of the ten chosen (in 10 host cities) seats fewer than 49,000, all however guaranteeing that Euro 2024 will shatter the file 2,427,303 followers who attended France 2016 eight years again.
Bayern Munich’s glowing Allianz Arena will stage the opener between Die Mannschaft and Scotland. The historic Olympiastadion in Berlin is a becoming place for the ultimate. And for these watching at house, Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate will present a backdrop each bit as iconic because the Eiffel Tower or Sydney Opera House have been over the last two Women’s World Cups.
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All eyes can be on the Euros for a full week earlier than Copa América joins it as an equal beneath the worldwide highlight. On June 20, just some hours after Denmark and co-favorite England meet in Frankfurt and up to date champions Spain (2008, 2012) and Italy (2020) sq. off in maybe probably the most awaited contest of the group stage in Germany, Lionel Messi and his Albiceleste open the Copa at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta towards both Canada or Trinidad and Tobago. On June 24, the mixed Copa/Euro schedule options contests involving Brazil, Italy and Spain — international locations with 10 World Cup titles between them.
If 4 video games throughout each tourneys in in the future can be a deal with for soccer lovers, the lineup on June 25 and 26 is positively heaven-sent. No fewer than a dozen Euro and Copa matches can be performed throughout that single 48-hour interval, with Messi’s Argentina, Harry Kane’s England and Kylian Mbappé’s France all in motion on the twenty fifth.
Factoring in stoppage time, it signifies that greater than half of every day — 12 hours-plus — can be full of high-stakes, world-class, must-see soccer. And of course, there’s an added perk for supporters in the U.S., with the house crew hoping to attain a Copa ultimate for the primary time after making the semis in 1995 and 2016.
“That’s the beauty of the Copa when it’s in this format,” mentioned Holden, who may begin his summer time on the Euros earlier than coming house to name the USMNT’s group stage matches. “The U.S., Mexico and Canada are obviously familiar teams to people on this side of planet, but then you’re mixing in powerful and historic soccer nations, and genuine superstars. It’s a recipe for people to jump on the bandwagon and get excited about it.
“But as a lot as we love seeing these massive groups come right here,” Holden added, “I do not assume something is extra essential than seeing the U.S. crew do properly.”
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That imagination-capturing momentum should grow as the summer wears on. While the frequency of games will dwindle as teams get eliminated in the knockout rounds, the stakes will grow exponentially. Four do-or-die quarterfinals are set for July 6, two in each tourney, with a Euro and a Copa semi slated for both July 9 and 10. July 14 will see the new champions of both Europe and the Americas on the same day for the first time ever, with Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium the pick for the Copa decider.
Eighty-three games in all will have been played by the time the Summer of Soccer is done. That’s not quite as many as the 104 we’ll see at the first 48-nation World Cup in 2026, but it will still be an unprecedented celebration of the people’s favorite sport — and a fitting tune up for what’s to come two years later in cities across North America.
Yet as much as that hotly anticipated World Cup is already starting to appear on the horizon, this summer’s festivities will stand on their own.
The world’s game has never been in a better place in the U.S., which is also set to host the first 32-team FIFA Club World Cup next year. With an ever-growing MLS now fronted by Messi himself and massive NFL arenas from coast to coast ready to be temporarily converted into first-class soccer cathedrals, the country is ready to become the game’s epicenter over the next 30-odd months.
That journey starts on parallel tracks this June – first with the controlled intensity of the Euros, then with Copa matches that can be more street fights than fútbol – though the quality on display is every bit as high as on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
“The European groups play one another so usually you get these fast-paced, tactical video games,” Holden said. “Then you have got the final Copa America ultimate between Brazil and Argentina, which was principally a massacre for 90 minutes.”
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This summer time is also the final time we see residing legends like Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modrić suit up in their countries’ colors. Messi will turn 37 during the first week of the Copa. Modrić and Ronaldo are already 38, with the latter celebrating another birthday next month.
Two years in international soccer is an eternity. But the Summer of Soccer will be here before we can blink, and it will be glorious. For five weeks, what happens in games played at the highest level will be on everyone’s screens and on everyone’s lips in every other corner of the globe – not least right here at home.
“You’re getting a chance over the subsequent couple of years to see and contact real, aggressive high-end soccer,” Holden said. “If you’ll be able to watch this and never get excited concerning the 2026 World Cup, I’m undecided you have got a pulse.”
Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
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