Copa América 2024 bigger than European Championship? Lionel Messi knows it is.

The roster coach Gregg Berhalter will take into the team's opener against Bolivia at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday is collectively the best in USMNT history, with 23 of 26 players coming off major European clubs. Copa provides an important international stage on which to display those talents.

"It's a chance for us to show, before the World Cup, that we're a team to be feared," defender Chris Richards told reporters.

Is Berhalter up to the task?

No U.S. manager who has coached more than seven games has a better winning percentage than Berhalter, but given the quality of the roster and the team's recent struggles — the U.S. has won only two of its last six games — he has come under fire. The protests grew louder after an especially poor showing in a 5-1 loss to Colombia earlier this month.

The Copa group stage, in which the U.S. will play Bolivia, Panama and Uruguay, offers a chance to flip that script. The three teams will present vastly different challenges, giving Berhalter a chance to show off his coaching chops with three different game plans.

Getting out of group play is the bare minimum for the U.S., but matters will get a little tougher if it advances and probably will face either Colombia or Brazil in the quarterfinals.

What about the rest of the field?

Argentina, the reigning World Cup champion and ranked No. 1 in the world, has lost only two of its last 57 games and has made the Copa América final a record 29 times, winning 15.

Although the team led by the 36-year-old Messi has aged — 11 players over 30 and the third-oldest roster in the tournament — it appears to have a fairly comfortable path to a 30th final at Hard Rock Stadium in suburban Miami on July 14.

With Colombia and Brazil, Group D could be the toughest of the four four-team groups. Brazil, still without injured Neymar, needs to improve play after losing its last three games — albeit to Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina — in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying.

Ecuador, whose only losses in 14 games came to Argentina and Italy, could be a dark horse.