The host USA is the headliner of the group and will have home-field advantage (although South American fans often outnumber the red, white and blue on U.S. soil). This U.S. team, led by captain Christian Pulisic, is arguably the most talented in the nation’s history with nearly all its players based overseas. Pulisic and Yunus Musah play for AC Milan. Weston McKennie and Tim Weah play for Juventus. Matt Turner and Gio Reyna are teammates at Nottingham Forest. But the team had mixed results in Copa warmup matches, losing 5-1 to Colombia before rebounding with a 1-1 tie against Brazil.

Co-favorite to advance is Uruguay, the 15-time South American champions, who are hungry to win for the first time since 2011. They have a good shot under the direction of Marcelo Bielsa and with Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez leading the attack. Since last June, Uruguay has only lost two of 10 games under Bielsa and the team sits in second place in the CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers, three points behind Argentina. Inter Miami star Luis Suarez, 37, is on Uruguay’s squad and eager to go far in what will likely be his last Copa.

Panama and Bolivia would have to pull off shockers to survive this group. MLS duo Anibal Godoy and Adalberto ‘Coco’ Carrasquilla are two Panamanian players to watch. Panama has beaten the USA and made strides in recent years, but advancing will be tough. Bolivia’s best player, Marcelo Martins Moreno, retired.

— Prediction: Uruguay and USA will advance.

GROUP D

— Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, Costa Rica

Brazil is desperate to have a good showing after stumbling to sixth place in World Cup qualifying so far. Things are so bad that former star Ronaldinho slammed the team last week, posting on social media: “That’s it folks. l’ve had enough. This is a sad moment for those who love Brazilian soccer. It’s getting hard to find the spirit to watch the games. This is perhaps one of the worst teams in recent years. It has no respectable leaders, only average players for the majority.”

The pressure is on Brazil, which was eliminated from the 2022 World Cup by Croatia in the quarterfinals. The team has shown improvement in recent friendlies under new coach Dorival Junior, including wins over England and Mexico and a 1-1 tie against the USA last week.

The most in-form team in the group is Colombia, which is unbeaten in 23 games since 2022. Los Cafeteros, under coach Nestor Lorenzo, are unbeaten after their opening six group matches in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers with wins over Venezuela, Brazil and Paraguay, the latter two of which are in their Copa group.

Paraguay has won just two of its past 11 matches and Costa Rica has won four of its most recent 14 international matches.

— Prediction: Brazil and Colombia will advance.

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