The Copa América Centenario, referred to in English as the 2016 Centennial Copa America, is a celebration of the centenary of CONMEBOL and the Copa América, and is to be the first Copa América hosted outside of South America.

The tournament, 100 years in the making, which will be the 45th edition of Copa América since its inception in 1916, will be held as part of an agreement between CONMEBOL (the South American football confederation) and CONCACAF (the football confederation for North and Central America and the Caribbean) as a special edition between the usual four-year cycle, and will feature an expanded field of 16 teams (an increase from the usual 12), with ten teams from CONMEBOL and six teams from CONCACAF.

The tournament runs from June 3 to 26, and will be hosted in ten stadia in ten US cities. The host cities are Seattle (Washington), Chicago (Illinois), Foxborough (Massachusetts), East Rutherford (New Jersey), Santa Clara (California), Pasadena (California), Glendale (Arizona), Houston (Texas), Orlando (Florida), Philadelphia (Pennsylvania).

The 16 teams are divided into 4 groups of 4 teams each. They are:

Group A: United States, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay

Group B: Brazil, Ecuador, Haiti, Peru.

Group C: Mexico, Uruguay, Jamaica, Venezuela.

Group D: Argentina, Chile, Panama, Bolivia.

The opening match will be between hosts, the United States vs Colombia at the Levi's stadium in Santa Clara, California.

The June 26 final will be held at the 82,000 capacity Metlife stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The stadium was completed in April 2010 at a cost of $1.7bn (in today's USD), making it the most expensive stadium ever built.

Messi, Neymar, James Rodriguez of Colombia, and Javier Chicharito (Mexico), Luis Suarez and Cavani (Uruguay) could all grace the tournament. Messi will reportedly not take part in the Rio Olympics, which could be an additional signal that he would likely suit up for Argentina in the tournament.

Neymar could be under pressure by the Brazilian public to play in the Olympics and help Brazil win a first-ever Olympic gold medal in football. He has indicated his willingness to play in both summer competitions, but Barcelona may frown at such possibility. If Neymar plays in both tourneys, he could be burned out to play any role in Barca's opening games for next season, and their pre-season games.

Lets hope Higuain doesn't ruin d Party 4 Argentina again! The wayray dey form naw, season go end naw en leg go kako lyk chicken again.
I hope Argentina win it thou, 4 La Pulga.

USA Squad:

GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), 12-Tim Howard (Colorado Rapids), 22-Ethan Horvath (Molde IK)

DEFENDERS (: 5-Matt Besler (Sporting KC), 3-Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), 6-John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), 20-Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), 21-Timmy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt), 23-Fabian Johnson (Borussia Moenchengladbach), 14-Michael Orozco (Club Tijuana), 2-DeAndre Yedlin (Tottenham Hotspur)

MIDFIELDERS/FORWARDS (12): 15-Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), 11-Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), 4-Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), 8-Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), 13-Jermaine Jones (Colorado Rapids), 16-Perry Kitchen (Heart of Midlothian), 10-Darlington Nagbe (Portland Timbers), 17-Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund), 18-Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes), 7-Bobby Wood (Hamburg SV), 20-Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy), 19-Graham Zusi (Sporting KC)

Argentina squad:

GOALKEEPERS: Sergio Romero (Manchester United), Mariano Andujar (Estudiantes), Nahuel Guzman (Tigres UANL)

DEFENDERS: Marcos Rojo (Manchester United), Nicolas Otamendi (Manchester City), Ramiro Funes Mori (Everton), Facundo Rocaglia (Fiorentina), Gabriel Mercado (River Plate), Jonathan Maidana (River Plate), Victor Cuesta (Independiente)

MIDFIELDERS: Angel Di Maria (PSG), Javier Mascherano (Barcleona), Ever Banega (Sevilla), Lucas Biglia (Lazio), Javier Pastore (PSG), Augusto Fernandez (Atletico Madrid), Erik Lamela (Tottenham), Matias Kranevitter (Atletico Madrid)

FORWARDS: Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Gonzalo Higuain (Napoli), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Hebei Fortune), Nicolas Gaitan (Benfica)

Brazil squad

Goalkeepers: Alisson (Internacional), Diego Alves (Valencia) and Ederson (Benfica)

Defenders: Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Fabinho (Monaco), Filipe Luis (Atletico Madrid), Douglas Santos (Atletico Mineiro), Miranda (Inter Milan), Gil (Shandong Luneng), Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain), Rodrigo Caio (Sao Paulo)

Midfielders: Luiz Gustavo (Wolfsburg), Elias (Corinthians), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Rafinha (Barcelona), Renato Augusto (Beijing Guoan), Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool), Lucas Lima (Santos) and Willian (Chelsea)

Forwards: Douglas Costa (Bayern Munich), Hulk (Zenit), Ricardo Oliveira (Santos) and Gabriel (Santos)

There is a similar thread here https://www.nairaland.com/3115329/official-2016-copa-america-football/1#46199181

Personally, I was very saddened to injuries such major tournaments as the European Championship, World Cup or the Copa Amer. Here and this year was not without its losses as European arena and in the South American. Apart from the fact that many top players do not let play their own clubs. So more and players like Kaka are injured - https://www.naij.com/847860-sad-brazil-former-real-madrid-star-miss-copa-america.html ... Very sad.