US Soccer skips Copa America meeting, likely to pull out of tournament

The United States is likely out as the host of Copa America Centenario, according to the New York Times. U.S. Soccer, is ready to withdraw as hosts of the summer 2016 tournament and, if they do, they will almost certainly pull the national team out as participants as well.

CONCACAF and CONMEBOL have a meeting scheduled for Thursday in Mexico City, where they had planned to sort out the details of the tournament and lay out a plan to get the competition back on track to be played next summer. U.S. Soccer, as hosts, would have played a very big role in that meeting, however the federation reportedly will not travel to Mexico and will not participate in the meeting.

Copa America Centenario was supposed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of CONMEBOL's championship tournament. They would play a special edition of it in the U.S. and six CONCACAF teams would join South America's 10 countries in a mega 16-team tournament for the crown of the Americas' best. It would be the biggest tournament on American soil since the 1994 World Cup.

The plans for the tournament were thrown into flux in May when the U.S. Justice Department indicted 14 people tied to FIFA and world soccer corruption. Among those indicted were the CONCACAF president, as well as several CONMEBOL officials. The indictments also questioned the legality of deals that would have affected Copa America Centenario. Ever since, there have been rumors that the tournament would be called off, or at least altered, but little actual news. The meeting on Thursday was supposed to provide concrete answers, but now that appears unlikely as well.

CONMEBOL president Juan Angel Napout recently confirmed that Copa American Centenario would be played next summer, but he did not expand upon where and with what teams. That is still to be determined. At this point, it looks unlikely that it will be in the U.S. or that the Americans will play in the tournament. Mexico or a South American country might step in as hosts, but that would do the U.S. and Jurgen Klinsmann no good.