Copa América 2024 featuring three blaugranes set to start
The Copa América is back and this time it's being hosted in the United States of America. The 48th edition of the tournament runs from June 20 to July 14 and features the usual 10 CONMEBOL national sides, plus six CONCACAF guest teams, including the host themselves.
FC Barcelona fans may quite rightly be keeping an eye on proceedings, as three blaugrana players will be at this edition of the Copa América:
Raphinha (Brazil)
The blaugrana winger is one of the 'Canarinha' squad coached by Dorival Júnior, and he will be looking to bring his great end of season form to the Brazil side, who in turn are looking for their tenth Copa América title. They will first have to finish in the top two in Group D, which also includes Paraguay, Colombia and Costa Rica. The group stage schedule for Raphinha is as follows (all times CEST):
- BRAZIL v Costa Rica (25/06 3.00am)
- Paraguay v BRAZIL (29/06 3.00am)
- BRAZIL v Colombia (03/07 3.00am)
Ronald Araujo (Uruguay)
The centre-back is likely to feature strongly for the Uruguayan national team and who knows, they may even lift their sixteenth Copa América and draw level with Argentina. Araujo and Uruguay are in Group C, with the group stage games as follows (all times CEST):
- URUGUAY v Panama (24/06 3.00am)
- URUGUAY v Bolivia (28/06 3.00am)
- U.S.A. v URUGUAY (02/07 3.00am)
Jaume Cuéllar (Bolivia)
The third blaugrana representative is attacking midfielder/winger Jaume Cuéllar, who has been playing on loan at Barça Atlètic this season. From Granollers in Catalonia, he qualified to represent Bolivia and will be aiming to help his side surprise the other teams in Group C (including Uruguay as mentioned) and go through to the next round. The fixture schedule is as follows (all times CEST):
- U.S.A. - BOLIVIA (24/06 12.00am)
- Uruguay - BOLIVIA (28/06 3.00am)
- BOLIVIA - Panama (02/07 3.00am)