The 2024 Copa América is over and done with, with Argentina once again the champion. However, the numerous issues raised during the competition and the events that occurred after the semifinal between Uruguay and Colombia and then before the Colombia and Argentina final have left fúbtol fans worried about the organization for the next World Cup in 2026. And from where fans are standing, the United States can’t be trusted with hosting a competition like the World Cup after such a messy Copa América.

The Copa América was troubled from the start, with Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni and players like Emiliano Martínez complaining about the pitch after the inaugural game against Canada on July 20th. But they weren’t the only ones who spoke up, with Peru manager Jorge Fossati blaming the field for the Achilles injury suffered by Luis Advíncula in a game against Peru on July 21st, and players from Brazil’s Vinícius Júnior, to Colombia’s James Rodríguez, and even USMNT’s Weston McKennie, remarking on the bad conditions of the field.

Then there were the issues with Bolivia not having adequate facilities to practice in, a VAR system that didn’t automatically intervene like in the Euros, and the security issues, which became the biggest point of conversation in the contentious semi-final between Uruguay and Colombia. That’s without even mentioning what happened during the final between Colombia and Argentina. The problems with the U.S. hosting the 2024 Copa América go on and on.

The most glaring issue, however, is security and a lack of understanding of what is required to host an event of this caliber. 

In the semifinal, the families of Uruguay players were placed right next to Colombia fans, and not given any security or escape route. So when a conflict broke out at the end of the match, the players jumped into the stands to protect them. Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa spoke about the lack of security, the horrible pitch conditions, and the terrible organization by the U.S. in his press conference before the third-place match between Uruguay and Canada on July 13th. And Canada coach Jesse Marsh agreed, saying “This wasn’t a professional tournament.”

To make matters worse, in the final game, thousands of people broke into the stadium without a ticket, with security unable or unwilling to stop them. The game ended up being delayed for over an hour and security had to spend the entirety of the 120 minutes of play kicking fans out of the stadium because they didn’t have tickets, while fans who’d paid to watch the final were unable to get inside. 

Now the CONMEBOL, the governing body of South American fúbtol, and the Hard Rock Stadium authorities, the stadium where the final took place, are trying to shift blame on one another. But this isn’t just about the final game, it’s about a whole host of issues that add up to a clear conclusion: the United States, the country everyone always thought was prepared to step up and host a World Cup in case some other country couldn’t, isn’t actually prepared to do so.

The 2024 Copa América was supposed to be the warm-up. Instead, everything that could go wrong went wrong and we’re left with injured players, angry coaches, and harrowing photos of children traumatized due to the chaos that occurred during certain matches. In 2026, there will be the added difficulty of two other host nations, Mexico and Canada, with their own issues, and the organizational nightmare that is coordinating between all three. When you take into consideration that an estimated 1.5 million people attended the 2024 Copa América in comparison to the 3.4 million that attended the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, it becomes clear that the United States is in desperate need of restructuring to avoid an even bigger fallout.