Copa América 2028 Could Be the USMNT's Next Big Test on Home Soil
October 10, 2026
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Fresh off their best World Cup group stage ever, the Americans may get another summer against South America's giants, and this time the field could be bigger than ever.
The dust has barely settled on the 2026 World Cup, and American soccer already has its next storyline.
According to Claro Sports, CONMEBOL and CONCACAF are working together to bring the Copa América back to the United States in 2028. If it happens, it would be the third U.S.-hosted edition in just 12 years, following the Copa América Centenario in 2016 and the 2024 tournament, where Lionel Messi's Argentina successfully defended their continental crown.
The report adds weight to earlier rumblings that a return to American soil was under consideration. Argentina and Ecuador had both expressed interest in hosting, but according to Claro Sports, both have lost ground, leaving the U.S. as the emerging favorite.
A bigger tournament on the table
The most eye-catching detail comes from The Athletic, which reports that organizers could expand the tournament to 20 teams: all 10 CONMEBOL nations plus 10 invited CONCACAF sides.
That would be a significant jump from 2024, when six CONCACAF teams took part, including Mexico,Canada and the United States, the three co-hosts of this summer's World Cup.
For CONCACAF, ten spots would mean more nations than ever getting meaningful matches against Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia. For CONMEBOL, the appeal is obvious. The U.S. market delivered record revenue in 2024, and a larger field means more games, more tickets and more broadcast inventory.
Where the USMNT stands
Timing is everything, and this news lands at an interesting moment for the Stars and Stripes.
The 2026 World Cup was a step forward, even if it didn't end the way fans hoped. The U.S. won Group D outright with victories over Paraguay and Australia, scored eight group-stage goals (the most in program history at a World Cup), and beat Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32. Then came Seattle, and a 4–1 loss to Belgium in the Round of 16 that exposed how much ground is still left to cover against Europe's established powers.
U.S. Soccer has since extended Mauricio Pochettino's contract, betting on continuity. A home Copa América two years into that next cycle would be the ideal checkpoint. It's also a chance at redemption: at the 2024 Copa, played on home soil, the U.S. failed to make it out of the group stage, a result that ultimately cost Gregg Berhalter his job. A 2028 Copa would give Pochettino's group a high-stakes, competitive tournament against elite opposition, something CONCACAF rarely provides, while the core of this young squad is still entering its
prime.
The scheduling headache
The biggest obstacle isn't politics or money. It's the calendar. The Copa América traditionally runs from June into July. But July 2028 belongs to Los Angeles, which will host the Summer Olympics. That forces organizers to rethink their plans: adjusting dates to avoid overlap, selecting alternative host cities, and almost certainly leaving Los Angeles off the venue list entirely.
There's also a player-welfare question. The Olympic men's soccer tournament runs that same summer, and clubs and players' unions have grown increasingly vocal about overloaded calendars. Squeezing a 20-team continental tournament and an Olympics into one American summer won't be simple.
The bottom line
Nothing is official yet, and CONMEBOL has a history of keeping its options open until the last minute. But the momentum is real. The U.S. has the stadiums, the fan base, and the commercial pull that South American federations struggle to match.
For the USMNT, a 2028 Copa América at home would be more than another tournament. It would be the first real measuring stick of the post-2026 era, and the clearest answer yet to the question this summer left behind: was the World Cup a turning point, or just a good run?
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