The USA will face Argentina June 28 in its opening game at the 2007 Copa America. It will learn its other two group opponents when the draw for the the South American championship is staged Wednesday at 6 pm ET in Caracas.
The first phase of the tournament consists of three groups of four teams each that compete in a round-robin format. The top two teams from each group, along with the two best third-place teams, advance to the knockout phase. Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela have been designated to head the three groups. In addition, CONMEBOL announced that Mexico will face Brazil on June 27 and the host Venezuelans will open the tournament on June 26 against Bolivia. The 12-team tournament will run June 26-July 15 in nine cities across Venezuela.
For the United States, the appearance will mark their third entrance into CONMEBOL’s signature event. It went winless in 1993 but finished fourth in 1995, when a 3-0 victory over defending champion Argentina lifted Steve Sampson‘s Americans to the quarterfinals, where they beat Mexico on penalty kicks. The USA’s only other victory over Argentina in seven games came in 1999 when it won, 1-0, on a late Joe-Max Moore goal.