Copa America

When the Brazilian Federation announced that Neymar would be representing his national team at the Olympics and not the Copa America Centenario this summer, soccer fans in Pasadena, Orlando and Foxborough released a collective groan. 

Without their star player, will Brazil still be "can’t miss" as a traveling spectacle? Formerly descending upon cities like the Harlem Globetrotters with their dazzling array of tricks, skills and household names, you can’t help but feel that this Brazilian squad is comparatively poor. 

The preliminary 40-man Mexico Copa America roster has been released, and most of the familiar names are on it. The problem now is whittling that number down to 23. Here's how we'd do it.

Here's the roster (Via MLSSoccer.com):

40-Man Mexico Copa America Roster

GK - Talavera, Alfredo (Toluca / Mexico)

GK - Corona, Jose de Jesus (Cruz Azul / Mexico)

GK - Ochoa, Guillermo (Malaga / Spain)

GK - Palacios, Miguel Alejandro (Pumas UNAM / Mexico)

“Our country is in serious trouble. We’re having people coming in through the border that are not people that we want,” says Donald Trump in an audio clip from the Republican presidential candidate that’s being used to promote this summer’s Copa America Centenario.

The images and text that go with the audio make the speech, for the first time, seem reasonable. Marcos Rojo, Pablo Zabaleta, Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano are seen disembarking from a plane, presumably landing on American soil for this summer’s tournament. The United States is indeed in serious trouble. 

Dunga's preliminary Brazil squad for the Copa America Centenario this summer was released last week, and there are some surprising omissions from it. 

#SeleçãoBrasileira: Veja a pré-lista de convocados para a Copa América Centenário >> https://t.co/cTwZAOh6JP pic.twitter.com/ftqpx3NppA

Mexico's Olympic gold medal defense this summer in Rio will happen without El Tri's best available striker. Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez announced late last week he would forego the Olympics and concentrate on the Copa America Centenario in the USA instead.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Brazil manager Dunga has cast further doubts on Marcelo ever returning to the Brazilian setup while he remains in charge by questioning the Real Madrid defender's commitment and attitude with the national team.

Marcelo was omitted from Brazil’s World Cup qualifiers against Paraguay and Uruguay in March following a series of injuries to the left-back prior to the qualifiers. Dunga pointed to Marcelo’s perceived fitness concerns as the reason behind his omission.

Mexico captain Andres Guardado will be out for several weeks after he suffered a thigh muscle strain in training ahead of PSV Eindhoven's game against AZ Alkmaar. 

Guardado's injury couldn't come at a more inconvenient time for PSV, as they are two points behind Ajax with five games to play in the Eredivisie. Andres Guardado has been one of PSV's star players, and his trademark box-to-box style has given the Dutch side a solid spine to build off of. 

Spanish outlet El Mundo reported on Tuesday that Lionel Messi's trial has been rescheduled from May 31 to June 7. Lionel Messi and his father, Jorge, have been charged with three counts of tax fraud, that totalled $4.4 million in unpaid taxes between the years of 2007 and 2009. 

Is Lionel Messi simply too good at soccer? Carlos Tevez believes that Messi’s ability makes him difficult to partner with, because his skill level is so much greater than that of his teammates.

Three-time biter Luis Suarez is returning to action with Uruguay after serving a nine-match international ban for taking a piece out of Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup. Suarez is now set to feature for Uruguay in their upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Brazil and Peru.  

Suarez was forced to miss the 2015 Copa America and the first four matches of 2018 CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying while also serving a four-month ban regarding all football-related activities with the national team.