$2,000 seats, a halftime show and an array of stars: Your guide to the Copa America final (2024)

The two most dominant teams in South America over the past two years — Colombia, riding a 28-game unbeaten streak, and Argentina with just two losses over the past 61 games — go head-to-head to become Copa America champions.

The game will be yet another potentially legacy-defining moment for Argentina’s Lionel Messi, widely considered to be the greatest soccer player of all time. But it will have no shortage of other stars, from Argentina’s Lautaro Martinez, Julian Alvarez and Angel Di Maria to Colombia’s Luis Diaz and James Rodriguez.

In the dugouts, Argentina’s Lionel Scaloni goes up against his countryman Nestor Lorenzo, the Argentine with the lucky shirt who has made Colombia the team to watch at Copa America.

The game will also cap a huge day of soccer with the European Championship final between England and Spain in Berlin, Germany at 3pm ET (8pm BST) and the Copa America showdown kicking off in Miami, Florida at 8pm ET (1am BST on Monday, July 15).

Here is a look at what to expect…

Chasing history

Argentina has a chance to become the first South American team to win three consecutive international tournaments: 2021 Copa America, 2022 World Cup and 2024 Copa America. Only Spain has completed the feat in Europe, winning the 2008 European Championship, 2010 World Cup and 2012 Euros.

Colombia, meanwhile, is playing in its third final. They won the Copa America as hosts in 2001 but that was a tournament played without Argentina, owing to security concerns, and with Brazil sending a ‘B’ team, as well as with several CONCACAF nations sending teams at the last minute. They also lost the 1975 final to Peru. This would go down as the biggest victory in their history.

Where the game will be won and lost

Colombia will be by far the best attacking team Argentina has played in this Copa America. Los Cafeteros have now gone 28 consecutive games unbeaten — although their last loss was against Argentina in 2022 — and they have scored three or more goals in nine of those games.

The resurgence has been led by Liverpool winger Luis Diaz and the revival of James Rodriguez at No 10. The former Real Madrid and Bayern Munich man has six assists in this tournament, more than any player in the history of Copa America.

Argentina will have to try to nullify Rodriguez and cut off his service from midfield, but more importantly limit set-piece opportunities — Colombia has scored five goals from dead balls in this tournament, not including penalties, and eight including goals from the spot.

Argentina, meanwhile, are a ball-dominant possession team. They’ve been able to wear opponents down over the course of a game and have found multiple opportunities through build-up in the final third. Lautaro Martinez was the danger man in the group stage and leads the tournament with four goals, but Julian Alvarez has two goals and started the semifinal against Canada.

While Argentina prefers to control the tempo of the game, they are also dangerous in transition, looking to break out in space left behind when teams push forward, as they showed in both games against Canada.

One last dance?

Legendary Argentina winger Angel Di Maria has already said he is retiring after this tournament and reiterated it numerous times. The 36-year-old scored the game-winner in the 2021 Copa America final, and scored again in the 2022 World Cup final against France and in the Finalissima win over Italy. Now, he’ll have a chance to retire at the very top.

“I don’t think I’d be able to have dreamt this,” Di Maria said. “I’m so grateful to this generation of players, because it’s thanks to them I’ve been able to accomplish all of this. It’s thanks to them that my last game with the national team will be a final.”

He may not be the only player making his final appearance in an Argentina shirt. Nicolas Otamendi could also be playing his final game for the senior team — though he was also named for the Olympic squad. Otamendi has made 116 appearances for Argentina, and played in three World Cups, and was a part of both the 2021 Copa America and 2022 World Cup champion teams.

And then, of course, there is the question of how much longer Messi will play for Argentina. He has not said this will be his last game for the national team, and head coach Scaloni has said it will be up to Messi to decide when he is done.

“In the end you have to leave him alone and know that, on our part, we will not be the one who closes the door,” Scaloni said. “On the contrary, he can be with us as long as he wants, even when he retires.”

Who’s said what?

Scaloni on James Rodriguez’s tournament and stopping him in the final: “James is a great player, it’s a pleasure to watch him play. And Nestor has found a way the team works very much around James, and it’s good for football because he is a great player. But we never focus on one player, but on the team, because in the end Colombia is a good team and our way of defending will always, always be as a team knowing the difficulties that this entails. We will try as a team to stop them and control the game. That is the idea.”

Lorenzo on the final: “It’s two teams that want to play. Argentina just need a moment, even when they don’t have the ball, to be dangerous. We have something similar. It’s two teams that are quite similar: Argentina with more time together and with achievements already attained, and us with hunger.”

Path to the final

Argentina topped Group A with a perfect nine points and without conceding a goal in wins over Canada, Chile and Peru. But it took penalties to down Ecuador in the quarterfinal before Argentina defeated Jesse Marsch’s Canada a second time in the tournament, 2-0, in the semifinal.

Colombia won Group D with seven points, beating Paraguay 2-1 and Costa Rica 3-0 before drawing 1-1 against Brazil. Colombia then crushed Panama 5-0 in the quarterfinal before surviving the second half down a man to best rival Uruguay, 1-0, in the semifinal.

What else do I need to know?

Fans wearing the sky blue and white of Argentina (usually with a No 10 on their back) and the yellow of Colombia have dominated this Copa America in the United States and provided many of the tournament’s best moments.

A small section of Colombia fans, however, clashed with Uruguay players after the semifinal in Charlotte on Wednesday, and organizer CONMEBOL has opened an investigation. In a statement it added: “On the eve of the final of Copa America, we want to reaffirm and warn that no action will be tolerated that tarnishes this global football celebration, which involves both the players and the fans present in the stadium, and which will be watched by hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide.”

The cheapest price for a single ticket was still around $1,450 on Saturday evening but it had been as high as $2,000 earlier in the week.

Fans must also have a ticket to the final to enter any area around Hard Rock Stadium on match day, and watch parties outside the stadium or in the parking lot have been banned.

The stadium, home to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, has a surface of Bermuda grass and is open air. Hard Rock hosted two group matches — UruguayagainstPanama on June 23 and Argentina versus Peru on June 29 — and then Colombian singing superstar Feid, who also sang at the Copa America opening ceremony, held a concert there on July 6.

The final will also feature a halftime show for the first time, with Colombian singer Shakira’s performance, set up and clearance expected to see the interval stretch to 25 minutes.

How can I watch?

U.S. viewers can watch English-language broadcast on FOX’s networks. Spanish-language broadcasts will be shown on Univision and TUDN and the match will be streamed on Fubo TV.

In Canada, you can find Copa America matches on TSN and TSN+. For UK viewers it’s Premier Sports, as well as live streams on the Premier Sports Player.

(Top photo: Getty Images)

Paul Tenorio is a senior writer for The Athletic who covers soccer. He has previously written for the Washington Post, the Orlando Sentinel, FourFourTwo, ESPN and MLSsoccer.com. Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulTenorio