The Copa America draw results were manipulated twice, what really happened?

This Thursday the draw for the Copa America 2024 took place in Miami. The oldest national team tournament in the world will be played for the second time in the United States, after the 2016 edition won by Chile. This time the expectation is even greater, as the country prepares to host the 2025 Club World Cup and the 2026 World Cup.

The format of the Copa America is quite simple: there will be four groups of four teams each, which will play against each other. The top two teams in each group will advance to the next phase, the quarterfinals, and from there there will be knock-out games, until the final on July 14 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

Before the draw, there was only one detail to consider: in each group there could be no more than three teams from CONMEBOL (i.e. South America) and no more than two teams from CONCACAF (North and Central America). This meant that, if chance caused this, the results would automatically have to be modified so as not to violate these criteria. But something went wrong.

When the draw was almost over and only the last team in each group was still to be determined, Bolivia was drawn into Group B. But this left only CONCACAF teams available for the last two groups. And in Group C there were already two teams from that confederation (the United States and Panama). Therefore, to comply with the rules, Bolivia had to be relocated to group C. But the authorities did not notice it in time and continued with the draw.

What happened next?

When Jamaica's draw came out, they realized that it could not go to group C, but instead of exchanging it with Bolivia, they sent it to group D. This did not solve the problem. This did not solve the problem, as the last pool also contained two CONCACAF teams (Honduras or Costa Rica). Noticing this, they swapped Bolivia with them. But this was also a mistake, as it altered the order of the draw. Therefore, after a few minutes of confusion, they made the correct decision: Jamaica went to group B, Bolivia to group C and the winner of the playoff between Honduras and Costa Rica to group D.