LIONEL MESSI’S arrival in the United States edges closer.

A Copa America, South America’s top international tournament, likely featuring Messi, will be played in the country in 2024.

The first edition of the new, expanded Club World Cup will be held there in 2025, in anticipation of the United States co-hosting the World Cup in 2026.

And it’s likely the final of that tournament will be played in the US and not one of the other host countries, Canada or Mexico.

There is also the possibility of the next Women’s World Cup being co-hosted by the US and Mexico and the 2028 Olympics will be held in Los Angeles.

There has never been a better time to be a fan of the game they call soccer (or a game the English first called soccer, but that’s another story).

Internationally, however, amid all this focus on one country, there needs to be a big-picture view of the wider region.

Of how this attention on the higher-profile national teams and domestic leagues could trickle down to the local and also spread to other parts of the Americas, or at least not ignore them.

The United States men’s soccer team is on the up. This week it rose to 11th in the Fifa rankings on the back of a Concacaf Nations League victory.

Interim manager BJ Callaghan sent out a team that looked free from some of the shackles and pressure of last year’s World Cup when the US were knocked out in the last 16 by the Netherlands, with their only win coming in the group stage against Iran.

On top of this, currently underway in the United States is the 2023 Gold Cup — Concacaf’s equivalent of the Euros.

The squad the US have sent to this tournament has more of a B-team feel to it. This won’t make a difference to Callaghan and the players selected, though, who will be doing all they can to win the tournament.

It has already been announced that Callaghan will give way to returning manager Gregg Berhalter after the Gold Cup, so he would like to go out on a high, while many of these players will be looking to prove they are good enough for the main squad and not merely B-team players.

Despite it being taken seriously within the camp, there is an idea floating around that this is not a serious tournament because the United States has not sent its strongest team.

It is similar to an attitude in the domestic game when MLS sides often field weakened teams in the US Open Cup, a tournament which is a more than century-old American version of the FA Cup.

There is an idea that teams from the “top division” fielding reserve sides devalue the tournament but, as with the FA Cup, the value is in the tournaments themselves for the entire field, rather than the perception of them or attitudes towards them from a minority of teams involved.

As there is no promotion and relegation in the American leagues, to be crowned national champions in the United States it could be said you need to win the Open Cup. 

No other national tournament is accessible to all of the country’s teams or is open to good football, organisation and culture being rewarded by progression, regardless of the level at which a team started.

To be crowned the best national team in the Concacaf region you need to win the Nations League or Gold Cup.

The strength of the line-ups fielded is irrelevant to the majority of participants in these tournaments. 

Try telling teams from the Caribbean that the Gold Cup is some second-rate international tournament, or teams from the “lower divisions” of US soccer that progress in the US Open Cup has little meaning.

An issue running alongside all of this is the increased workload being placed on players who now barely get a break if they also play regularly at international level.

This workload is not helped by the introduction of the Leagues Cup in North America which this year pits MLS sides against teams from Mexico’s Liga MX in a World Cup-style tournament.

There will also be a “final four” tournament likely beginning next year likely involving the best teams from the Concacaf Champions Cup and the Conmebol Copa Libertadores (their Champions League equivalents).

Concacaf and Conmebol need to be careful they don’t skip over Central America and the Caribbean when forging these no doubt lucrative ties between the two confederations.

Neither should Fifa forget about the rest of Concacaf as it appears to shift its focus from Persian Gulf sovereign wealth to US capitalism.

And as they get ready to host the World Cup and other tournaments, the United States should not forget about the rest of Concacaf, or view them as somehow inferior, inadequate competition.

The United States got a bit good — probably the best team in Concacaf at this point—and it suddenly wants to change the landscape of regional soccer. 

But just as American soccer growth during this period shouldn’t concentrate only on MLS, Concacaf soccer should not be viewed solely as what’s best for the US or Mexico.

South American governing bodies will also be tempted to join in by the potential money on offer.

Come 2024 the Copa America will have been held in the US twice and there are also rumours the Copa Libertadores final will be held in the United States in the future as part of a deal with Apple TV.

Another part of that deal could see the Leagues Cup serve as a qualifier for US and Mexican teams to enter the Copa Libertadores, again ignoring teams in the rest of the region.

The next few years will be a time for the United States to celebrate soccer. A chance for fans of the sport in the country to have their moment in the spotlight and potentially see the game crash the party of the more traditional American sports. 

As it does so it needs to be careful not to exclude its own grassroots and the wider region, which are both important to a competitive and inclusive football ecosystem.