Copa America 2016: Knockout Stage Primer - TV Schedules, Bracket

The knockout rounds of the Copa America Centenario are here with the United States kicking off the quarterfinals against Ecuador

The other three matches will be Peru-Colombia on Friday followed by a double header of Argentina-Venezuela and Mexico-Chile on Saturday before the winners play next week in the semifinals. The final and third place match will take place next weekend with the Final at MetLife stadium in New Jersey.

TOURNAMENT BRACKET

And here's what the #CopaAmerica bracket will look like. pic.twitter.com/NeQZuQqIvw

— 6th Day Soccer (@6thsoccer) June 15, 2016

MATCH PRIMERS

UNITED STATES (Winner Group A) vs ECUADOR (Runner-up Group B)

Thursday, June 16th, Century Link Field, Seattle, WA - 930PM EST, FS1/Unimas

The United States were surprising winners of Group A after losing to Colombia in their first match and taking the group on goal difference when Los Cafeteros lost to Costa Rica in their final game. The USA wanted to make the semifinals before the start of the tournament and having to go through Ecuador as a group winner is something they would've signed up for at the start of Copa America.

But Ecuador isn't a pushover, and while they weren't exactly impressive in Group B with two draws and a win over Haiti, the Valencias (Enner and Antonio) each scored in that final game against Haiti so the offense has a bit of confidence right now. It's also noteworthy that the winner of this game would play the Argentina-Venezuela winner on two extra days rest in Houston on June 21st.

PERU (Winner Group B) vs COLOMBIA (Runner-up Group A)

Friday, June 17th, MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ - 800PM EST, FS1/Unimas

There are many ways I could've envisioned Peru advancing to the quarterfinals, but winning the group by beating Brazil on the final day wasn't even a consideration. Peru winning Group B is by far the shock of the tournament with a mostly younger and domestic based team rising above regional CONEMBOL powers Ecuador and Brazil.

Standing in their way of a third straight appearance however will be Colombia, a team that probably should've won Group A but won't mind a shorter trip from Philly up the road to New Jersey and by facing one of the weakest ranked teams left in the tournament. Colombia hasn't impressed in this tournament, though in a 2-0 win over the USA they didn't need to be that good, but the loss to Costa Rica could be a wake up call for a team with high expectations like Colombia.

ARGENTINA (Winner Group D) vs VENEZUELA (Runner-up Group C)

Saturday, June 18th, Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA - 700PM EST, FX/Univision

Argentina has basically rolled through everyone so far and the worst part is I'm not even sure they're in fifth gear yet. Being able to bring Lionel Messi off the bench to score a hat trick in about 20 minutes is just blatantly unfair. Argentina routed Bolivia and Panama and were in control throughout the match against Chile in a 2-1 win and the only goal they conceded was at the death to Chile deep into stoppage time.

Venezuela were nearly the group winners but gave up a late equalizer to Mexico and now face the daunting task of slowing down the juggernaut that is Messi and company. They took down Uruguay earlier in the group stages, but Luis Suarez wasn't on the field for that one and if Venezuela can get this match to penalties, I think that'd be a solid achievement.

MEXICO (Winner Group C) vs CHILE (Runner-up Group D)

Saturday, June 18th, Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA - 10PM EST, FX/Univision

This might be the best match of the quarterfinals, or at least the one I might be most excited for after the US match. I've always liked Chile but Mexico is playing some pretty good soccer now and are practically a second host country and should have a big home field crowd playing in California.

There's star power a plenty for both sides with Javier Hernandez and Oribe Peralta for El Tri and Alexis Sanchez Arturo Vidal for La Roja. I'm skeptical about the entertainment/blowout factors for the other three matchups to a certain extent, but if this game isn't good I'm going to be legitimately upset. It's the nightcap on Saturday and it should be well worth staying up for.

SEMIFINALS/FINAL TV SCHEDULE

Winner QF 1 (USA/ECU) vs. Winner QF 3 (ARG/VEN)

Tuesday, June 21st, NRG Stadium, Houston TX - 9:00PM EST / FS1, Univision

Winner QF 2 (PER/COL) vs. Winner QF 4 (MEX/CHI)

Wednesday, June 22nd, Soldier Field, Chicago, IL - 8:00PM EST / FS1, Univision

Third Place Game

Saturday, June 25th, University of Pheonix Stadium, Glendale, AZ - 8:00PM EST / FX, Univision

2016 Copa America Final

Sunday, June 26th, MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ - 8:00PM EST / FS1, Univision