After last night’s Copa America Centenario draw at Manhattan’s Hammerstein Ballroom, yes, fans of the US men’s national team are a little worried. The USMNT faces a tough Group A, statistically nearly the toughest possible.
But for fans of loud noises, laser lights, and general spectacle, there were many, many positives to take away from the draw. If the music, performance, and overall drama of the televised broadcast are any indication, whatever happens on the field during the tournament, the off-field pageantry should serve as a flashy salve.
Because, just that one hour was pretty darn entertaining—the word “epic” is abused, but the proceedings were grandiose in the way that only international soccer can be. Here were the best moments of draw pageantry, roughly ranked.
The moment the actual “pots” came onstage
The drama. The glass bowls! All eight of them!
The entire explanation of the pots
If you sit down and really read how the draw worked, it made sense. But hearing it all spoken out loud, kind of quickly, after a number of musical special moments, the process could seem elusive. Phew, luckily, the evening’s program included a diagram.
The drama afforded to the draw of the seeded teams
We already knew who the seeded teams were in each group, but a simple roll call wouldn’t suffice. Instead, presenter Alexi Lalas reached into one of the pots and drew colored balls. Even though we already knew the country each colored ball represented, Lalas did a fine job of swirling his hand around in the bowl, drumming up some suspense.
The music and montage chosen to represent the United States
Pop culture in the US loves to paint other countries in broad strokes, so it was amusing to see some of our major cities get summarized briefly through video and song. Philadelphia? How about some b-roll of cheesesteaks. The US overall? Let’s go with some AC/DC-esque, blues-rock riffs.
The flag procession at the beginning
Is it a major international broadcast without a parade of flags, which then wave in syncopated time to the processional music? Nope.
Diego Torres’ performance of “Iguales”
The Argentine pop-rock hitmaker went for an unabashedly feel-good, uplifting moment, showing up onstage accompanied by no less than a white-robed gospel choir as his backup singers. Letting forth the soaring anthem “Iguales,” Torres urged for, yes, equality, regardless of gender, race, and so on. Sure, it was a simple message, but one that’s especially welcome now.
And just in case you didn’t get it, the lyrics showed up in bold letters on the massive multicolored screens behind him—when a visual effect simulating rain wasn’t pouring down them.
Yandel’s first appearance on the stage
Wisin y Yandel made sweet reggaeton magic together in the 2000s, but since the two Puerto Rican singers split up and went solo in 2013, they’re doing fine on their own, thankyouverymuch. Proof? Yandel’s performance mid-broadcast performance of “Somos Uno,” which began by introducing him as “Yandel La Leyenda”—the Legend!
The Legend came out blazing, complete with a thumping EDM beat played by a full backing band. He also appeared accompanied by a corps of backup dancers in shiny, spandex disco pants, and not one, not two, not three, but packs of soccer freestylers.
The climax of Yandel’s performance
THE FLAGS CAME BACK! The freestylers went even wilder! Even more humans seemed to appear onstage out of nowhere!
Carlos Valderrama, period
All El Pibe has to do to light up an auditorium is show up. How do we count the ways in which the man was ice cool last night—the hair, the blue suit, the sneakers with the suit, the fact that he visually coordinated with his wife. (Let’s talk about relationship goals.) You could see him easily onstage from two mezzanines away. Everything the man does is at legendary levels.
