With the 2016 Copa America Centenario set for Sunday, Feb. 21 at 4:30 p.m. PT, we caught up with Earthquakes midfielder and Panamanian international Anibal Godoy to talk about where he hopes his country draws, the possibility of playing in the Bay Area and more!
sjearthquakes.com: The big Copa America Centenario draw is this Sunday! Where will you be watching?
Anibal Godoy: “I’ll be watching the draw online from my house. It’s a big day for me and my teammates. It will be nice to see which grew we’re in so we can start preparing for our opponents.”
SJEQ: I know it was a long qualifying process for you and your teammates. How happy were you when you finally punched your ticket into the tournament?
AG: “Yes, I was really excited. We played a lot of games and traveled to a lot of different cities during qualification, so it’s rewarding to have earned a spot in a tournament of this magnitude.”
SJEQ: How excited are you for it to be in the Bay Area?
AG: “I am so happy some of the games will be taking place in the Bay Area. I really hope we get the chance to play at Levis Stadium. I know that the U.S. and Argentina will be playing there already, so it would be great to join them and to play in front of the Earthquakes fans.”
SJEQ:You guys had a promising 2015 Gold Cup campaign and were successful in qualifying for this summer’s Copa America tournament. How confident are you and your teammates heading into this draw?
AG: “We're hoping to take it game by game and go out and play our best. We know we are playing very high quality teams and important players but we're going to go out there and give it our best each game.”
SJEQ: For fans who may not know, why is the 2016 Copa America such a big deal, especially having it in our backyard?
AG: “It is a very unique tournament in that it is celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the Copa America; also all of the big countries are going to be involved. We will have to wait another 100 years before it happens again! Also I think it is the true Copa America because it is uniting the 2 federations of America and it is truly important for all of Latin America.”
