During the 2005 Gold Cup, I wrote a column suggesting that the moribund tournament be merged with the Copa America to stage a single quadrennial competition for the Americas — one that would be worth watching, and worth talking about. A colleague in the press box at D.C. United was quite indignant, and told me that the column was “asinine.” I was interested to know why. Because the Gold Cup, he said, needed time to develop. Like the European Championship, say, which had also started out as a small tournament and grown over the decades.

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