Big news for USA fans, US Soccer has officially accepted the invitation for to play in Copa America 2007, meaning the US will participate for the first time since 1995.

"We are delighted to be able to accept the offer to play in Copa America," said US Soccer President Sunil Gulati. "The tournament offers the dual advantage of quality opponents and a challenging environment that will provide long-term benefits for our team. In order to continue our progress at the international level, it is critical that we are able to expose our team to competition at the highest level."

It was obvious at the World Cup this summer that the players lacked enough serious tournament experience, and this move will definitely take care of that.

Also exciting, the US will defend the Gold Cup in 2007, with that tournament finishing just a few days before Copa America begins down in Venezuela. Most likely, whoever the new manager is (and by "whoever" I mean "Jurgen Klinsmann") will have to pick two squads (probably with some overlap) for the two tournaments.

One of the problems with soccer in the US is that it only gets national attention when the World Cup rolls around every four years, but regular participation in Copa America will raise the profile way more than endless friendlies against second string Norwegian teams, or all too easy thrashings of El Salvador. Here's hoping ESPN or (preferably) Fox Soccer Channel pick up the rights to Copa America 2007...