The knockout stage of the 2024 Copa America will begin on Thursday evening, but extra-time will not be used to decide matches that end all-square.

Instead, if 90 minutes of regulation plus stoppage time doesn’t decide a match, it will go directly to penalty kicks. 

While South American heavyweights Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay and Brazil all made it through to the final-eight as expected, Mexico, Chile and the United States suffered surprise group stage eliminations.

Defending champions Argentina will get the quarter-finals underway on Thursday when they take on Ecuador in Houston, before Venezuela face Canada on Friday evening and Colombia take on Panama on Saturday.

This year’s showpiece fixture will take place in Miami on July 15, and could see old rivals Argentina and Brazil go head-to-head.

The current format of the Copa America is similar to that of the European Championship before the 2016 expansion.

16 teams entered the group stage and were divided into four groups of four. The top two teams from each group progressed to the quarter-finals, with group winners paired with second place finishers.

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