Group C Copa América 2011

Match reports and highlights from Group A of the 2011 Copa América tournament.

Standings

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Chile	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7
Uruguay	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5
Peru	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
Mexico	3	0	0	3	1	4	-3	0

Chile, Uruguay and Peru progress to the quarter finals.

Results

04-07-11
Uruguay	1-1	Peru
04-07-11
Chile	2-1	Mexico
08-07-11
Uruguay	1-1	Chile
08-07-11
Peru	1-0	Mexico
12-07-11
Chile	1-0	Peru
12-07-11
Uruguay	1-0	Mexico

Match reports

On the fourth day of the event Peru continued the run of surprise results with a 1-1 draw against group C favourites Uruguay. Paolo Guerrero left the Uruguay defence in his wake as he opened the scoring for Peru with an individual effort on the break. Luis Suárez equalised for Uruguay just before half time but neither side could find a second half winner meaning that the tournament had kicked off with 4 draws in the opening five games.

An under-strength and inexperience Mexico side looked like stretching the run of surprise results even further after Néstor Araujo headed them into a first half lead against Chile, however the Chileans mounted an impressive second half fightback to win the game 2-1 and become the first team to bag more than a single goal in the Copa América 2011 tournament. Esteban Paredes tapped in the equaliser at the midpoint of the second half after the Mexico goalkeeper Luis Michel could only deflect a shot from Pablo Contreras directly into his path. Six minutes later Arturo Vidal scored the winner with a thumping header from a Matías Fernández corner kick.

Uruguay and Chile drew their game 1-1, after a goalless first half in which both sides hit the crossbar, Uruguay took the lead in the 54th minute with a nice control and finish from Álvaro Pereira. Alexis Sánchez equalised for Chile in the 65th minute with an impressive strike. The encounter finished 1-1 and was one of the games of the tournament so far, setting up an intreguing final round of group C fixtures.

Peru clambered above Uruguay into second place with a 1-0 win over Mexico but they left it very late to secure the points. It took them until the 83rd minute to find the vital winning goal which was finished by Paolo Guerrero after Mexico failed to clear their lines following a corner kick. The result means that the group favourites in both group A & group C (Argentina & Uruguay) have drawn both of their opening games and need wins in their final fixtures to secure qualification.

In the final group games Chile beat Peru 1-0 with a desperate 92nd minute own goal from Andre Carrillo to win the group and Uruguay found their first win of the tournament with a 1-0 victory against Mexico to leapfrog Peru into second place, as a result Uruguay will face Argentina in the quarter-finals while Peru get a tie against surprise group A winners Colombia.

Golazo: Humberto Suazo vs Brazil, Copa América 2007

During Copa América 2007 Brazil and Chile met in the quarter final. The game finished 6-1 to Brazil who overpowered Chile with some brilliant attacking football from Julio Baptista, Robinho and Wagner Love but the best goal of the game and possibly the whole tournament was this consolation goal from Chile's Humberto Suazo.

Part of the Golazo series.

Cosas locas: Battle of Santiago

To quote David Coleman this "is the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibitions of football, possibly in the history of the game". This is Chile vs Italy in the 1962 World Cup, which is more commonly known as the battle of Santiago.

For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.

Golazo: Víctor Aristizábal, Chile vs Colombia, 1993

On 30 May 1993: Chile played Colombia in Santiago, the game was a friendly warm-up match for  Copa América 1993. The result was 1-1 and the highlight was this scorpion kick style goal from 21 year old striker Víctor Aristizábal.

In the rematch 1 week later in Bogotá Faustino Asprilla scored another remarkable goal in a 1-0 win. Colombia went on to finish 3rd in the Copa América and then in September 1993 recorded the most famous result in their history with a 0-5 away win against Argentina in Buenos Aires.

Part of the Golazo series.

Golazo: Juan Carlos Oblitas, PERU vs Chile, Copa América 1975: Chilena vs Chile

There is a small amount of controversy in South America over what to call the bicycle kick. Nearly everyone calls it the "Chilena" (meaning Chilean) as it was a speciality of Ramón Unzaga who used the technique in the early 20th Century. The Argentine press labelled the technique the "Chilena" when they first saw it executed by Unzaga in an early edition of the Copa América.

The only people who call it by another name are the Peruvians, who call it the "Chalaca" (meaning from Callao) as they claim it was invented by an unspecified person in the port of Callao and then copied by the Chileans. The evidence is pretty tenuous, one academic claims to have seen proof in a very old (and unspecified) book, and that is about as much as they can come up with. The Peruvians remain fiercely possessive of the move and insist in referring to it in a way that nobody else in South America understands.

When the two sides met in the group stage of the Copa América in 1975, Juan Carlos Oblitas executed one of the most famous "Chalacas" in the history of South Américan football, taking a couple of touches before firing the overhead into the Chilean goal. Despite Peruvian objections it would seem like a dreadful wasted opportunity not to claim that he scored a great "Chilena" against Chile.

Peru went on to beat Chile 3-1 to qualify for the next round in which they famously beat Brazil. They were eventually crowned 1975 Copa América champions after winning a 3rd leg tiebreaker against Colombia.

Part of the Golazo series.