Showing posts with label Copa América. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Copa América. Show all posts

Group C Copa América 2011

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

Standings

TeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
 Chile321042+27
 Uruguay312032+15
 Peru31112204
 Mexico300314-30

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.

Partidazo: Argentina 4-0 Peru, Copa América 2007



On 8 July 2007 Argentina and Peru met in the quarter final of Copa América 2007. Argentina had won all three of their games in the group stage but Peru kept them at bay in the first half.

The second half was a different story with Messi, Riquelme and Tévez combining to devastating effect, even the normally goalshy Javier Mascherano bagged himself one in the 4-0 win.

Argentina progressed to the final having won every game in convincing style with 16 goals over their 5 games. The Brazilians on the other hand were beaten by Mexico in the group stage and only just scraped past Uruguay in the semi finals with a win on penalties. However Argentina imploded in the final losing 3-0.

For more great games involving South American teams, check out the rest of the Partidazo 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.

Copa América

The Copa América trophy
The Copa América is the World's oldest tournament for international teams. It is organised by CONMEBOL and was first played in 1916 and has been played on a regular basis since then. The next Copa América is due to be played in Argentina in 2011 and will be the 43rd edition of the tournament.

The competition has traditionally been dominated by Uruguay and Argentina, with 14 titles each they are tied as the most successful teams in the history of the tournament. In recent years Brazil have begun to dominate winning 4 of the last 5 editions. Brazil now have 8 championships but still have a long time to go before they could catch up with Argentina and Uruguay now that the tournament is held only once every four years.

The only other teams to have won the championship are Peru and Paraguay with two each and Bolivia and Colombia with one win apiece. Chile can be considered the unluckiest nation in the history of Copa América having lost all four of their appearances in the final.

Since 1993 CONMEBOL have allowed guest participants from other confederations, Mexico are the most successful having reached the final on two occasions. Honduras were invited to take Argentina's place at the last minute when they withdrew from the 2001 edition because of the economic crisis. Considering the lack of preparation they can be proud of reaching the semi-final and also of the fact that they remain the only team to have eliminated Brazil from the competition since 1995.


Number of championships


Uruguay15
Argentina 14
Brazil 8
Paraguay 2
Peru 2
Bolivia 1
Colombia 1

Historical record


#YearVenueChampionSecondThird
1 1916
ArgentinaUruguayArgentinaBrazil
21917UruguayUruguayArgentinaBrazil
31919BrazilBrazilUruguayArgentina
41920ChileUruguayArgentinaBrazil
51921ArgentinaArgentinaBrazilUruguay
61922BrazilBrazilParaguayUruguay
71923UruguayUruguayArgentinaParaguay
81924UruguayUruguayArgentinaParaguay
91925ArgentinaArgentinaBrazilParaguay
101926ChileUruguayArgentinaChile
111927PeruArgentinaUruguayPeru
121929ArgentinaArgentinaParaguayUruguay
13 1935PeruUruguayArgentinaPeru
141937ArgentinaArgentinaBrazilParaguay
151939PeruPeruUruguayPataguay
16 1941ChileArgentinaUruguayChile
171942UruguayUruguayArgentinaBrazil
18 1945ChileArgentinaBrazilChile
19 1946ArgentinaArgentinaBrazilParaguay
201947EcuadorArgentinaParaguayUruguay
211949BrazilBrazilParaguayPeru
221953PeruParaguayBrazilUruguay
231955ChileArgentinaChilePeru
24 1956UruguayUruguayChileArgentina
251957PeruArgentinaBrazilUruguay
261959ArgentinaArgentinaBrazilParaguay
27 1959EcuadorUruguayArgentinaBrazil
281963BoliviaBoliviaParaguayArgentina
291967UruguayUruguayArgentinaChile
30 1975no specific hostPeruColombiaBrazil
31 1979no specific hostParaguayChileBrazil
32 1983no specific hostUruguayBrazilParaguay
331987ArgentinaUruguayChileColombia
341989BrazilBrazilUruguayArgentina
351991ChileArgentinaBrazilChile
361993EcuadorArgentinaMexicoColombia
371995UruguayUruguayBrazilColombia
381997BoliviaBrazilBoliviaMexico
391999ParaguayBrazilUruguayMexico
402001ColombiaColombiaMexicoHonduras
412004PeruBrazilArgentinaUruguay
422007VenezuelaBrazilArgentinaMexico
432011ArgentinaUruguayParaguayPeru



See also

Copa América database of statistics at rsssf

Copa América overview at Wikipedia

Copa América at CONMEBOL