Fútbol Fútbol Fútbol: Uruguay national team

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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.

Errado: Marlon de Jesús vs Uruguay U-20, 2011 Sudamericano sub-20 championship

On 3 February 2011 Ecuadorian striker managed this incredible miss against Uruguay U-20 in the 2011 South American Youth Championships. The game finished 1-1 and as this was late in the game the miss could be said to have cost Ecuador two points. To his credit De Jesús has been one of several quality players in the Ecuador side and they still have a good chance of qualifying to play in the Under-20 World Cup in Colombia.

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

Cosas locas: Luis Suárez bite

Uruguay and Ajax striker Luis Suárez had already made himself a bit of a hate figure after his last minute handball prevented Ghana from making it to the semi-finals of the World Cup. Other more level headed people realised that the opportunity came from a free kick earned through a blatant dive, what he did was an instinctive reaction and that Ghana should have scored the penalty anyway. However Suarez's constant diving in the World Cup was unjustifiable.

On 20 November 2010 in a game against PSV he really cemented his place as one of 2010's football villains by biting opposition player Otman Bakkal on the neck.

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

What ever happened to? Darío Silva

Darío Silva in Portsmouth colours.

In the summer of 2005 Portsmouth F.C. signed 32 year old Uruguay international striker Darío Silva on a 2 year contract on a free transfer from Spanish side Sevilla.

Silva had spent his early career in Uruguay playing for Defensor Sporting Club and Peñarol before joining Italian side Cagliari in 1995.

He spent the majority of his career in Spain, where he played for Málaga, Espanyol and Sevilla. he also played for the Uruguay national team, scoring 14 goals in 49 appearances between 1994 and 2005.

In his 13 league appearances for Portsmouth, Silva scored two goals. His goals came on consecutive weekends in games against Charlton and Sunderland. He also scored the only goal of the game in a 0-1 away win against Ipswich Town in the FA Cup in January 2006. Following an ankle injury Portsmouth released him from his contract on 14 February 2006.

Without a club Silva returned to Montevideo in Uruguay where he was involved in a serious car accident on 23 September 2006 in which he was thrown from his pickup truck fracturing his skull and seriously injuring his right leg.

It was decided that there would be no way to save his leg, so he was put into a medically induced coma and the leg was amputated below the knee. Within two weeks he was released from hospital to continue his rehabilitation at home.

After receiving a prosthetic leg in Italy Silva worked hard to regain his fitness and by 2008 he was fit enough to begin playing football again in a local amateur league. He said in an interview that after two years of physiotherapy he felt fitter, stronger and mentally tougher than he did when he was a professional footballer.

In 2009 Silva was invited to play for an Uruguay XI in a charity match against an Argentina XI. He scored one penalty in the game and then the decisive goal in the penalty shootout.

Since his return to fitness there have been many rumours about Silva returning to professional football in the MLS or Australia, but nothing has ever come of them and Silva has never admitted negotiating a return to the professional game.

One of the most bizarre unconfirmed rumours about Silva was a Daily Mail article in 2006 that claimed that he was going to retrain as a rower to represent Uruguay at the 2012 Olympics.

Shortly after his accident Silva stated his desire to return to football as a manager, but in recent years he has become involved in a number of other projects. He is a director of a multinational trading company and has established his own business called EcoFunsa, which recycles tyres by turning them into rubber pellets.

Silva is still involved in football, he is a director at 2nd division side Club Atlético Platense, and is confident that they will soon be playing in the Uruguayan Primera División. He also still plays football as part of the Uruguay Paralympic football team hoping to qualify for the 2012 Paralympic games in London.

Darío Silva has returned to football using a prosthetic leg.