2007 Copa América

2007 Copa América

Copa América Venezuela 2007
Copa América 2007 official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Venezuela
Dates	June 26 – July 15
Teams	12 (from 2 confederations)
Venue(s)	9 (in 9 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Brazil (8th title)
Runners-up	Argentina
Third place	Mexico
Fourth place	Uruguay
Tournament statistics
Matches played	26
Goals scored	86 (3.31 per match)
Attendance	1,050,230 (40,393 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Robinho (6 goals)
Best player	Robinho
← 2004 2011 →

The 2007 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, known simply as the 2007 Copa América or 2007 Copa América Venezuela, was the 42nd edition of the Copa América, the South-American championship for international association football teams. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body, and was held in Venezuela, who hosted the tournament for the first time, between June 26 and July 15, 2007. The defending champion was Brazil.

The competition was won by Brazil who went on to beat Argentina 3-0 in the final.^[1] Mexico took third place by beating Uruguay 3-1 in the third-place match. Brazil thus won the right to represent CONMEBOL^[2] at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.^[3]

Competing nations

As with previous tournaments, all ten members of CONMEBOL participated in the competition. In order to bring the number of competing teams to twelve, CONMEBOL invited Mexico and the United States, the two highest ranking CONCACAF teams in the FIFA World Rankings. Just as in every tournament since 1993, Mexico accepted the invitation without reservation. The United States, on the other hand, rejected the invitation due to scheduling conflicts with the 2007 Major League Soccer season. CONMEBOL then proceeded to invite Costa Rica, the third highest CONCACAF team in FIFA's ranking.^[4] In the end, the United States accepted the invitation.^[5]

Argentina  Bolivia  Brazil (holders)  Chile

Colombia  Ecuador  Mexico (invitee)  Paraguay

Peru  United States (invitee)  Uruguay  Venezuela (hosts)

Venues

For this Copa América, the organizing committee decided to choose eight cities to hold the tournament. Before the selection of cities, at least 14 cities presented proposal before the committee, of which they rejected proposals from Barquisimeto, Maracay, Valencia, Valera, Portuguesa and Miranda for not meeting established requirements. The cities of Barinas, Caracas, Ciudad Guayana (Puerto Ordaz), Maracaibo, Maturín, Mérida, Puerto La Cruz and San Cristóbal were selected to host the tournament. Having selected eight cities, the organizing committee reconsidered the candidacy of Barquisimeto based on the proposed new stadium for the city. Because of that, Barquisimeto was selected as the ninth host city. With nine host cities, the 2007 edition broke the previous records for host cities set by the 2004 Copa América in Peru, which used seven.

Barinas	Barquisimeto	Caracas	Maracaibo
Estadio Agustín Tovar	Estadio Metropolitano de Lara	Estadio Olímpico de la UCV	Estadio José Pachencho Romero
Capacity: 27,500	Capacity: 42,000	Capacity: 43,000	Capacity: 40,000
Maturín	Barinas Barquisimeto Caracas Maracaibo Maturín Mérida Puerto La Cruz Puerto Ordaz San Cristóbal		Mérida
Estadio Monumental de Maturín			Estadio Metropolitano de Mérida
Capacity: 52,000			Capacity: 42,000
Puerto La Cruz			Puerto Ordaz
Estadio Olímpico Luis Ramos			Estadio Polideportivo Cachamay
Capacity: 38,000			Capacity: 41,600
San Cristóbal
Estadio Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo
Capacity: 40,000

Officials

On May 30, 2007, CONMEBOL announced the list of match officials for the competition. The list included one match official from every country (except Paraguay, which had two). From these thirteen, six officiated in the 2006 FIFA World Cup: Carlos Simon, Óscar Ruiz, Carlos Amarilla, Jorge Larrionda, and Armando Archundia.

Carlos Chandía Sergio Pezzotta René Ortubé Carlos Simon Óscar Ruiz

Mauricio Reinoso Armando Archundia Carlos Amarilla Carlos Torres

Víctor Rivera Jorge Larrionda Baldomero Toledo Manuel Andarcia

Squads

For more details on this topic, see 2007 Copa América squads.

Each association had to present a list of twenty-two players to compete in the competition.

Group stage

The first round, or group stage, saw the twelve teams divided into three groups of four teams. Each group was a round-robin of six games, where each team played one match against each of the other teams in the same group. Teams were awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw and none for a defeat. The teams finishing first, second and two best-placed third teams in each group qualified for the Quarter-finals.

Tie-breaking criteria

Teams were ranked on the following criteria:

1. Greater number of points in all group matches

2. Goal difference in all group matches

3. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches

4. Head-to-head results

5. Drawing of lots by the CONMEBOL Organising Committee

Key to colors in group tables
	Group winners, runners-up, and best two third-placed teams advance to the quarterfinals

All times are in Venezuela Standard Time (UTC-04:00)

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Venezuela	3	1	2	0	4	2	+2	5
Peru	3	1	1	1	5	4	+1	4
Uruguay	3	1	1	1	1	3	−2	4
Bolivia	3	0	2	1	4	5	−1	2

June 26, 2007 18:05	Uruguay	0 – 3	Peru	Estadio Metropolitano de Mérida, Mérida Attendance: 23,000 Referee: Carlos Amarilla (Paraguay)
		(Report)	Villalta  27' Mariño  70' Guerrero  88'

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June 26, 2007 20:50	Venezuela	2 – 2	Bolivia	Estadio Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo, San Cristóbal Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Mauricio Reinoso (Ecuador)
	Maldonado  20' Páez  55'	(Report)	Moreno  38' Arce  84'

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June 30, 2007 16:05	Bolivia	0 – 1	Uruguay	Estadio Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo, San Cristóbal Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Baldomero Toledo (United States)
		(Report)	Sánchez  58'

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June 30, 2007 18:20	Venezuela	2 – 0	Peru	Estadio Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo, San Cristóbal Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Benito Archundia (Mexico)
	Cichero  48' Arismendi  79'	(Report)

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July 3, 2007 18:35	Peru	2 – 2	Bolivia	Estadio Metropolitano de Mérida, Mérida Attendance: 42,000 Referee: Carlos Chandía (Chile)
	Pizarro  34', 85'	(Report)	Moreno  24' Campos  45'

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July 3, 2007 20:50	Venezuela	0 – 0	Uruguay	Estadio Metropolitano de Mérida, Mérida Attendance: 42,000 Referee: Carlos Simon (Brazil)
		(Report)

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Mexico	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3	7
Brazil	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6
Chile	3	1	1	1	3	5	−2	4
Ecuador	3	0	0	3	3	6	−3	0

June 27, 2007 18:35	Ecuador	2 – 3	Chile	Polideportivo Cachamay, Puerto Ordaz Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Óscar Ruiz (Colombia)
	Valencia  16' Benítez  23'	(Report)	Suazo  20', 80' Villanueva  86'

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June 27, 2007 20:50	Brazil	0 – 2	Mexico	Polideportivo Cachamay, Puerto Ordaz Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Sergio Pezzotta (Argentina)
		(Report)	Castillo  23' Morales  28'

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July 1, 2007 16:05	Brazil	3 – 0	Chile	Estadio Monumental de Maturín, Maturín Attendance: 52,000 Referee: Carlos Torres (Paraguay)
	Robinho  36' (pen.), 84', 87'	(Report)

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July 1, 2007 18:20	Mexico	2 – 1	Ecuador	Estadio Monumental de Maturín, Maturín Attendance: 52,000 Referee: René Ortube (Bolivia)
	Castillo  21' Bravo  79'	(Report)	Méndez  84'

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July 4, 2007 18:35	Mexico	0 – 0	Chile	Estadio Olímpico Luis Ramos, Puerto la Cruz Attendance: 38,000 Referee: Carlos Amarilla (Paraguay)
		(Report)

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July 4, 2007 20:50	Brazil	1 – 0	Ecuador	Estadio Olímpico Luis Ramos, Puerto la Cruz Attendance: 38,000 Referee: Sergio Pezzotta (Argentina)
	Robinho  56' (pen.)	(Report)

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Argentina	3	3	0	0	9	3	+6	9
Paraguay	3	2	0	1	8	2	+6	6
Colombia	3	1	0	2	3	9	−6	3
United States	3	0	0	3	2	8	−6	0

June 28, 2007 18:35	Paraguay	5 – 0	Colombia	Estadio José Pachencho Romero, Maracaibo Attendance: 34,500 Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)
	Santa Cruz  30', 46', 80' Cabañas  84', 88'	(Report)

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June 28, 2007 20:50	Argentina	4 – 1	United States	Estadio José Pachencho Romero, Maracaibo Attendance: 34,500 Referee: Carlos Chandía (Chile)
	Crespo  11', 60' Aimar  76' Tévez  84'	(Report)	Johnson  9' (pen.)

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July 2, 2007 18:35	United States	1 – 3	Paraguay	Estadio Agustín Tovar, Barinas Attendance: 28,200 Referee: Victor Rivera (Peru)
	Clark  35'	(Report)	Barreto  29' Cardozo  56' Cabañas  90+2'

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July 2, 2007 20:50	Argentina	4 – 2	Colombia	Estadio José Pachencho Romero, Maracaibo Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Carlos Simon (Brazil)
	Crespo  20' (pen.) Riquelme  34', 45' D. Milito  90+1'	(Report)	E. Perea  10' Castrillón  76'

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July 5, 2007 18:35	United States	0 – 1	Colombia	Estadio Metropolitano de Fútbol de Lara, Barquisimeto Attendance: 37,500 Referee: Manuel Andarcia (Venezuela)
		(Report)	Castrillón  15'

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July 5, 2007 20:50	Argentina	1 – 0	Paraguay	Estadio Metropolitano de Fútbol de Lara, Barquisimeto Attendance: 37,500 Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)
	Mascherano  79'	(Report)

Ranking of third-placed teams

At the end of the first stage, a comparison was made between the third-placed teams of each group. The two best third-placed teams advanced to the quarter-finals.

Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
B	Chile	3	1	1	1	3	5	−2	4
A	Uruguay	3	1	1	1	1	3	−2	4
C	Colombia	3	1	0	2	3	9	−6	3

Knockout stages

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	July 7 - San Cristóbal
	Venezuela	1
					July 10 - Maracaibo
	Uruguay	4
					Uruguay	2 (4)
	July 7 - Puerto La Cruz
					Brazil	2 (5)
	Chile	1
									July 15 - Maracaibo
	Brazil	6
									Brazil	3
	July 8 - Maturín
									Argentina	0
	Mexico	6
					July 11 - Puerto Ordaz
	Paraguay	0
					Mexico	0			Third place
	July 8 - Barquisimeto
					Argentina	3
	Argentina	4							Uruguay	1
	Peru	0							Mexico	3
									July 14 - Caracas

Quarterfinals

July 7, 2007 18:05	Venezuela	1 – 4	Uruguay	Estadio Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo, San Cristóbal Attendance: 41,200 Referee: Carlos Chandía (Chile)
	Arango  41'	(Report)	Forlán  38', 90+1' García  64' Rodríguez  86'

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July 7, 2007 20:50	Chile	1 – 6	Brazil	Estadio Olímpico Luis Ramos, Puerto la Cruz Attendance: 38,000 Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)
	Suazo  76'	(Report)	Juan  16' Baptista  23' Robinho  27', 50' Josué  68' Vágner Love  85'

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July 8, 2007 16:05	Mexico	6 – 0	Paraguay	Estadio Monumental de Maturín, Maturín Attendance: 52,000 Referee: Sergio Pezzotta (Argentina)
	Castillo  5' (pen.), 38' Torrado  27' Arce  79' Blanco  87' (pen.) Bravo  90+1'	(Report)

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July 8, 2007 18:50	Argentina	4 – 0	Peru	Estadio Metropolitano de Fútbol de Lara, Barquisimeto Attendance: 38,800 Referee: Carlos Simon (Brazil)
	Riquelme  47', 85' Messi  61' Mascherano  75'	(Report)

Semifinals

July 10, 2007 20:50	Uruguay	2 – 2	Brazil	Estadio José Pachencho Romero, Maracaibo Attendance: 38,100 Referee: Óscar Ruiz (Colombia)
	Forlán  36' Abreu  69'	(Report)	Maicon  13' Baptista  41'
		Penalties
	Forlán Scotti González Rodríguez Abreu García Lugano	4 – 5	Robinho Juan Gilberto Silva Afonso Diego Fernando Gilberto

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July 11, 2007 20:50	Mexico	0 – 3	Argentina	Polideportivo Cachamay, Puerto Ordaz Attendance: 41,600 Referee: Carlos Chandía (Chile)
		(Report)	Heinze  45' Messi  61' Riquelme  65' (pen.)

Third-place match

July 14, 2007 17:05	Mexico	3 – 1	Uruguay	Estadio Olímpico, Caracas Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Mauricio Reinoso (Ecuador)
	Blanco  36' (pen.) Bravo  68' Guardado  76'	(Report)	Abreu  22'

Final

Main article: 2007 Copa América Final

July 15, 2007 17:05	Brazil	3 – 0	Argentina	Estadio José Pachencho Romero, Maracaibo Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Carlos Amarilla (Paraguay)
	Baptista  4' Ayala  40' (o.g.) Alves  69'	(Report)

2007 Copa América Champion
Brazil Eighth title

Goalscorers

6 goals Robinho 5 goals Juan Román Riquelme 4 goals Nery Castillo 3 goals Hernán Crespo Júlio Baptista Humberto Suazo Omar Bravo Salvador Cabañas Roque Santa Cruz Diego Forlán 2 goals Javier Mascherano Lionel Messi Jaime Moreno Jaime Castrillón Cuauhtémoc Blanco Claudio Pizarro Sebastián Abreu 1 goal Pablo Aimar Gabriel Heinze Diego Milito Carlos Tévez Juan Carlos Arce Jhasmani Campos Daniel Alves Josué Juan Vágner Love Maicon Carlos Villanueva Edixon Perea Christian Benítez Edison Méndez Antonio Valencia Fernando Arce Andrés Guardado Ramón Morales Gerardo Torrado Edgar Barreto Oscar Cardozo José Paolo Guerrero Juan Carlos Mariño Miguel Villalta Ricardo Clark Eddie Johnson Pablo García Cristian Rodríguez Vicente Sánchez Juan Arango Daniel Arismendi Alejandro Cichero Giancarlo Maldonado Ricardo David Páez Own goals Roberto Ayala (for Brazil) Final positions Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Eff 1  Brazil 6 4 1 1 15 5 +10 13 72.2% 2  Argentina 6 5 0 1 16 6 +10 15 83.3% 3  Mexico 6 4 1 1 13 5 +8 13 72.2% 4  Uruguay 6 2 2 2 8 9 −1 8 44.4% Eliminated in the quarterfinals 5  Paraguay 4 2 0 2 8 8 0 6 50.0% 6  Venezuela 4 1 2 1 5 6 −1 5 41.6% 7  Peru 4 1 1 2 5 8 −3 4 33.3% 8  Chile 4 1 1 2 4 11 −7 4 33.3% Eliminated in the first round 9  Colombia 3 1 0 2 3 9 −6 3 33.3% 10  Bolivia 3 0 2 1 4 5 −1 2 22.2% 11  Ecuador 3 0 0 3 3 6 −3 0 0.0% 12  United States 3 0 0 3 2 8 −6 0 0.0% Mascot Main article: Guaky The official mascot for the 2007 Copa América was Guaky, an anthropomorphised Guacamayo. Match ball The official match ball for the tournament was the Nike Mercurial Veloci. The ball was presented on the 14 February 2007, prior to a friendly match played between Venezuela and New Zealand, by the president of the Venezuelan Football Federation, Rafael Esquivel, to the mayor of Maracaibo, Giancarlo Di Martino - head of the local organising committee. Theme songs "Baila la Copa" by Venezuelan singer Ose was the main theme song of the tournament, which was performed during the draw and the opening ceremonies "Let's Dance" by American singer Vanessa Hudgens was used as a fight song for the U.S. National Team and was used as a secondary theme song of the tournament, as the song was featured extensively during TV coverage of the tournament, especially in the United States. Another song, appropriately titled "Copa América", was an unofficial anthem for the tournament. References ^ "Brazil victorious in Copa America". BBC Sport. 200-07-16. Archived from the original on 2010-01-16. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/6899694.stm. Retrieved 2009-04-27.  ^ The South American champion, along with the European champion (the winner of Euro 2008), "will no longer be obliged to take part" in the Confederations Cup beginning with the 2009 edition FIFA.com - 2005/2006 season: final worldwide matchday to be 14 May 2006. Archived 16 January 2010 at WebCite ^ Mexico and the United States are members of CONCACAF, the governing body of North American football (which includes Central America and the Caribbean as well). Thus, they would not be allowed to represent CONMEBOL at the Confederations Cup. Had either team won the Copa América, the best-finishing South American team would have taken the place. ^ "Postergan sorteo de la Copa América 2007". Los Tiempos. October 4, 2006. Archived from the original on November 14, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071114045820/http%3A//www.lostiempos.com/noticias/04-10-06/04_10_06_dep18.php. Retrieved June 12, 2008.  ^ "Estados Unidos y México tomarán parte en la Copa América 2007". Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol. May 29, 2007. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070929083037/http%3A//www.conmebol.com/articulos_ver.jsp%3Fid%3D59779%26slangab%3DS. Retrieved June 12, 2008.  External links Copa América 2007 Website - official website Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol - official website FuriaVinotinto - Unofficial Forum 2007 Copa América at ESPN