2007 Copa América

2007 Copa América
Copa América Venezuela 2007
	Copa América 2007 official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Venezuela
Dates	26 June – 15 July
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(s)	Robinho
Best young player	Lionel Messi
	← 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 between 26 June and 15 July in Venezuela, which hosted the tournament for the first time.

The competition was won by Brazil (they were also the defending champions), who beat Argentina 3–0 in the final.^[2] Mexico took third place by beating Uruguay 3–1 in the third-place match. Brazil thus won the right to represent CONMEBOL^[3] at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.^[4]

Competing nations edit

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. The United States 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.^[5] In the end, the United States accepted the invitation.^[6]

Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil (holders)
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Mexico (invitee)
Paraguay
Peru
United States (invitee)
Uruguay
Venezuela (hosts)

Venues edit

For this Copa América, the organizing committee decided to choose eight cities to hold the tournament. A total of 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, Maracaibo, Maturín, Mérida, Puerto la Cruz and San Cristóbal were selected to host the tournament. Later on, the organizing committee reconsidered the candidacy of Barquisimeto, based on the proposal of a new stadium to be built for the city. With a final nine host cities, the 2007 edition broke the previous records for host cities set by the 2004 Copa América in Peru, which used seven.

Maturín	Barquisimeto	Mérida	Ciudad Guayana
Estadio Monumental de Maturín	Estadio Metropolitano de Lara	Estadio Metropolitano de Mérida	Estadio Polideportivo Cachamay
Capacity: 52,000	Capacity: 42,000	Capacity: 42,000	Capacity: 41,600

Maracaibo	Barinas Barquisimeto Caracas Maracaibo Maturín Mérida Puerto la Cruz Ciudad Guayana San Cristóbal
Estadio José Pachencho Romero
Capacity: 40,000

San Cristóbal	Puerto la Cruz	Barinas	Caracas
Estadio Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo	Estadio Olímpico Luis Ramos	Estadio Agustín Tovar	Estadio Olímpico de la UCV
Capacity: 40,000	Capacity: 38,000	Capacity: 27,500	Capacity: 24,900

Officials edit

On 30 May 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.

Draw edit

The draw for the competition took place on 14 February 2007 in the Teresa Carreño Theater in Caracas.^[7]^[8]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Venezuela (hosts) Argentina Brazil	Ecuador Paraguay Uruguay	Chile Colombia Peru	Bolivia Mexico (invitee) United States (invitee)

Squads edit

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

Group stage edit

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–4).

Group A edit

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

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

26 June 2007

18:05

Uruguay	0–3	Peru
	Report	Villalta 27' Mariño 70' Guerrero 88'

Estadio Metropolitano de Mérida, Mérida

Attendance: 23,000

Referee: Carlos Amarilla (Paraguay)

26 June 2007