Chile wins the Copa America title
In the 99 years after the Copa America championship began, Chile won the title for the first time beating 14 times winner, Argentina. The host for 2015 had been the top favorite to win the championship. A goalless 90 minutes+30 minutes of extra time led to a penalty shoot-out. The shoot-out ended in Chile winning 4-1, with Alexis Sanchez scoring the winning spot-kick.
Understanding Copa America
Copa America is played amongst men's national football teams of the South American Football Confederation, CONMEBOL. It was founded in the year 1916. The tournament format currently involves 12 teams - 10 teams from CONMEBOL and 2 guest teams. The host countries are rotated alphabetically and matches are played over a period of one month. Copa America 2015 was hosted by Chile.
Countries part of CONMEBOL
CONMEBOL is the abbreviated form of South American Football Confederation in Spanish/Portugese. Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela are its member nations.
Format of the tournament
Along with the 10 CONMEBOL nations, Jamaica and Mexico had been invited to play the 2015 edition of Copa America. The 12 teams were divided into three groups of four each. The teams play home and away round robin matches and the top two teams of each group proceed to quarter finals along with the two best third-placed teams.
Teams that qualified for quarter finals
The 3 groups were: Group A - Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico; Group B - Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Jamaica and Group C - Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela. Chile and Bolivia, Argentina and Paraguay, Brazil and Peru emerged as the top teams in their respective groups and hence qualified for the quarterfinals. Uruguay and Colombia which were the 2 best third-placed teams also qualified for QF.
Neymar's red card - head-butting anyone?
The group stage match between Brazil and Colombia ended badly as the Brazilian superstar Neymar was handed a red card for head-butting the Colombian defender, Jeison Murillo. The match resulted in Colombia winning 1-0.
QF and SF results
The QFs which were knock-out matches saw Chile win over Uruguay, Peru over Bolivia, Argentina over Colombia and Paraguay over Brazil. Brazil, one of the tournament favorites saw a shocking loss in the penalty shoot out. The semi finals matches were: Chila v Peru and Argentina v Paraguay . While Chile beat Peru 2-1, Argentina thrashed Paraguay 6-1 to reach the final.
Country with most wins
Uruguay - the champion of last edition of Copa America in 2011, is the most successful team, having won it 15 times.
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