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Wikipedia / 2007 Copa América

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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. Mexico took third place by beating Uruguay 3–1 in the third-place match. Brazil thus won the right to represent CONMEBOL at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.

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. 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. In the end, the United States accepted the invitation.

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  • (hosts)

Venues

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.

Officials

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

The draw for the competition took place on 14 February 2007 in the Teresa Carreño Theater in Caracas.

Squads

Each association had to present a list of twenty-three 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.

  1. Tie-breaking criteria

Teams were ranked on the following criteria:

  1. 1. Greater number of points in all group matches

  2. 2. Goal difference in all group matches

  3. 3. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches

  4. 4. Head-to-head results

  5. 5. Drawing of lots by the CONMEBOL Organising Committee

All times are in Venezuela Standard Time (UTC–4).

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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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.

Knockout stage

Bracket

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Third-place match

Final

Result

Awards

Controversies

Messi–Chandía jersey controversy

In September 2024, former Chilean referee Carlos Chandía stated in a television interview that he intentionally declined to issue a mandatory yellow card to Argentine forward Lionel Messi during the 2007 Copa América semi-final against Mexico. In the closing minutes of the match, with Argentina holding a 3–0 lead, Messi committed a deliberate handball in the midfield. Because Messi had already been booked earlier in the game, a second yellow card would have resulted in a red card and an automatic suspension from the tournament's final against Brazil.

According to his account, Chandía told Messi he would spare him the booking in exchange for his match-worn jersey. Messi agreed to the arrangement and delivered the shirt to the referee's dressing room after the final whistle. Chandía claimed that complaints from the Brazilian national team about the incident were the reason CONMEBOL officials ultimately did not select him to referee the final. Sports media outlets covering the confession characterized the exchange as an intentional trade and unprofessional behavior from a match official.

Goalscorers

With six goals, Robinho was the top scorer in the tournament.

Team of the Tournament

Final positions

Marketing

Sponsorship

Global Platinum Sponsor

Global Gold Sponsor

Global Silver Sponsor

Charitable Partner

Local Supplier

Match ball

The official match ball for the tournament was the Nike Mercurial Veloci. The ball was presented on 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.

Mascot

Guaky is a scarlet macaw, a bird representative of Venezuela. He wore the traditional jersey Venezuela national football team burgundy and football shoes. Under their wings the characteristic tricolor national flag, with its eight stars on their wings.

To choose the official mascot held a contest in which proposals received 4,500,000 of Venezuelan children and adolescents at a school. The winning draw corresponded to the 15-year-old Jhoyling Zabaleta. The final design was commissioned to Fractal Studio, bring life and a "strong personality, cheerful and sport" that accompanied the event during its realization. The name of the pet, Guaky was subsequently elected by an online survey, where that option was a 54.17% of preferences.

Theme songs

  • "Gol" by Venezuelan singer Juan Carlos Luces, was the main theme song of the tournament, which was performed during the draw and the opening ceremonies.

  • "Baila la Copa" by Venezuelan singer Ose was an official anthem for the tournament.

References