2011 Copa América

The 2011 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, better known as the 2011 Copa América or the Copa América 2011 Argentina, was the 43rd edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body, and was held in Argentina from 1 to 24 July. The draw for the tournament was held in La Plata on 11 November 2010.

Uruguay won the tournament after defeating Paraguay 3–0 in the final, giving them a record 15th Copa América title and their first since 1995. Paraguay, as the tournament runner-up, earned the Copa Bolivia; Paraguay's performance was noteworthy, as they were able to reach the finals without winning a single game in the tournament; their success in the final stages was achieved by the way of penalty shoot-outs. Brazil were the defending champions but were eliminated by Paraguay in the quarter-finals after failing to convert any of the penalties. As the tournament champion, Uruguay earned the right to represent CONMEBOL in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, held in Brazil. Despite losing to Peru 4–1 in the third-place match, Venezuela had their best ever performance in the tournament.

Competing nations

File:Argentina vs Bolivia - 2011-07-01.jpg

Opening game: Argentina v. Bolivia.

Both Japan and Mexico were invited to join the CONMEBOL nations in the tournament. Following a proposal by UEFA regarding national teams competing in tournaments organised by confederations different from their own, it was reported on 23 November 2009 that the two countries might not be able to take part in the 2011 Copa América. However, on 31 March 2010, CONCACAF confirmed that Mexico would be allowed to send their 2012 U-23 Olympic Team, supplemented with five over-age players. In addition to Mexico sending a weaker team than those teams sent in previous participations, eight of the Mexican players originally called to play the Copa America 2011 were suspended because of indiscipline one week before the competition started.

Japan's participation was in doubt after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, but the Japan Football Association confirmed on 16 March 2011 that they would participate. However, the Japanese FA later withdrew from the tournament on 4 April 2011 citing scheduling conflict with rescheduled J. League matches. Following a meeting with the leadership of the Argentine Football Association, the Japanese FA decided to hold off on their final decision until 15 April. The Japanese FA later announced on 14 April that they would compete in the competition using mainly European based players. The Japanese FA withdrew their team again on 16 May citing difficulties with European clubs in releasing Japanese players. On the next day, CONMEBOL sent a formal invitation letter to the Costa Rican Football Federation inviting Costa Rica as replacement. Costa Rica accepted the invitation later that day.

The following twelve teams, shown with pre-tournament FIFA World Rankings, played in the tournament:

• Argentina (10) (hosts)
• Bolivia (93)
• Brazil (5) (holders)
• Chile (27)
• Colombia (54)
• Costa Rica (55) (invitee)
• Ecuador (68)
• Mexico (9) (invitee)
• Paraguay (32)
• Peru (49)
• Uruguay (18)
• Venezuela (69)

Venues

A total of eight cities hosted the tournament. The opening game was played at Estadio Ciudad de La Plata, and the final was played at Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti.

Buenos Aires	Córdoba	La Plata	Santa Fe
Estadio Monumental	Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes	Estadio Ciudad de La Plata	Estadio Brigadier General Estanislao López
Capacity: 65,921	Capacity: 57,000	Capacity: 53,000	Capacity: 47,000
File:RiverPlateStadium.jpg	File:Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes 2011-06-26.jpg	File:Estadio Único Ciudad de La Plata.jpg	File:Estadio Brigadier General Estanislao López - Colón de Santa Fe.jpg
		Mendoza	San Juan
		Estadio Malvinas Argentinas	Estadio del Bicentenario
		Capacity: 40,268	Capacity: 25,000
		File:Estadio Malvinas Argentinas.JPG	File:Estadio San Juan del Bicentenario.JPG
		Jujuy	Salta
		Estadio 23 de Agosto	Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena
		Capacity: 23,000	Capacity: 20,408
		File:Estadio 23 de agosto (07).jpg	File:Estadio Padre Ernestro Martearena de Salta.jpg

Draw

The draw for the competition took place on 11 November 2010 at 17:00 (UTC−03:00) in the Teatro Argentino de La Plata in La Plata, and was broadcast in Argentina by Canal Siete. On 18 October 2010, CONMEBOL's The executive committee decided to place the teams in pots for the draw.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Argentina Brazil Uruguay	Chile Colombia Paraguay	Bolivia Peru Venezuela	Ecuador Costa Rica Mexico

Squads

Each association presented a list of twenty-three players to compete in the tournament five days before their first match. On 14 June 2011, CONMEBOL allowed for the inscription of twenty-three players for the tournament, up one player from the previous allowed twenty-two. Of those twenty-three players, three must be goalkeepers.

Match officials

The list of twenty-four referees and two extra referees selected for the tournament were announced on 6 June 2011 by CONMEBOL's Referee Commission. Two referees were chosen from each participating association:

Template:Flagicon Sergio Pezzotta

Assistant: Ricardo Casas

Template:Flagicon Raúl Orosco

Assistant: Efraín Castro

Template:Flagicon Sálvio Fagundes

Assistant: Marcio Santiago

Template:Flagicon Enrique Osses

Assistant: Francisco Mondría

Template:Flagicon Wilmar Roldán

Assistant: Humberto Clavijo

Template:Flagicon Carlos Vera

Assistant: Luis Alvarado

Template:Flagicon Carlos Amarilla

Assistant: Nicolás Yegros

Template:Flagicon Víctor Hugo Rivera

Assistant: Luis Abadie

Template:Flagicon Roberto Silvera

Assistant: Miguel Nievas

Template:Flagicon Juan Soto

Assistant: Luis Sánchez

Template:Flagicon Wálter Quesada

Assistant: Leonel Leal

Template:Flagicon Francisco Chacón

Assistant: Marvin Torrentera

Extra assistants: Template:Flagicon Diego Bonfa, Hernán Maidana

Notes

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 three 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 and second in each group, and the two best-placed third teams, 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. Penalties (Were to be taken before the final group match by two teams playing each other and tied by points 1–4. Only used as decider, if they then drew the final game.)

6. Drawing of lots by the CONMEBOL Organising Committee

Key to colors in group tables
	Teams that advanced to the quarter-finals Group winners Group runners-up Best two third-placed teams

All times are in local, Argentina Time (UTC−03:00).

Group A

2011 Copa América Group A

1 July 2011
Argentina	1–1	Bolivia	Estadio Ciudad de La Plata, La Plata
2 July 2011
Colombia	1–0	Costa Rica	Estadio 23 de Agosto, Jujuy
6 July 2011
Argentina	0–0	Colombia	Estadio Brigadier General Estanislao López, Santa Fe
7 July 2011
Bolivia	0–2	Costa Rica	Estadio 23 de Agosto, Jujuy
10 July 2011
Colombia	2–0	Bolivia	Estadio Brigadier General Estanislao López, Santa Fe
11 July 2011
Argentina	3–0	Costa Rica	Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes, Córdoba

Group B

2011 Copa América Group B

3 July 2011
Brazil	0–0	Venezuela	Estadio Ciudad de La Plata, La Plata
Paraguay	0–0	Ecuador	Estadio Brigadier General Estanislao López, Santa Fe
9 July 2011
Brazil	2–2	Paraguay	Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes, Córdoba
Venezuela	1–0	Ecuador	Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena, Salta
13 July 2011
Paraguay	3–3	Venezuela	Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena, Salta
Brazil	4–2	Ecuador	Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes, Córdoba

Group C

2011 Copa América Group C

4 July 2011
Uruguay	1–1	Peru	Estadio del Bicentenario, San Juan
Chile	2–1	Mexico	Estadio del Bicentenario, San Juan
8 July 2011
Uruguay	1–1	Chile	Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza
Peru	1–0	Mexico	Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza
12 July 2011
Chile	1–0	Peru	Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza
Uruguay	1–0	Mexico	Estadio Ciudad de La Plata, La Plata

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

Different from previous tournaments, in the knockout stage, 30 minutes of extra time were played if any match finished tied after regulation (previously the match would go straight to a penalty shoot-out). This was the first time in the history of the tournament where the knockout stage did not include any invited teams, as both Mexico and Costa Rica were eliminated during the group stage. Paraguay reached the final despite not having won a single match in the competition.

Bracket

{{#lst:2011 Copa América knockout stage|Bracket}}

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Result

2011 Copa América champions
15th title

Goalscorers

File:Guerrero-Paolo.JPG

Paolo Guerrero, top scorer

With five goals, Paolo Guerrero of Peru was the top scorer in the tournament. Template:Goalscorers

Statistics

Winners

2011 Copa América champions

Awards

File:Luis Suarez - CA2011 mvp award.jpg

Uruguay player Luis Suárez, awarded as MVP of the tournament.

• Most Valuable Player: Template:Fbicon Luis Suárez
• Top Goalscorer: Template:Fbicon Paolo Guerrero (5 goals)
• Best Young Player: Template:Fbicon Sebastián Coates
• Best Goalkeeper: Template:Fbicon Justo Villar
• Fair Play Trophy: Uruguay

File:Uruguay players with CA trophy.jpg

Uruguayan players celebrating their fifteenth Copa América title.

Man of the Match Award

• Template:Fbicon Luis Suarez

Team of the Tournament

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards	Manager
Template:Fbicon Renny Vega	Template:Fbicon Luis Amaranto Perea Template:Fbicon Diego Lugano Template:Fbicon Paulo Da Silva	Template:Fbicon Javier Mascherano Template:Fbicon Fredy Guarín Template:Fbicon Álvaro Pereira Template:Fbicon Carlos Lobatón	Template:Fbicon Lionel Messi Template:Fbicon Luis Suárez Template:Fbicon Paolo Guerrero	Template:Flagicon Óscar Tabárez (Uruguay)

Marketing

Sponsorship

Global Platinum Sponsor:

• LG
• MasterCard
• Santander

Global Gold Sponsor:

• Kia
• América Móvil (Claro, Telcel, Telmex, Embratel, and Comcel (former) are the brands advertised.)

Global Silver Sponsor:

• Canon
• Anheuser-Busch (Brahma, Budweiser, and Quilmes are the brands advertised.)
• The Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola and Powerade are the brands advertised.)
• Petrobras (Lubrax is the brand advertised.)

Official Supplier:

• Seara (Paty is the brand advertised.)

Charitable Partner:

• UNICEF

Local Supplier:

• Buenos Aires Province
• Argentina
• Gillette

Web Hosting:

• UOL Host

Theme song

"Creo en América" (English: I Believe in America) by Argentine singer Diego Torres was the official theme song for the tournament. Torres performed the song during the opening ceremonies. A secondary theme song for the tournament is "Ready 2 Go" by Martin Solveig featuring Kele.

External links

• Copa América 2011 Official Site