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 Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

, the South-American championship for international

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

teams. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body, and was held between 26 June and 15 July in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

, which hosted the tournament for the first time. The competition was won by

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

(they were also the defending champions), who beat

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

3–0 in the final.

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

took third place by beating

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

3–1 in the third-place match. Brazil thus won the right to represent CONMEBOL at the

2009 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup was the eighth Confederations Cup, and was held in South Africa from 14 June to 28 June 2009, as a prelude to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The draw was held on 22 November 2008 at the Sandton Convention Centre in J ...

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

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, the two highest ranking

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; types ...

teams in the

FIFA World Rankings The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, led by Brazil national football team, Brazil . The teams of the List of men's national football teams, men's member nations of FIFA, football's w ...

. 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 The 2007 Major League Soccer season was the 12th season in the history of Major League Soccer. The season began on April 7 and concluded with MLS Cup 2007 on November 18, 2007 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C. For the ...

. 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. * * * (holders) * * * * (invitee) * * * (invitee) * * (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 Barquisimeto (; guc, Watkisimeeta) is a city in Venezuela. It is the capital of the state of Lara and head of Iribarren Municipality. It is an important urban, industrial, commercial and transportation center of the country, recognized as the fo ...

Maracay ) , image_skyline = , image_caption =Top:Maracay Municipal Garden and Las Delicias area, Second: Sindoni Tower, Los Tamarindo residential area and overview to Maracay, Third:Maestranza Cesar Giron Bullring Stadium, Girardot Square and Maraca ...

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

Valera Valera is a city in Trujillo State in Venezuela, situated between the rivers Momboy and Motatán. The mayor is José Karkom, who has had that post since 2013. The city is home to Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Colombian and Spanish commun ...

, Portuguesa and Miranda for not meeting established requirements. The cities of Barinas,

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

Ciudad Guayana Ciudad Guayana () (in English Guayana City) is a city in Bolívar State, Venezuela. It stretches 40 kilometers along the south bank of the Orinoco river, at the point where it is joined by its main tributary, the Caroní river. The Caroni cros ...

Maracaibo ) , motto = "''Muy noble y leal''"(English: "Very noble and loyal") , anthem = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_alt = ...

Maturín Maturín () is a city in Venezuela, the capital of the Venezuelan state of Monagas and a centre for instrumental exploration and development of the petroleum industry in Venezuela. The metropolitan area of Maturín has a population of 401,384 inh ...

, 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 , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

, 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 The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

: Carlos Simon, Óscar Ruiz, Carlos Amarilla, Jorge Larrionda, and

Armando Archundia Benito Armando Archundia Téllez (born March 21, 1966) is a Mexican former football referee. He is known in Mexico as Armando Archundia, but appears as Benito Archundia in FIFA records. He has been a professional referee since 1985 and has had his ...

. *

Carlos Chandía Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhere ...

* Sergio Pezzotta *

René Ortubé René Marcelo Ortubé Betancourt (born December 26, 1964 in La Paz) is a Bolivian former football referee, best known for supervising one match (Sweden- Nigeria in Kobe) during the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He is now director of sports institutes and s ...

* Carlos Simon * Óscar Ruiz * Mauricio Reinoso *

* Carlos Amarilla * Carlos Torres * Víctor Rivera * Jorge Larrionda * Baldomero Toledo * Manuel Andarcia

Draw

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

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

Group A

---- ----

Group B

---- ----

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

Quarter-finals

---- ---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

---- ----

Third-place match

----

Final

Result

Awards

* Top Goalscorer : Robinhobr>
* Most Valuable Player : Robinhobr>Robinho disputará a Messi y Riquelme la Copa América y el MVP del torneo
* Best Goal
Lionel Messi

Goalscorers

With six goals, Robinho was the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 86 goals were scored by 53 different players, with only one of them credited as an own goal. Robinho061115

;6 goals * Robinho ;5 goals * Román Riquelme ;4 goals * Nery Castillo ;3 goals *

Hernán Crespo Hernán Jorge Crespo (; born 5 July 1975) is an Argentine professional football coach and former player. He is the current manager of Qatari club Al-Duhail. A prolific striker, Crespo scored over 300 goals in a career spanning 19 years. At in ...

* Júlio Baptista * Humberto Suazo *

Omar Bravo Omar Bravo Tordecillas (born 4 March 1980) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is Guadalajara's all-time leading scorer in all matches. Club career Club Deportivo Guadalajara Omar Bravo has scored 132 goals ...

* Salvador Cabañas *

Roque Santa Cruz Roque Luis Santa Cruz Cantero (; born 16 August 1981) is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Paraguayan club Club Libertad. He is the record goal scorer and has earned over 100 caps for the Paraguay national team ...

* Diego Forlán ;2 goals * Javier Mascherano *

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

* Jaime Moreno *

Jaime Castrillón Jaime Castrillón (born 5 April 1983) is a Colombian former footballer who last played for the Orlando SeaWolves in the Major Arena Soccer League. Club career Castrillón began his career with top Colombian side Independiente Medellín in 2002. ...

* Cuauhtémoc Blanco * Claudio Pizarro * Sebastián Abreu ;1 goal * Pablo Aimar * Gabriel Heinze * Diego Milito *

Carlos Tevez Carlos Alberto Tevez (; born 5 February 1984) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. A quick, tenacious, powerful, hard-working and dynamic forward in his prime, Tevez was capable of playing as a striker, as a wing ...

* Juan Carlos Arce *

Jhasmani Campos Jhasmani Campos Dávalos (born 10 May 1988) is a Bolivian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Independiente Petrolero and the Bolivia national team. Club career He began his career at an early age with the Ramon Tahuichi Agui ...

* Dani Alves * Josué *

Juan ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish ...

* Vágner Love *

Maicon Maicon is a Brazilian variant of the given name Michael. It may refer to: Brazilian footballers *Maicon (footballer, born 1981), Maicon Douglas Sisenando, Brazilian football right-back *Maicon dos Santos (born 1981), Brazilian football midfielder * ...

* Carlos Villanueva *

Edixon Perea Edixon Perea Valencia (; born 20 April 1984) is a Colombian footballer. Football career Perea was born in Cali. He played 29 games in the 2005 season for Atlético Nacional before joining Bordeaux. He was one of the players who helped the Co ...

* Christian Benítez * Édison Méndez * Antonio Valencia * Fernando Arce * Andrés Guardado * Ramón Morales *

Gerardo Torrado Gerardo Torrado Díez de Bonilla (born 30 April 1979) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Torrado represented Mexico at the 2002, 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cups and has won three CONCACAF Gold ...

Édgar Barreto Édgar Osvaldo Barreto Cáceres (born 15 July 1984) is a Paraguayan former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. After starting his career with Cerro Porteño in his homeland and NEC in the Dutch Eredivisie, Barreto s ...

* Óscar Cardozo * Paolo Guerrero * Juan Carlos Mariño * Miguel Villalta *

Ricardo Clark Ricardo Anthony Clark (born February 10, 1983) is an American retired soccer player who played as a midfielder. He appeared for MetroStars, San Jose Earthquakes, Houston Dynamo and Columbus Crew SC in the United States, Eintracht Frankfurt ...

Eddie Johnson Edward, Eddie or Ed Johnson may refer to: Politicians * Edward Johnson (founder of Woburn, MA) (1598–1672), colonial military officer and writer * Edward Johnson (mayor) (1767–1829), mayor of Baltimore *Edward A. Johnson (1860–1944), first A ...

* Pablo García * Cristian Rodríguez * Vicente Sánchez * Juan Arango *

Daniel Arismendi Daniel Enrique Arismendi Marchán (, born 4 July 1982) is a Venezuelan people, Venezuelan Football (soccer), footballer who coaches and plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Orlando City Soccer School Hunters Creek in the United ...

Alejandro Cichero Alejandro Enrique Cíchero Konarek (; born April 20, 1977) is a former Venezuelan footballer who played as a defender. Career Born in Caracas, Cichero joined the youth system of Trujillanos Fútbol Club in 1988, being promoted to the first team ...

Giancarlo Maldonado Giancarlo Gregorio Maldonado Marrero (, born 29 June 1982) is a Venezuelan footballer who plays as a striker. Club career River Plate Maldonado began his footballing career in Uruguay, where he started out in the youth teams of Montevideo cl ...

Ricardo Páez Ricardo David Páez Gómez (born February 9, 1979, in Acarigua) is a retired Venezuelan footballer. Club career During his career, Páez played in 10 different countries, representing mainly Estudiantes de Mérida Fútbol Club - four spells. H ...

;Own goal *

Roberto Ayala Roberto Fabián Ayala (; born 14 April 1973), nicknamed ''El Ratón'' ("The Mouse"), is an Argentine former footballer who played as a centre back for the Argentina national football team, as well as Valencia and Real Zaragoza in Spain, Milan ...

(for Brazil)

Team of the Tournament

Final positions

Marketing

Sponsorship

Global Platinum Sponsor * LG * MasterCard Global Gold Sponsor *

Telefónica Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is List of telephone operating companies, one of the largest telephone operators and List of mobile network ...

(

Movistar Movistar () is a major telecommunications provider owned by Telefónica, operating in Spain and Hispanic American countries. It is the largest provider of landline, broadband, Mobile telephony, mobile services, and pay television (Movistar+) in ...

is the brand advertised) Global Silver Sponsor *

Casio is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturing corporation headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Its products include calculators, mobile phones, digital cameras, electronic musical instruments, and analogue and digital watches. I ...

Anheuser-Busch InBev Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, commonly known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian multinational drink and brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. AB InBev has a global functional management office in New York City, and regional headquarters i ...

( Skol is the brand advertised) Charitable Partner *

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid t ...

Local Supplier *

PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA, ) (English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as exploration and production ...

Empresas Polar Empresas Polar is a Venezuelan corporation that started as a brewery, founded in 1941 by Lorenzo Alejandro Mendoza Fleury, Juan Simon Mendoza, Rafael Lujan and Karl Eggers in Antímano "La Planta de Antimano", Caracas. It is the largest and be ...

(Maltin Polar is the brand advertised) * Ole Ole * Traffic Group

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 Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

match played between

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

, by the president of the Venezuelan Football Federation, Rafael Esquivel, to the mayor of

Maracaibo ) , motto = "''Muy noble y leal''"(English: "Very noble and loyal") , anthem = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_alt = ...

, Giancarlo Di Martino – head of the local organising committee.

Mascot

Guaky Guaky was the official mascot of the 2007 Copa América in Venezuela. The bird wears the Venezuela national football team's burgundy shirt and was accompanied by his ball, with "Venezuela 2007" printed on his chest. Description Guaky is a sc ...

is a scarlet macaw, a bird representative of Venezuela. He wore the traditional jersey

Venezuela national football team The Venezuela national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Venezuela) represents Venezuela in men's international football and is controlled by the Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF), the governing body for football in Venezuela. ...

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

Copa America Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Ass ...

Copa América tournaments International association football competitions hosted by Venezuela Copa Am June 2007 sports events in South America July 2007 sports events in South America Sports competitions in Caracas Sports competitions in Maracaibo 20th century in Maracaibo 20th century in Caracas Barinas, Venezuela Sport in Barquisimeto Maturín Sport in Puerto la Cruz San Cristóbal, Táchira

Competing nations

Venues

Officials

Draw

Squads

Group stage

Group A

Group B

Group C

Ranking of third-placed teams

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Third-place match

Final

Result

Awards

Goalscorers

Team of the Tournament

Final positions

Marketing

Sponsorship

Match ball

Mascot

Theme songs

References

External links