The2015 Copa América was the 44th edition of theCopa América, the main internationalfootball tournament for national teams in South America, and took place inChile between 11 June and 4 July 2015.[1] The competition was organized byCONMEBOL, South America's football governing body.
Twelve teams competed: the ten members of CONMEBOL and two guests fromCONCACAF –Mexico andJamaica, the latter of which competed in the Copa América for the first time.
Originally, it was to be hosted byBrazil, as suggested by theBrazilian Football Confederation (CBF) in February 2011[2] due to CONMEBOL's rotation policy of tournaments being held in alphabetical order. However, due to the organization of the2013 FIFA Confederations Cup,2014 FIFA World Cup and the2016 Summer Olympics in that country, Brazil decided against also hosting the Copa América. CONMEBOL's presidentNicolas Leoz had mentioned the possibility of the tournament being organized inMexico (despite this country not being a member of CONMEBOL) as part of the federation's centenary celebrations.[3] Brazil and Chile's Football Federations discussed the idea of swapping around the order of being hosts of the 2015 and 2019 tournaments.[4] The swap was made official in May 2012.[5]
Map of the participating national football teams of the CONMEBOL's 2015 Copa América.
Mexico andJapan were initially invited to join the 10 CONMEBOL nations in the tournament.[8][9] Japan declined the invitation, andChina was invited instead,[10][11] but later withdrew due to the Asian sector ofqualification for the 2018 World Cup being held at the same time.[12][13] In May 2014, it was announced that theJamaica Football Federation had accepted an invitation to participate,[14] thus making Jamaica the first Caribbean nation to compete in Copa América.
The draw of the tournament was originally to be held on 27 October 2014 inViña del Mar,[15] but was postponed to 24 November.[16] The 12 teams were drawn into three groups of four.[17]
CONMEBOL announced the composition of the four pots on 10 November 2014.[18][19] Pot 1 contained the hosts Chile (which has been automatically assigned to position A1), together with Argentina and Brazil. The remaining nine teams were allocated to the other three pots according to theirFIFA World Rankings as of 23 October 2014 (shown in brackets), even though Colombia was rated higher than Brazil.[20] On 23 November 2014, it was announced by CONMEBOL that Argentina and Brazil had been assigned to positions B1 and C1, respectively.[21]
Each country had a final squad of 23 players (three of whom had to be goalkeepers) which had to be submitted before the deadline of 1 June 2015.[22]
The2015 UEFA Champions League Final date of 6 June caused problems for South American players forBarcelona andJuventus. FIFA international rules require clubs to release players 14 days prior to the start of an international tournament, but the players featured in the final, leaving them at most five days to acclimate.[23] For example,Arturo Vidal arrived two days before Chile's first match against Ecuador, and played with little training with his national team.[24]
Mexico managerMiguel Herrera decided to prioritize the upcoming2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup, saying, "We have to win at all costs in order to face the United States in the playoffs that guarantee a spot in the 2017 Confederations Cup."[25] The Mexican squad was a team composed mostly from the local league with little international experience.[25]
The fixture schedule was announced on 11 November 2014.[28]
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.
Greater number of goals scored in all group matches
Head-to-head result (between two teams only)
Drawing of lots by the CONMEBOL Organizing Committee
However, those normal tiebreaking criterias do not apply if on the last round of group stage, two teams are playing each other and tied by points 1–4 then drew the final game and no other teams are tied. In that case, their ranking is decided by apenalty shoot-out.
Source:CONMEBOL Rules for classification: 1) points in all group matches; 2) total goal differential; 3) total goals scored; 4) lots drawn by CONMEBOL.[22]
In the quarter-finals, teams from the same group could not play each other.
In the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and third place playoff, if tied after 90 minutes, apenalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner (noextra time was played).
In the final, if tied after 90 minutes, 30 minutes ofextra time were played. If still tied after extra time, apenalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner.
Eduardo Vargas (left) and Paolo Guerrero, top scorers
Chile's Eduardo Vargas and Peru's Paolo Guerrero scored the most goals, with 4 each.There were 59 goals scored in 26 matches, for an average of 2.27 goals per match.
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.[58]
Golden Ball Award: This was the first time of Copa America's history "Golden Ball Award" cancelled.Lionel Messi rejected it butArgentina's staff was to receive the award.[59][60][61][62]
On 16 November 2014, the official match ball (OMB) was unveiled at the Estadio Nacional. The name of the ball isNike Cachaña, which is a Chilean slang term for a successful feint or dribble. During its launch, the Chilean internationalArturo Vidal was present. The ball is mainly designed with white as main appearance featured with blue and red applications, representing host nation Chile. The colors of Chilean flag make a statement in the design of this ball: the red representing the people, the blue symbolizing the Chilean sky, and the white for the Andes that so strongly define thegeography of this country.[65]
The official mascot of the tournament, a youngculpeo fox, was unveiled on 17 November 2014.[66] The name of the mascot, "Zincha" (fromZorro (fox) andhINCHA (fan)), was chosen by the public over two other options, "Andi" and "Kul".[67]
"Al Sur del Mundo" by Chilean groupNoche de Brujas served as the official song of the tournament. It was performed during the opening ceremony of the competition on 11 June. It features the different cultures of the twelve competing nations.[68]
The day after Chile's 3–3 draw against Mexico in their second group match,Jorge Sampaoli gave the players a day off from training. They had to return to the training ground by 9pm, butArturo Vidal did not arrive. He had been involved in a traffic accident on his way back to the ground,[69] and arrested fordriving under the influence.[70] He spent the night in jail, and appeared in court the morning after.[71] His driving license was revoked, and he was sentenced to pay for the damage done. Although there was speculation that he would be dropped, Sampaoli opted to keep him on the team.[72]
An on-pitch brawl broke out following Colombia's 1–0 win over Brazil in their second group match; Brazilian captainNeymar deliberately kicked the ball at opponentPablo Armero and attempted to headbutt Colombian matchwinnerJeison Murillo, earning a red card. As a result, Colombian forwardCarlos Bacca retaliated by pushing Neymar over, and was himself sent off.[73] CONMEBOL fined Neymar $10,000 and suspended him for four matches, ruling him out for the remainder of the tournament,[74] while Bacca was suspended for two matches.[75]
In Chile's quarter-final victory over Uruguay, full-backGonzalo Jara poked Uruguayan forwardEdinson Cavani in the anus, and then fell when Cavani slapped him in retaliation. Both Cavani and Jara received a yellow card for the incident, which resulted in Cavani being sent off because he had previously received another yellow card for insulting one of the referees' assistants. Jara was later suspended for two games, which made him miss the rest of the tournament.[76] His club,Mainz 05 of Germany, criticized Jara for the incident and stated that he would be sold.[77] However he would remain with the club until 16 January 2016 when he agreed to terminate his contract with them.[78]
^Pérez Serrano, Ángel (28 July 2014)."La Copa América, pesadilla del Barça este año" [The Copa América,Barça's nightmare this year] (in Spanish). mundodeportivo.com. Retrieved11 February 2015.
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