The Copa America is the oldest still-running football competition in South America. It was founded in 1916 by Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Peru. The first edition of this tournament took place in Buenos Aires on July 26th. Today it’s played every four years by the countries that are getting qualified.
The Copa America is one of the most important international tournaments for national teams from CONMEBOL and CONCACAF countries and was created to gather all these teams together for a friendly competition that would help them prepare their next World Cup campaign or their regional competitions such as the FIFA Confederations Cup or Gold Cups.
Rules and participants
The participants are 10 teams from CONMEBOL and 6 teams from CONCACAF. They are split into two groups of four ones, the top two pass through to the quarterfinals. The hosts automatically fill one of the seeded positions and Brazil takes part in any case.
The tournament has its own rules and regulations and it’s held every time in a different host country or venues that were designed for this event to take place.
The winner receives the Copa America trophy, which is named after the competition itself. It’s a golden object that weighs 7.1 kg and the history of it goes back to 1987 when Venezuela became the first host country to win this trophy in its 100th-anniversary edition.
History
Since 1993, the tournament has been held every four years except for 1916 which was only an exhibition because Argentina, Chile and Uruguay were fighting in World War I. In this case, the trophy was named after the competition but it wasn’t a very long experience. In fact, in 1916 Chile became the first Copa America winner at home while Uruguay got its second title in 1917 in Rio de Janeiro.
In 1990, Brazil got their fifth title and broke a record that they were sharing with Argentina. In this edition, the tournament was held as a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Argentina’s independence from Spain.
In 1993, the 1994 World Cup host USA got their first ever title and Ecuador takes its place as one of the current participants in Copa America 2016 that will take place in Chile from June 11th to July 4th.
Why is Japan in the Copa America
Japan is in Copa America because they were invited by CONMEBOL and CONCACAF. Japan has tried to get into the Copa America every time, but their participation has been limited to 11 occasions since 1987. They have never won a game in this event.
Predictions
Game 1: Colombia vs. Paraguay
Prediction for this game: Colombia 3 – 0 Paraguay; Goals by Falcao (2), Cuadrado, Bacca.
Game 2: Brazil vs. Peru
Prediction for this game: Brazil 5 – 0 Peru; Goals by Neymar, Luiz Gustavo, Hulk, Paulinho twice.
Brazil is a really good team and they have a lot of great players in their squad. We expect them to win with a good score and we predict Neymar to get a hat-trick this time. Did you know that he scored four goals in his last Copa America appearance?
Game 3: Jamaica vs. Venezuela
Prediction for this game: Jamaica 2 – 2 Venezuela; Goals by Barnes, Watson for Jamaica and Guerra (2) for Venezuela.
Game 4: Mexico vs. Uruguay
Prediction for this game: Mexico 1 – 0 Uruguay; Goal by Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez.
Mexico is a strong team and they are the only CONCACAF team that has won this tournament before, back in 1993 when it took place in Ecuador.
Conclusion
The Copa America is always an interesting event to watch. It’s certainly worth following who are the favorites this year. Colombia and Paraguay are having a pretty good season, but Colombia is the favorite in this game. We hope it will be an interesting and entertaining game and we might see some goals!
