100 CONMEBOL Copa America historical facts, third part

2019-04-25

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Find out which player played the continental tournament in three different decades: from 1987 to 2004.

  1. In the edition of 1975 held in Peru, a new format was released. Three groups, with three national teams each one. The confrontations were back and forth, as local and visitor. The winner of each group passed to the semifinals and they were joined by the last champion, in this case, Uruguay. The champion was Peru.
  1. The 1975 tournament was the first to be played after 8 years without playing and between the decades of 1967 and 1987, only five editions were played.
  1. Venezuela used 3 goalkeepers in the first two matches in the 1975 edition of the South American Championship. Omar Colmenares cut short in front of Brazil and in front of Argentina the holder was Vicente Vega, replaced by Andrés Arizaleta.
  1. After winning the title with the Peruvian team in 1975, Percy Rojas and Eleázar Soria had to rejoin to the Independiente de Argentina for the classic against Racing. They went from the airport to the stadium and a power outage delayed the game for them to play. Rojas scored a goal for his team.
  1. The Argentina National Team, which fell in the first phase of the South American Championship, presented in the 1979 edition a team directed by César Luis Menoti, and in this Cup was recorded the debut of a world star: Diego Armando Maradona.
  1. The year 1979 was a dream year for Paraguayan football. Not only won the South American Championship, but the Olimpia Club was also champion of the CONMEBOL Libertadores – beating Boca Juniors – and won the Intercontinental Cup title, after defeating Malmí¶, from Sweden.
  1. In the 1983 tournament, the Uruguayan champion presented two players who would later become one of the greatest stars of the Charrúa football: Enzo Francescoli and Carlos Aguilera.
  1. Precisely Enzo Francescoli had an intimate relationship with CONMEBOL Copa América. He played 4 editions; He was champion in 3 of them (1983, 1987, 1995) and was runner-up in 1989. He scored 5 goals in 16 games.
  1. The 1983 tournament, which was again played in all South American countries, presented the first defeat of Bolivia in La Paz. It was Colombia that defeated the Altiplano national team 0-1, which had previously won 4 games and tied another.
  1. Two coaches that had led in the 1975 edition returned to the same teams in this Cup: Efraín Sánchez guided Colombia and Walter Roque to Venezuela.
  1. It took 13 years for Argentina to defeat Brazil again in the Copa América. On August 24, 1983, the ‘Albiceleste’ beat the ‘Canarinha’ 1-0 at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires. The last victory of Argentina had been 2-0 on March 4, 1970, in Porto Alegre.38. The goal with which Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 in the 1983 edition was scored by Ricardo Gareca, current coach of the Peru National Team.
  1. After three disputed editions without a permanent venue, the tournament returned to its original format in 1987, in which Argentina was the host of the Championship and Uruguay the champion.
  1. The best player of the 1987 tournament was Carlos Valderrama. ‘El Pibe’ took Colombia to the third place in the championship, after beating Argentina.
  1. From the 1987 edition, the pets of the Cup appeared. The Argentine 1987 insignia was ‘Gardelito’, with the image, the smile and the hair of the unforgettable singer of tangos. (Read here: Zizito is chosen as the pet name of the CONMEBOL Copa América Brazil 2019).
  1. The National Team of Uruguay beat Argentina in Buenos Aires after 50 years without achieving it. Before doing so in the 1987 edition, they had accomplished that in the 1937 Copa América, when they won 2-3 on the San Lorenzo field.
  1. Brazil lost twice, in 70 years, by 4-0 in the Copa America. In 1917 against Uruguay and in 1987 Chile was the team that beat the ‘Canarinha’ with that score.
  1. The 4-0 from Chile to Brazil was the second victory of the austral team over the ‘Verdeamarelha’ in the Copa América. In the tournament of 1956, they also scored four goals (4-1).
  1. On July 1, 1987 was the debut of the coach Francisco Maturana in the Colombian team, which in the 2-0 victory over Bolivia also saw the premiere of players like René Higuita, Leonel Alvarez, Carlos Valderrama and Bernardo Redín.
  1. The CONMEBOL Copa América Argentina 1987 was the first tournament played by the Ecuadorian Alex Aguinaga, who played the continental tournament in three different decades: from 1987 to 2004, participating in 8 editions.
  1. 30 years ago, Brazil also hosted the CONMEBOL Copa América. On that occasion, the ‘Scratch’ won the title with a 1-0 win against Uruguay with Romario’s goal.
  1. The former player and coach Dunga, was part of the Brazilian team that won the CONMEBOL Copa América in 1989. In 1997 he returned to play with the champion team and in 2007, as a Technical Director, he won the 2007 edition of Venezuela.
  1. Carlos Maldonado scored the four goals of Venezuela in the 1989 edition. The talented offensive midfielder played in teams from Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.
  1. Of the ten coaches of the 1989 edition, six were foreigners and among the 10 there were 4 Argentines: Jorge Habegger (Bolivia), Eduardo Manera (Paraguay), Carlos Horacio Moreno (Venezuela) and Carlos Bilardo (Colombia).
  1. Marco Etcheverry played in the 1989 edition his first of six editions in the tournament. The Bolivian played 21 games and scored 4 goals between the 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1999 tournaments.

#VibraElContinente with the CONMEBOL Copa América Brazil 2019, tournament that will be played from June 14 to July 7. Wait for the fourth part of this article next May 20.

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