Monday, July 25, 2011

Uruguay capture Copa America crown

Uruguay showed that their fourth-place finish at last year’s World Cup was no fluke after winning the Copa America title on Sunday.

Los Charruas won their record fifteenth tournament crown after easily beating Paraguay 3-0 in the title match in Buenos Aires. Best player of the tournament Luis Suarez opened the scoring in the twelfth minute while striker Diego Forlan found the back of the net in each half. However it was a total team performance that guided Uruguay to its first Copa America championship since winning it on home soil in 1995.

Paraguay had very few chances at goal though Nelson Valdez had a prime chance at tying the match early in the second half. Yet his 54th minute blast was tipped onto the crossbar by goalkeeper Nestor Muslera and away from danger.

Festivities ran far into the night in the capital city of Montevideo as thousands of fans packed the streets and welcomed their team. As the below video shows, the celebrations commenced since the final whistle was blown and have apparently not stopped:

Several squads shined after the early exits of former titleholders Brazil and host country Argentina in this year’s Copa America. Peruvian Paulo Guerrero was the tournament’s top goal scorer and he helped push his country to a surprise third place finish. Regional minnows Venezuela flipped their status around and enjoyed a Cinderella run into the semifinals.

Uruguay will be looking to continue their renaissance at the Under-20 World Cup that begins later this week in Colombia.

Video Source – futbolretrotv via YouTube
Online Sources- Times of India, MercoPress, goal.com, observa.com.uy

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