1967 South American Championship
Football tournament
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1967 South American Championship (Spanish: Campeonato Sudamericano 1967) was the 29th international association football championship for members of the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL). Hosted by Uruguay, the competition ran from 17 January – 2 February 1967 and was contested by the national teams of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. It was the last edition of the competition before it was rebranded as the Copa América from the 1975 edition.
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Uruguay |
| Dates | 17 January – 2 February 1967 |
| Teams | 6 |
| Venue(s) | Estadio Centenario, Montevideo |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Uruguay (11th title) |
| Runners-up |  Argentina |
| Third place |  Chile |
| Fourth place |  Paraguay |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 15 |
| Goals scored | 49 (3.27 per match) |
| Top scorer | Luis Artime (5 goals) |
← 1963 1975 → | |
For the first time, a qualification tournament was held to reduce the total number of teams competing in the final tournament. Hosts Uruguay were crowned champions for the 11th time after defeating Argentina 1–0 in the final and decisive match of the round-robin tournament.
Background
In 1910, the Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (AFA) organised a tournament to mark the 100th anniversary of the May Revolution. The Copa Centenario Revolución de Mayo was contested by the national teams of Argentina, Chile and Uruguay and is considered to be a precursor to the South American Championship.[1] Six years later, the AFA organised a second tournament, this time to celebrate the centenary of the Argentine Declaration of Independence. Alongside the three who had contested the Copa Centenario Revolución de Mayo, Brazil were invited to compete and the South American Championship was born.[2] During the competition, the four associations of the competing teams met on 9 July 1916 and founded the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL).[3]
Bolivia were the defending champions having won the 1963 edition after defeating Brazil 5–4 in the final and decisive round of matches.[4] Argentina were the most successful team in the history of the competition having won the trophy on 12 occasions.[5]
Venezuela would compete in the competition for the first time, bringing the total number of competitors to 10. As a result, a qualifying tournament was organised for the first time to reduce the number contesting the final tournament. However, Brazil and Peru withdrew prior to the start of the competition so only eight of the 10 CONMEBOL members would compete.[6]
Format
In the qualifying round, four teams were drawn to contest two two-legged ties. The team scoring the higher number of goals would qualify for the final tournament.[6]
The final tournament was played as a round-robin where each team would play all of the others once. The winner would be decided by the total number of points obtained across all matches played. Should two or more teams be tied with the greatest number of points, a play-off would be organised to decide the winner.[6]
Qualifying round
The qualifying round began on 30 November 1966 when Chile defeated Colombia 5–2 in the first leg. In the second leg 11 days later, the teams played out a goalless draw and Chile qualified for the final tournament 5–2 on aggregate. On 21 December, Paraguay came from 2–0 down to draw 2–2 with Ecuador in the first leg. In the second leg a week later, Paraguay won 3–1 to qualify for the final tournament 5–3 on aggregate.[6]
Results
Chile won 5–2 on aggregate.
| Paraguay | 3–1 |  Ecuador |
|---|---|---|
|
[6] | Muñoz  81' |
Paraguay won 5–3 on aggregate.
Squads
Venue
All matches were held at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo.[6]
| Montevideo | |
|---|---|
| Estadio Centenario | |
| Capacity: 65,235 | |
 | |
Summary
The competition began on 13 January when Uruguay defeated defending champions Bolivia 4–0. Five days later, Chile defeated Venezuela 2–0 and Argentina won 4–1 against Paraguay. On 21 January, Uruguay again won 4–0, this time against Venezuela. The following day, Argentina defeated Bolivia 1–0 and Chile defeated Paraguay 4–2. On 25 January, Paraguay defeated Bolivia 1–0 and Argentina won 5–1 against Venezuela. The following day, Uruguay and Chile drew 2–2. At the half way stage, three teams remained unbeaten. Argentina led the way with six points from six, one clear of Chile and Uruguay.[6]
On 28 January, Venezuela recorded their first win of the competition by defeating Bolivia 3–0 and Chile's unbeaten start was ended by Argentina who won 2–0 and extended their lead at the top. The following day, Uruguay defeated Paraguay 2–0 which set up a winner-takes-all final match between Uruguay and Argentina. On 1 February, Chile and Bolivia played out a goalless draw and Paraguay defeated Venezuela 5–3. In the last match, the following day, Pedro Rocha scored the only goal of the match as Uruguay won 1–0 to win the competition for the 11th time.[6]
Table
Results
| Uruguay | 4–0 |  Venezuela |
|---|---|---|
|
[6] |
| Paraguay | 1–0 |  Bolivia |
|---|---|---|
| Del Puerto 14' |
[6] |
| Uruguay | 2–0 | Paraguay |
|---|---|---|
|
[6] |
Goalscorers
There were 49 goals scored in 15 matches, for an average of 3.27 goals per match.
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal
Roberto Troncoso (against Uruguay)