1979 Copa América
International football competition
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1979 edition of the Copa América association football tournament was played between 18 July and 12 December. It was not held in a particular country, all matches were played on a home and away basis. Defending champions Peru were given a bye into the semi-finals.
Paraguay (2nd title)
Chile| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 18 July – 12 December |
| Teams | 10 (from 1 confederation) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Paraguay (2nd title) |
| Runners-up | Chile |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 25 |
| Goals scored | 63 (2.52 per match) |
| Attendance | 1,144,000 (45,760 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Eugenio Morel Jorge Peredo (4 goals each) |
| Best player | Carlos Caszely[1] |
← 1975 1983 → | |
Squads
Group stage
The teams were drawn into three groups, consisting of three teams each. Each team played twice (home and away) against the other teams in their group, with two points for a win, one point for a draw, nil points for a loss. The winner of each group advanced to the semi-finals.
Peru qualified automatically as holders for the semifinal.
Group A
Group B
Argentina  | 3–0 |  Bolivia |
|---|---|---|
Passarella  1' Gáspari 15' Maradona 65' |
Group C
Knockout stage
| Semi-finals | Finals | |||||||||
| Paraguay | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
 Brazil | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
| Paraguay (agg.) | 3 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Chile | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||||
 Peru | 1 | 0 | ||||||||
| Chile | 2 | 0 | ||||||||
Semi-finals
Chile won 3–1 on points.
Paraguay won 3–1 on points.
Finals
As the teams were tied 2–2 on points, a play-off on a neutral ground was required to determine the winner.
The play-off match finished tied after extra time expired, meaning the teams finished 3–3 on points. Paraguay won on aggregate 3–1.
Goal scorers
With four goals, Jorge Peredo and Eugenio Morel are the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 63 goals were scored by 41 different players, with none of them credited as own goal.
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Hugo Coscia- Roberto Osvaldo Díaz
- Jorge Gáspari
- Carlos Angel López
- Diego Maradona
Paulo Roberto Falcão- Palhinha
- Roberto Dinamite
Mario Soto- Leonardo Véliz
- Patricio Yáñez
José Chaparro- Ernesto Díaz
- Arnoldo Iguarán
- Jaime Morón
- César Valverde
Jorge Luis Alarcón- Fausto Klinger
- Mario Tenorio
- Carlos Torres Garcés
Juvencio Osorio- Alicio Solalinde
Roberto Mosquera
Alberto Bica- Denis Milar
- Rubén Paz
Rodolfo Carbajal