CONCACAF Gold Cup 2015

CONCACAF Gold Cup is the main association football competition of the men’s national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the regional champion of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. The tournament is won by Mexico this year beating Jamaica by 3-1 in the final. This was the tenth time Mexico won this title.

The Gold cup is held every two years. Beginning in 2015, the winners of two successive gold cups will face each other in a playoff to determine the CONCACAF entrant to the next Confederations Cup. If the same team has won the Gold Cup on both relevant occasions, there will be no playoff and that team will automatically qualify for the Confederations Cup. This time playoff will be played between 2013 champion USA and 2015 champion Mexico.

Mexico scored the maximum 16 goals in the tournament. Clint Dempsey from USA remained top scorer of the tournament with 7 goals. In 1990, CONCACAF renamed the CONCACAF championship as the CONCACAF Gold Cup, with the USA hosting the first competition in 1991. The host country was the inaugural champion of the eight team tournament. Mexico dominated the remainder of the decade winning three consecutive CONCACAF Gold cup titles in 1993, 1996 and 1998.

Since the formation of the Gold Cup in 1991, the CONCACAF Championship has been won seven times by Mexico, five times by United States, and once by Canada. Runners-up include Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, and Jamaica. 

Chile Won Maiden Copa America Title

The Copa America 2015 was the 44^th edition of the Copa America, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America, and took place in Chile between the dates of 11 June to 4 July 2015. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, South America football governing body.

Chile emerged as the champions defeating Argentina in Final, winning their first title in history. They have automatically qualified for the 2017 FIFA Confederation Cup in Russia. Twelve teams competed in the tournament, ten members of CONMEBOL and two guests from CONCACAF. Uruguay was the defending champions, but was eliminated by Chile in quarter-finals. Peru took the third place for the second consecutive tournament, winning a play-off against Paraguay.

In the final, Chile beat Argentina with a penalty 4-1 shoot-out following a 0-0 draw after extra time. Gonzalo Higuain failed to convert a goal after 90 minutes and then failed to convert a penalty too. Argentina suffered another heart break for a second successive year, having lost to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final. Both sides had struggled to create clear-cut opportunities during normal extra time.

Palo Guerrero from Peru and Eduardo Vargas from Chile won the award of Top Goal scorer. Jeison Murillo from Colombia won the award of Best Young player. Claudio Bravo won the award of Best Goal Keeper and Fair Play Trophy award is given to Peru Team. In all matches Chile played, attendance in stadium was 94%. This shows the support and love given by Chile fans.