The 42nd edition of Copa America drew to a close on July 15 when defending champions Brazil defeated Argentina 3-0 to register its eighth title win in the competition. All the ten nations of the CONMEBOL federation took part in the competition along with United States and Mexico as the two invitees.

Over 86 goals were scored in the competition in 26 matches compared to 78 goals scored in the 2004 edition of the tournament. Argentina once again topped the goals scored table, smashing home an impressive 16 goals in the six games played, the same number as in the 2004 edition. Brazil once again came second in the list, with 15 goals in six matches. Brazil's Robinho was the top scorer of the competition, with six goals followed by Argentina's Juan Roman Riquelme with five goals.

The hosts were placed with some familiar teams in Group A along with Bolivia and Peru, whom they had faced in the 2004 edition, and Uruguay. Venezuela was predicted to finish third at the best, having already finished last in the previous edition.

However the hosts looked solid throughout the group stages and started off their campaign with a solid 2-2 draw against Bolivia. Venezuela upset the odds with a brilliant performance in the second match, coming away with a 2-0 win over Peru that gave a huge boost for qualifying out of the group. And the team completed the proceedings with a 0-0 draw against Uruguay to qualify for the quarterfinals by topping the group.

However the hosts were thrashed 1-4 by Uruguay, who had qualified being one of the best third placed teams in the competition. Venezuela finished with 5 goals in the competition registering 5 different scorers in the process.

Peru had a perfect start to its Copa America campaign with a 3-0 victory over pre-tournament favorites Uruguay. However Peru had to face a 2-0 defeat against hosts Venezuela in the second match.

The team managed to bounce back in the final match with a 2-2 draw over Bolivia and managed to qualify for the quarterfinals. However their progress was blocked rudely in the quarters, losing out 4-0 to Argentina.

Uruguay was billed as one of the pre-tournament favorites, having reached at least the semifinals in the last two editions of the competition. However their campaign started off badly with a shock 3-0 defeat against Peru in the opening match.

But the Uruguayans managed to bounce back with a 1-0 victory over Bolivia in the second match. But the team only managed a 0-0 draw in its final match against Venezuela, which meant that Uruguay had to wait for the remaining matches to be concluded before they would know who the two third placed teams would be to qualify for the quarterfinals.

The team just managed to qualify ahead of Colombia on better goal difference and Uruguay was pitted against Venezuela in the quarterfinals. This time around Uruguay did not make any mistake and thrashed the hosts 4-1 to register their place in the semifinals of the competition against defending champions Brazil where they were dumped out on penalty shootout.

Bolivia's barren run in the competition continued for the fourth successive edition as the team lost out on qualifying for the quarterfinals with yet another miserable campaign that saw them go home without a win since the 1997 edition.

Bolivia finished in the last position in Group A with just 2 draws in three matches, scoring four goals and conceding five in the process.

Mexico started the campaign in a tough encounter against defending champions Brazil. However the Latin American nation produced some solid football to shock the defending champions 2-0 and went on to qualify to the quarterfinals with a 2-0 victory over Ecuador.

Mexico drew its final match against Chile and ended the group stage sitting at the top of Group B with 7 points in 3 matches. Mexico produced a scintillating display in the quarterfinals to thrash Paraguay 6-0, setting up a semifinal clash against Argentina.

Mexico lost 3-0 to Argentina in the semis and now had to play against Uruguay for the third place. The Latin American nation successfully managed to ward off the Uruguayan threat with a 3-1 victory to finish third.

Defending champions Brazil came into the tournament with mixed prediction. The team was without its star players including Kaka and Ronaldinho, who asked themselves to be excused from the campaign.

Coach Dunga had to rely on a number of young players and things looked bleak for the defending champions as they lost 2-0 to Mexico in the opening round. However the team bounced back in the second match and a splendid hattrick from Robinho propelled them to a 3-0 victory over Chile.

Robinho and Brazil continued to impress in the final match against Ecuador, winning its by a margin of 1-0 to qualify for the quarterfinals where they were once again pitted against Chile, where they thrashed them 6-1.

Brazil suffered a scare in the semifinals and once again needed the help of a penalty shootout to win against Uruguay and set up a mouth-watering final against arch rivals Argentina. A delightful performance in the final saw Brazil lift its eighth Copa America title in the history of the competition.

Chile qualified for the quarterfinals of this year's Copa America after finishing third in Group B, with one win one draw and one loss. However the team had a better goal difference record compared to the other third placed teams of the two groups and was drawn against Brazil in the quarterfinals.

The 6-1 thrashing in the quarterfinals was not a surprise, considering that Chile had already lost to Brazil in the quarterfinals. Suazo finished top scorer for Chile, scoring two of four goals scored by his country in the competition.

Ecuador endured a miserable Copa America 2007 campaign, losing all of its three matches in the group stage, scoring three goals and conceding six in the process. Ecuador has now lost six matches in a row in the tournament and will be hoping for a better campaign next time around.

USA made an appearance in the Copa America tournament for the first time since 1995 as the second invitee, even though the nation has been invited for every tournament since 1997. However the campaign was a disaster for the American, who managed to lose all their three matches in the group stage, conceding eight goals and scoring just two.

Last edition's semifinalists Colombia had a miserable start to this year's Copa America campaign losing heavily to Paraguay and Argentina. However the team managed to come back in the final match, winning 1-0 against USA to bag the third place in the group. However a catastrophic defensive performance in the first two matches, which saw the team concede 9 goals, meant that Colombia had no chance of qualifying for the quarterfinals as one of the third placed teams.

One of the pre-tournament favorites, Argentina managed to maintain a 100% record till the final of the competition and were lauded for playing an attractive and entertaining football. Argentina topped the goal scoring list, banging in 16 goals in 5 matches up till the final.

However the team lost its attacking touch when it needed the most and had no answer to the physical superiority shown by Brazil and once again finished runners-up for the second successive edition.

Paraguay started the campaign on a best possible note, banging in 8 goals in the first two matches to become one of the earliest teams to qualify for the quarterfinals. By the time Paraguay faced Argentina in its third match, both the teams had qualified for the quarterfinals.