Neighbours top quarter-final bill
It might be winter in this part of the world, but the temperatures are sure to rise over the weekend as the 2011 Copa America reaches the quarter-final stage. FIFA.com marks your card for the four ties in the world’s oldest national team competition, which include the latest neighbourly tussle between Uruguay and hosts Argentina.
The two most successful teams in the history of the competition, with 14 titles apiece, meet in a River Plate derby that many feel could easily have been the final and which pits together two of South America’s superstars in Lionel Messi and Diego Forlan, who have yet to open their tournament accounts.
La Albiceleste have had the better of their old foes in recent times, winning both their meetings in the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ qualifying competition. There is one statistic that favours La Celeste, however. At the 1987 Copa America, the last one to be held in Argentina, they knocked the hosts out in the semi-finals thanks to a solitary Antonio Alzamendi goal. Days later, the Uruguayans overcame Chile in the final. |