ROBINHO AND MESSI
This year’s Copa America was memorable for many reasons. Brazil boasted the tournament’s best player, Robinho, who was also top scorer with six goals. The Real Madrid striker’s contribution was supplemented by the performances of Julio Baptista and Daniel Alves, goalkeeper Doni and winger Josue, who was one of the tournament’s revelations.
Argentina, who with the exception of players such as Javier Saviola and Maxi Rodriguez were virtually at full strength, were perhaps the most consistent side in the tournament with stand¬out performances from Juan Roman Riquelme, who starred in Boca Juniors’ recent Copa Libertadores triumph, and their latest prodigy, Lionel Messi, now a magnet for publicity wherever he goes. Javier Mascherano also attracted praise for his elegance and authority in the Argentina midfield.
Another team to make a big impression was Mexico, who reached their fourth semi-final in their last five Copa Americas, thus confirming their growing stature as a footballing nation. Mexico’s campaign as a guest team representing CONCACAF, which was finally ended by Argentina in the semi-finals, consolidated the reputation of players such as Gerardo Torrado and Rafael Marquez and also made a name for Olympiakos forward Nery Castillo, the scorer of four goals and a tricky dribbler who proved very difficult to dispossess.
Coached by the legendary Hugo Sanchez, Mexico claimed third place with a 3-1 win over Uruguay, who also made a highly favourable impression after a disastrous opening match in which they lost 3-0 to Peru. The experience and knowledge of Uruguay’s coach, Oscar Washington Tabarez, inspired a fightback that led to their qualification for the knock¬out stage in third place and a comprehensive 4-1 victory against the hosts in the quarter-finals before they lost to Brazil in the semis, but not without causing them some problems. In the end, it came down to a penalty shoot-out in which Pablo Garcia actually had the opportunity to win the match for Uruguay, but was denied by the post.
Diego Forlan once again shone for Uruguay, as did hard-running winger Cristian Rodriguez and central defender Diego Lugano.
Whether Venezuela deserve a paragraph to themselves is questionable, as they were knocked out in the quarter-finals when many fans were expecting more from them, but it is clear that Venezuelan rootrjall’is now Dunlrurg-mr ilk.” jsvogroy that began with Caracas’ success in the Copa Libertadores and continued with the national team’s occasional good results in the qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
In any case, the demand for better results is proof that the public and press in Venezuela are starting to view their country as a competitive side that in the future will cease to be considered easy opponents. This has been the greatest achievement of the team coached by the qualified doctor, Richard Paez.

Brazil won the 42nd Copa America, a tournament hosted by Venezuela that defied expectations from the very start, with high-scoring matches, large passionate crowds, Robinho as the outstanding player and disappointing performances from Ecuador, Colombia and the USA.
An average of 3.5 goals per game in a continental finals is an unusual statistic and is perhaps the one that best sums up this year’s Copa America. Teams that gave out thrashings found themselves on the receiving end in the next match and even the final had an unexpected winner in Dunga’s Brazil, who, despite their pedigree, had got off to a bad start in the tournament with a 2-0 defeat against Mexico and were facing an Argentina side that had won all of their matches and most of them by three or four goals.
In keeping with the rest of the tournament, the final was not only unpredictable in terms of the result but also because Brazil, who were without their star players Ronaldo, Adriano, Ronaldinho and Kaka, romped to a 3-0 victory with a goal by Julio Baptista within four minutes leaving no doubt as to who the current kings of South America are and booking themselves a place in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in the process.

Streetfootballworld is an international network and a centre of competence that interconnects and strengthens long-term football-based social and developmental organisations, initiatives and projects. Through its work, it aims to transform the lives of disadvantaged individuals around the world, increasing their opportunities and consolidating an environment of social change on a global scale. The streetfootballworld network includes more than 80 members from 50 countries. In 2005, streetfootballworld formed a strategic alliance with FIFA. This led to the the establishment of the Football for Hope movement in 2007. As part of the organisation’s cooperation with FIFA, the “streetfootballworld festival 06″ was held in Berlin in 2006, bringing together 22 teams from around the world to practise “Development through Football”. As well as further network expansion, preparations are now being made for a second global festival, which will take place in conjunction with the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa. Since joining forces in 2005, FIFA and streetfootballworld have collaborated in two main areas: policy management in the field of “Social Development through Football” and the implementation and development of the joint Football for Hope movement. Through this alliance, both partners celebrate the values, popularity, universal nature and appeal of football. They are committed to contributing effectively towards the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The objective of the Football for Hope movement is to establish a quality seal for sustainable social and human development programmes that use football as the central tool in the areas of health promotion, peace building, anti-discrimination and social integration, children’s rights and education, and the environment, and, by doing so, support best practices in the field. To boost the involvement of girls, many projects in the streetfootballworld network have included rules where girls’ goals count double or where only girls can score. In Foca, the two-a-side, boy-girl team worked well with girls grabbing their fair share of the goals. And no referee is needed. A player who commits a foul is simply trusted to raise their hand.
From computer classes in Afghanistan to slum clean-ups in Kenya and cultural events in Bolivia, a whole host of activities has been associated with global street football projects. In Foca, tolerance and respect were promoted.
Eight clubs, six from the former Yugoslavia – hosts Sutjeska, Vardar of Macedonia, Maribor of Slovenia, Zeljeznicar of Bosnia, Red Star Belgrade of Serbia and Buducnost of Montenegro – along with two guest teams from further afield, Grodin of Poland and PAOK of Greece, entertained crowds with a football feast. After three days of tricks, upsets and drama in the knockout competition, Groclin followed in the footsteps of Red Star and Vardar to hold the carved trophy aloft. Locked at 0-0 after 80 minutes, the Poles defeated Maribor on penalties. Earlier, in the match for third place, Zeljeznicar, a predominantly Muslim team, had overcome home side Sutjeska 3-1 in a game played and watched in fine spirit.