Hosts Triumph In Rio

But there is still room for improvement.

- Tim Vickery

In Brazilian parlance, 1958 is the year that should never have ended. The economy was booming, the national team won the World Cup and Joao Gilberto launched Bossa Nova. There is little chance that 2019 will live in the memory with such affection, even though Brazil retained their record of winning every Copa America they have hosted. The economy is tanking, and Joao Gilberto died on the eve of the 3-1 win over Peru in the Final. And the Copa America is not the World Cup.

Winning this competition was never anything less than an obligation for the hosts, who were overwhelming favorites in every game they played, including the semi-final against Argentina. A duel with Uruguay or Colombia would have been interesting, but both fell in the quarterfinals to a penalty shoot-out, and at least the eventual finalists, Peru, gave Brazil a harder game than the 5-0 slaughter of the group phase.

Indeed, the outcome was in doubt almost until the end – which appeared unlikely after Brazil took an early lead.

The move began with captain Daniel Alves, chosen after the game as the player of the tournament. Now 36, his attacking versatility from right-back will be hard to replace and it is worth wondering if last year’s World Cup campaign would have turned out differently had he not been missing through injury.

He played a fine long ball down the flank to Gabriel Jesus, who shimmied outside the full-back and crossed for leftwinger Everton, the break out star of the Copa, to score with a first-time finish. Had Neymar not pulled out injured, Everton’s chances would have been limited. Instead, he displaced David Neres to move from the bench to the first team and finished the competition as a joint-top scorer, with Peru’s center-forward Paolo Guerrero.