BOGOTA ( Associated Press) – Brazil reaffirmed their status as favorites and were crowned champions of the Copa America Femenina for the eighth time in history on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Colombia.
“Canarinha” completed his perfect tournament record with a goal from DeBinha, who took the maximum penalty in 39 minutes that he himself scored against defender Manuela Venegas.
The Amazon striker scored five goals in the competition and scored 54 goals in 128 international appearances with his national team.
The “Cafeteras” at the Alfonso López Stadium in Bucaramanga was supported by about 23,000 people and stood in front of the current champions, who scored 20 goals and conceded none.
Colombia coach Nelson Abadia said, “Colombia played an exceptional game with their football, but we knew that a mistake was going to be an imbalance of the game.”
Brazil lost midfielder Angelina Alonso, who was injured in the opening moments of the game.
Despite the loss on the scoreboard, the locals looked for a tie in the second half, especially with the pace of 17-year-old forward Linda Cassado, who eventually won the award as the best player in the tournament.
“I’m going in peace, we’ve made a lot of progress,” said Colombia’s historic scorer Catalina Usme. “It’s not easy to make Brazil look bad. We did an extraordinary job.”
The Brazilian, who was crowned in the field for the fourth time in a row, was followed by defender Rafael Souza and full-back Antonia da Costa as his pillars.
“We knew it would be a very difficult game. We faced a great team that had the support of our people”, said Antonia, who plays for Spanish Levante.
The winners won $1.5 million while the runners-up won $500,000. In addition, both teams qualified for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and the 2024 Paris Olympics in the tournament.
“I don’t think it was pretty, but it was efficient,” said Sweden’s Pia Sundhej, who became the first strategist to win a women’s Copa America under Brazil’s command. “It was a very tactical and emotional game. I was satisfied with the defensive work of my players, who knew how to maintain the result.”
Sundhej was also the first European coach to win a South American title. In previous Brazilian titles, Brazilian captains had won trophies.
