The celebration edition of The Copa America is underway in the United States as it completes a century this year. The Copa America is the oldest continental international tournament and has been around since 1916. With the South American Carnivalesque flavour attached to the competition and goals galore, one thing that has been constant in all the editions through the years is that it never fails to entertain its audiences and this year promises to be another such event.
Also read: Copa America Centenario 2016 Top Goal Scorer
The Copa America has seen plenty of goals scored in every edition since its inception. The late Norberto Mendez leads the charts for the highest number of goals accumulated in the tournament. The Argentine forward scored 17 goals in total and helped his country win three consecutive Copa America titles in 1945, 1946 and 1947.
Tied with Mendez with 17 goals, is Brazilian Zizinho, who despite never top scoring in any of the tournaments, went on to play 6 tournaments and help Brazil win the title in 1949. The attacking midfielder was an incredible footballer with a wide range of skills and great vision.
Severino Varela of Uruguay and Teodoro Fernandez are jointly placed second scoring 15 goals each.
The most number of goals scored in a single edition is jointly held by Brazilian Jair Da Rosa Pinto, Argentinian Humberto Maschio and Uruguay attacker Javier Ambrois with 9 goals each. By top scoring, Pinto and Maschio both helped their nations win the titles in 1949 and 1957.
Brazilian legend, Pele scored 8 goals in the 1959 edition in Argentina, though he couldn’t help Brazil snatch the title from rivals Argentina that year.
Chile’s Eduardo Vargas and Peru’s Paolo Guerrero were the top scorers in the Copa America which was held last year in 2015. Both scored 4 goals each. However, it was Vargas’ outstanding performances in attack which led Chile reach the final and win the title by beating Argentina on penalties.
If Paolo Guerrero tops the chart this time around as well, it will make him the first person to be the highest scorer three times in a row.(Guerrero had top scored in the 2011 edition as well.
With world class attackers like Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Luis Suarez, Alexis Sanchez and a host of others playing in this years Copa America, it is destined to be a goal-fest. It would be interesting to see, however, who finishes at the pole position for the top scorers in the competition, as each player looks for Copa America glory.
In the Copa America Centenario 2016,Chile’s Eduardo Vargas leads the race for the Golden boot with 6 goals after scoring 4 goals against Mexico in the quarter-finals. He is being chased by Argentina’s Lionel Messi who has now scored 5 goals. Gonzalo Higuain improved his personal tally to 4 goals after his brace against United States in the semi-finals. Alexis Sanchez, Philippe Coutinho and Clint Dempsey have scored 3 goals each. Enner Valencia, Renato Augusto, Salomon Randon, Blas Perez, James Rodrigues, Arturo Vidal, Edson Puch, Erik Lamela and Ezequiek follow with 2 goals to their name.
| Rank | Player | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eduardo Vargas | Chile | 6 |
| 2 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | 5 |
| 3 | Gonzalo Higuain | Argentina | 4 |
| 4 | Alexis Sanchez | Chile | 3 |
Philippe Coutinho Clint Dempsey | Brazil United States | 3 3 | |
| 7 | Enner Valencia Renata Augusto Salomon Randon Arturo Vidal Erik Lamela Blas Perez James Rodriguez Ezequiel Lavezzi Edson Puch | Ecuador Brazil Venezuela Chile Argentina Panama Colombia Argentina Chile | 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 |
| 16 | Abdiel Arroyo | Panama | 1 |
| Javier Hernández | Mexico | 1 | |
| Héctor Herrera | Mexico | 1 | |
| Lucas Lima | Brazil | 1 | |
| Celso Borges | Costa Rica | 1 | |
| Antonio Valencia | Ecuador | 1 | |
| José Fuenzalida | Chile | 1 | |
| Michael Arroyo | Ecuador | 1 | |
| Jaime Ayoví | Ecuador | 1 | |
| José Velázquez | Venezuela | 1 | |
| Gyasi Zardes | United States | 1 | |
| Cristián Zapata | Colombia | 1 | |
| Oribe Peralta | Mexico | 1 | |
| Victor Cuesta | Argentina | 1 | |
| James Marcelin | Haiti | 1 | |
| Miller Bolaños | Ecuador | 1 | |
| Diego Godín | Uruguay | 1 | |
| Sergio Agüero | Argentina | 1 | |
| Ever Banega | Argentina | 1 | |
| Bobby Wood | United States | 1 | |
| Edison Flores | Peru | 1 | |
| Jermaine Jones | United States | 1 | |
| Marlos Moreno | Colombia | 1 | |
| Erik Lamela | Argentina | 1 | |
| Frank Fabra | Colombia | 1 | |
| Abel Hernández | Uruguay | 1 | |
| Nicolás Otamendi | Argentina | 1 | |
| Graham Zusi | United States | 1 | |
| Rafael Márquez | Mexico | 1 | |
| Ángel Di María | Argentina | 1 | |
| Jesus Corona | Mexico | 1 | |
| Carlos Bacca | Colombia | 1 | |
| Miguel Camargo | Panama | 1 | |
| Paolo Guerrero | Peru | 1 | |
| Jhasmani Campos | Bolivia | 1 | |
| Juan Arce | Bolivia | 1 |
