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#3 Luis Diaz (Colombia) - Copa America 2021
Colombia had two highly prolific strikers in their Copa America squad like Duvan Zapata and Luis Muriel. Yet their biggest source of goals was someone who'd only netted twice for the Cafeteros before entering the competition.
FC Porto star Luis Diaz had a breakout campaign with four goals, the joint-most with Lionel Messi. Not bad company to be in.
And he wasn't merely stat-padding. The 24-year-old scored against Brazil in the group stages, Argentina in the semi-finals and finally a brace against Peru in the third-place play-offs.
Remember the name.
#2 Luis Hernandez (Mexico) - Copa America 1997
Any talk of the best strikers of 1990s would invariably end up centered around the usual suspects such as Ronaldo, Marco van Basten, Rivaldo, Alan Shearer, Romario etc.
But among the most underrated was Mexican fireball Luis Hernandez. He truly announced himself to the world with his scoring exploits at the Copa America 1997. The striker bagged six goals, beating O Fenameno to the Golden Boot in a very unexpected result.
He was also just the second Mexican ever to clinch the prize, following in the footsteps of Luis Garcia from two years prior. Hernandez's goalscoring heroics may not have helped El Tri win the prize, but he was their most valuable player and helped them to a third-place finish.
#1 Paolo Guerrero (Peru) - Copa America 2011
In Copa America 2011, Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan were among the winners. Lionel Messi was the biggest attraction. Neymar was a rising star. And yet, the Golden Boot went to a then lesser known Paolo Guerrero of Peru. The striker bagged five goals in the campaign.
He started the run with a goal against Uruguay in the opening game before firing home the match-winner against Mexico, which qualified Los Incas for the knockout stages.
Although he didn't have much luck in those rounds, Guerrero then bagged a hat-trick against Venezuela to help the side clinch third place.
Arguably the finest Peruvian player of the century, he then went on to bag two more top-scorer awards in 2015 and 2019. In the process, he became the only player besides Pedro Petrone to win the Golden Boot thrice.
