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Copa America: When the team jersey has someone else's flag

Xinhua, June 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

The 2015 Copa America championship, which kicks off in Chile next week, will pit 12 of Latin America's national teams against each other, and quite a few players and coaches against their own countries.

One such footballer, according to Copa America's official website, is attacking midfielder Jorge Valdivia, who was born in Maracay, Venezuela but will play for Chile. Valdivia, who was born to Chilean parents and was raised there, currently captains for Brazilian club Palmeiras.

Meanwhile, Valdivia's teammate on Chile's national squad, Matias Fernandez, was born in the Caballito district of Buenos Aires, Argentina to an Argentinean mother and Chilean father. When not playing for Chile he serves as attacking defender for Italian team Fiorentina.

Paraguay's lineup features three players who were born in Argentina -- midfielder Nestor Ezequiel Ortigoza, forward Raul Bobadilla and striker Lucas Barrios -- the first country the team will be up against (on June 13) as part of the Copa's Group B.

Bolivia's midfielders are all over the map, with veteran Pablo Escobar born in Asuncion, Paraguay; Damian Lizio born in Florida, Argentina; and Martin Ramiro Smedberg-Dalence born in Norrkoping in Sweden.

Ramiro isn't the only player born outside the Americas. Mikko Albornoz, the Hannover 96 winger who has played for Chile's team since 2013, was born in Sweden to Chilean and Finnish parents.

Other national teams fielding players from abroad are Uruguay, whose goalkeeper Fernando Muslera was born in Buenos Aires, and Ecuador, whose goalies Librado Azcona and Esteban Dreer were born in Paraguay and Argentina, respectively. Mexican forward Matias Vuoso was also born in Argentina, while Argentina's goalkeeper Gonzalo Higuain was born in France.

The team with the most number of naturalized players in this year's tournament is Jamaica, whose lineup includes as many as 10 players born in England: defenders Wes Morgan, Shaun Cummings and Adrian Mariappa; wingers Michael Hector, Joel Grant, Garath McCleary, Jobi McAnuff and Daniel Gordon; and strikers Giles Barnes and Simon Dawkins.

Jamaica's coach is former Cameroon 2002 trainer, German-born Winfried Schafer.

Among the coaches in the tournament, the largest number are from Argentina. Excluding Argentina's national team coach Gerardo Martino, another five coaches at the continental joust were born in Argentina: Jorge Sampaoli supervising Chile, Jose Pekerman coaching for Colombia, Gustavo Quinteros working for Ecuador, Ramon Diaz with Paraguay and Ricardo Gareca directing Peru.

The Copa America, South America's top tournament for national teams, is organized by regional football body CONMEBOL and features the association's 10 members, plus two guest teams from the CONCACAF (Mexico and Jamaica). Endite