The group stage of the ongoing South American Championship finished on June 29th.We saw some exciting matches in the first round, but had to wait until the final group stage fixtures to learn who would qualify for the next round. Eight teams qualified for the quarter-finals and all the expected national teams have progressed to the next round.Argentina finished top in Group A, while Brazil took the first spot in Group B.The competition's first knockout round will begin on July 2. This article has discussed the teams that qualified for the Copa America 2021 quarterfinals and fixtures. Teams Qualified for the Quarter Finals Phase The top four teams from each group qualified for the quarterfinals in the 47th edition of the Copa America tournament. Let's see who have advanced to the next round from each group. Group A One of the favorites of the tournament, Argentina topped the group A with the most points 10 points, followed by Uruguay (7), Paraguay (6), Chili (5) and Bolivia (0). Read UEFA Euro 2020: Round of 16 Qualified Teams, Fixtures Table topper, Argentina won three matches and drew one in the group stage. Argentina held a 1-1 draw in their opening match against Chili. After that, they won by a lone goal against Uruguay and Paraguay respectively before winning 4-1 against Bolivia in their last encounter. So, Argentina had a terrific time in the group stage and will seek to continue their winning streak in the knockout phase.  On the other hand, Uruguay recovered from a slow start to win their remaining two group stage matches and finish second in the points table. Meanwhile, Chili had struggled in their last two matches. Read:Swiss beat France on penalties at Euro 2020 Group B The hot favorite, Brazil won three matches and drew one in group B, finishing top in the rankings with ten points. Peru (7), Colombia (4), Ecuador (3), and Venezuela (2) placed second, third, fourth, and fifth respectively at the end of the group stage. Brazil started off well, winning three of their first four matches, but they held a 1-1 draw against Ecuador in the last group stage encounter. Ecuador have qualified for the quarterfinals after drawing their match against Brazil. On the other hand, Peru moved up to second position after defeating Venezuela 1-0 in their last group stage game. Colombia had to settle for third place with only one win. They lost two games during the group stage. Colombia must regroup before the crucial quarterfinals. Read:Belgium edges Portugal, reaches quarterfinals at Euro 2020 Copa America 2021 Quarter Finals Fixtures Date Match Venue & Time (BST) July 3 (Saturday) Peru vs Paraguay Goiânia (3 AM) July 3 (Saturday) Brazil vs Chili Rio de Janeiro (6 AM) July 4 (Sunday) Uruguay vs Colombia Brasília (4 AM) July 4 (Sunday) Argentina vs Ecuador Goiânia(7 AM) Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Copa_Am%C3%A9rica Read:Denmark on the road for 1st time to face Wales at Euro 2020 Bottom Line The strongest national teams of South America have qualified for the Copa America 2021 quarter-finals. As a result, we can expect the title to be won by the deserving national team in the end. In the next round, reigning champion Brazil will play a strong Chili side. Chili won the championship in 2015 and 2016, thus it will be a tough battle for Brazil. However, there will be no easy matches in the quarter-finals. The teams must put up their best effort to advance to the semi-finals. Read:Messi breaks Argentina’s record for caps at Copa America win

The 47th Copa America Championship is being organized by the South American Football Confederation and Argentina will host the month-long tournament from June 13 to July 10 this year. The South American football championship is recognized as one of the most prestigious football competitions after the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championship. So, there is a vast interest among fans all over the world regarding Copa America. Brazil is the defending champion, and Uruguay have the most trophy (15) in the competition's history. So, things you need to know about Copa America 2021 are discussed in this article.      Why Copa America 2021 is delayed for a year? The tournament was supposed to take place from June 12 to July 12, 2020. But like other sporting events around the world, this competition also had to postpone due to the outbreak of coronavirus. The South American football federation (CONMEBOL) declared on March 17, 2020, that the tournament would be postponed for a year because of the COVID-19 outbreak across the continent. The novel coronavirus in the South American continent started affecting sporting events from March and a number of tournaments were deferred for later dates. Similarly, CONMEBOL federation had to postpone the Copa Libertadores. On the other side, FIFA also suspended the first two rounds of South American qualifying for the Qatar World Cup 2022. In the same month, the South American Football Federation confirmed that the Copa America would not be held as planned due to the risk of covid-19 infection. Instead, the tournament will therefore take place in June and July of 2021. Read: Tamim, Shakib and Mustafizur Reach Unique Milestones in the first ODI against Sri Lanka In Argentina, where will the matches take place? Initially, the 2021 South American Championships were to be co-hosted by Colombia and Argentina. Colombia eventually withdrew its names as organizers owing to political unrest. As a result, Argentina will be hosting the Copa America tournament all alone. Three or four more venues may be added to the four that have already been confirmed. The tournament will be held between the middle of June and the middle of July. The following cities so far have been confirmed to host the matches of the tournament: Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza and Santiago del Estero. The following stadiums have been confirmed to host the matches: Estadio Monumental: minimum 5 matches Estadio Malvinas Argentinas: minimum 3 matches Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes: minimum 3 matches Estadio Único: minimum 2 matches  Read: Five reasons behind Bangladesh's win over Sri Lanka in the first ODI Who will play who in the group phase? The format of the tournament is that the top four teams from each group will secure the quarterfinals. After that, the best two teams will play the final after going through two more phases of the knockout stage.    Let's take a quick look at the two groups Group A Group B Argentina Colombia Bolivia Brazil Uruguay Venezuela Chile Ecuador Paraguay Peru  Prize Money for the Copa America 2021 The overall prize money for the event is estimated to be around $20 million. As soon as the teams reach the knockout stage, they will be awarded large sums of money. If a team makes it to the quarterfinals, they will get $1.5 million. The fourth-place team will receive $2.5 million, while the third-place team will receive $3 million. Meanwhile, the runner-up will receive $3.5 million and the champion team will get $6.5 million.    Read: What Bangladesh's World Cup 2023 squad would look like? Bottom Line The information provided above includes things you need to know about Copa America 2021. The Copa America Championship will be held after resolving all of the challenges caused by the pandemic coronavirus. Spectators may or may not be permitted inside the stadium depending on the state of covid-19 across the continent. The tournament committee is devoted to following the health regulations in order to limit the danger of coronavirus infection. Hopefully, the tournament will be well-organized.