Uruguay players celebrate winning of Copa America in Argentina

Uruguay won a record 15th South American title Sunday with a convincing 3-0 victory over Paraguay in the final of the 2011 Copa America.

With favourites Argentina and Brazil both failing to advance beyond the quarter finals, Uruguay left little doubt about which was the top team in the region, winning with goals by Luis Suarez, who was also voted the top player of the tournament, and two by Diego Forlan.

Suarez paved the way for victory after 12 minutes and Diego Forlan added a second goal just before the break. Then both players teamed up on the third goal in the 90th minute to cap an impressive performance.

Uruguay took charge of the match early and almost scored in the opening two minutes when a corner kick was headed on goal by Diego Lugano, forcing a good reaction stop from goalkeeper Justo Villar.

Sebastian Coates was on hand to nod the rebound back toward goal, but Paraguay's Nestor Ortigoza blocked it on the goal line.

A strong period of pressure eventually led to the opening goal and it came with a bit of good fortune as Suarez brought the ball down inside the penalty area on the right and had his shot deflect off of a defender before finishing in off the far post.

Villar did well to keep out Forlan in the 32nd when he came off his line to stop the striker's shot with his legs after the striker had broken through, but the Paraguay defence handed Uruguay a second goal as Egidio Arevalo stole the ball 25 metres from goal and slid a pass to Forlan inside the area, who volleyed past Villar and inside the right post.

Only a great effort from Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera in the 54th minute kept Paraguay off the scoreboard when he tipped a volley from Nelson Haedo Valdez onto the crossbar.

It was the best chance Paraguay could create, and after Villar made a sprawling save to keep out a deflected shot from Sebastian Vazquez, he could do nothing to prevent Forlan from scoring a second goal in the dying minutes.

Suarez set it up by heading the ball into space on the left and Forlan tracked it down and calmly beat Villar from inside the area with Paraguay having pushed men forward.

It was a fitting way for Uruguay to cap its tournament, and after finishing fourth in last summer's World Cup, its fair to say that South America is no longer ruled by just Argentina and Brazil.