By topping the final stage of the tournament Argentina took their fifth South American under-20 title and secured a return to Olympic football, having failed to qualify for London 2012.

The Argentinian team knew that if they avoided defeat against Uruguay in the final match of the tournament they would seal top spot in the six team final stage, but fell behind in the opening 10 minutes.

Uruaguay's attacking midfielder Gaston Pereiro scored his fifth goal of the tournament to put the home side into the lead, with strike only the second that Argentina had conceded in the final stage of the tournament.

Fortunately for Argentina their side have proved to be a free scoring outfit throughout the competition, firing in 14 goals in the four match group stage and their striker Sebastián Driussi struck their ninth goal of the final stage to level the scores.

The game remained tight heading into the final 10 minutes, but Atletico Madrid's Ángel Correa late goal sealed top spot, Rio 2016 qualification and a place at the 2015 FIFA under-20 World Cup for Argentina, having only recently returned from six months out after heart surgery.

The Atlético Madrid connection in the Argentina squad continued as Giovanni Simeone, son of the La Liga club's manager Diego was awarded the top goalscorer award after nine goals in the tournament.

In addition to missing out on the under-20 title, Uruguay will not qualify for the Rio Olympics after Colombia beat Brazil in their final match.

Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero were members of the Argentina team who won Olympic gold medals at Beijing 2008, a title they were unable to defend after failing to reach London 2012 ©Getty Images



The result meant Colombia finished as runners-up and sees them advance to the Olympic play-off match against a team from CONCACAF, for the right to join Brazil and Argentina.

The Olympic football tournament will see 16 under-23 teams compete for the Olympic gold from all six Confederations, with teams allowed three overage players each in their squad.

Host Brazil will be hoping to win their first Olympic gold medal in football, as the five time World Cup winners have finished runners-up on three occasions, most recently at London 2012 where they were beaten by Mexico in the final.

After reaching the final stage of the under-20 South American championship Brazil, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay will take part in the Pan American Games football competition in Toronto, Canada from July 12 to 24.

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