Participating in the most preparatory games prior the 2015 Copa América held in his country, Valdivia scored a goal against El Salvador (the game's only one score at Rancagua) and was included in the 23 man list to face the cup. On 12 June, he was a starter in the Copa América opening game with Ecuador: a 2–0 victory for Chile. The following group match with México, Valdivia was praised by the press for play the full 90 minutes, be trasendental in all Chile goals and for have scored a badly canceled goal during that 3–3 draw. After another highlighting match in a 5–0 win over Bolivia where assisted Alexis Sánchez in Chile's second goal, he was a key player in the 1–0 victory against Uruguay (defending champions) for the quarterfinals, match remembered by the incident between Gonzalo Jara and the striker Edinson Cavani. Following the semifinal's triumph over Perú (2–1) that put Chile in a Copa América final after 28 years since 1987,