Hurray, hurray: Argentina celebrates winning the Copa América (Miami, July 14, 2024)
The Argentine national coach Lionel Scaloni and his staff had long considered whether to continue. What they have achieved cannot be surpassed, and the Albiceleste traditionally have the problem of finding equal opponents for friendly international matches. While the DFB selection regularly competes against the strongest, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) has no money, and they usually only play against third-division teams and rarely in front of their own fans.
Scaloni, Samuel, Aimar et cetera, all “Pékerman Boyz”, i.e. from the school of the great José Pékerman, have carried on and the result is impressive. In the final of the Copa América on Monday morning in Miami, they defeated the Colombian selection 1-0 after extra time and defended the title won against Brazil in the Maracanã in 2021 in the last international match of football god Ángel Di María. With the “Finalissima” and the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, it is the fourth final in a row won by the Silver Countries. We are slowly getting used to seeing Lionel Messi raise Copas to the night sky in his Argentine national jersey, something that Diego Maradona has never experienced. He never won a Copa América, nor was he ever an Olympic champion. At least he did win a “Finalissima” (which was then still called the Artemio Franchi Cup) in a penalty shootout against Denmark in 1993. The winning goal for Argentina, who only conceded one goal in the entire tournament, was scored by Lautaro Martínez in the second half of extra time. The Capocannoniere of Serie A gave the Albiceleste their 16th triumph in the oldest continental tournament for national teams, making the world champions the record winners of the Copa América again, ahead of Uruguay (15 titles).
There were more ugly scenes before the final. The game started around 75 minutes late after thousands of (mainly Colombian) fans had overcome the barriers to the Hard Rock Stadium and gained free entry. This led to police manhunts, injuries and arrests. The chaos was complete and the incompetence of Conmebol, the South American football association, was obvious. Thousands of (mainly Argentinian) fans remained outside the stadium with purchased tickets in their hands. It was embarrassing.
The match was predictably difficult for the world champions, the Cafeteros cut off all of the Argentinians’ passing routes. Long clearances from goalkeeper Dibu Martínez were the helpless answer. Messi was hanging in the air up front and had to drop back badly to participate in the game. But Colombia were also not active offensively. After an hour, Messi had to leave the field injured – a result of a tackle in the first half with right-back Santiago Arias (EC Bahia) on the goal line. Nico González from Fiorentina came on for him. Enzo Fernández and Alexis Mac Allister now took the reins, the Albiceleste showed more presence and character again, got their “second wind”, while the Colombians gradually lost their energy.
For extra time, Lionel Scaloni brought on Lautaro Martínez (goal-scoring ability), Giovani Lo Celso (creativity) and Leandro Paredes (sliding tackle and overview) for Julián Álvarez, Enzo Fernández and Mac Allister. The match was now completely wide open. Scaloni’s switch-handedness decided the game and the Copa: Paredes sliding tackle on the halfway line, one-two with Lautaro, who runs off, pass from Paredes to Lo Celso, Giovani ad hoc plays the ball into the gap (brilliant), and Lautaro dupes goalie Camilo Vargas. That’s how football works. A world-class performance by the Argentinians, who won the tournament because they never doubted themselves.
Uruguay took third place against Canada on penalties. Coach Marcelo Bielsa brought on the match winner Luis Suárez, who replaced Liverpool’s Darwin Núñez after the break. The “Finalissima” final between European champions Spain and American champions Argentina will be played on June 1, 2025.