Argentina's 3rd Time Lucky? Nothing but Victory Will Do in the Copa America
For the third time in as many years, Argentina will be lining up on Sunday for a major international final. But this time only a victory will suffice for the Albiceleste: Failure to lift the Copa America Centenario against Chile could only be interpreted as a catastrophe.
To paraphrase the great Oscar Wilde, to lose one final may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness. To lose another, then, would be a body blow for Gerardo Martino, his players and especially Lionel Messi—the world's finest football player who as yet cannot boast an international title to display alongside his unparalleled success at club level.
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The good news for Argentina is that ahead of the final, Messi has been at his very finest. It was a slow start for the Barcelona phenomenon, who missed the first game against Sunday's fellow finalists through injury.
Messi then burst onto the Copa scene with an incredible second-half hat-trick off the bench to sink Panama. That 5-0 drubbing set the tone for a tournament that has featured attacking of the finest quality from the Albiceleste.
A quintet of goals against the Canaleros was followed by a routine 3-0 win over Bolivia, with all three goals coming in the first half to assure first place in Group D. Venezuela were up next and were vanquished by a wonderful display of sustained offensive brilliance in a 4-1 rout.
The best, however, was yet to come. Hosts United States were on a roll with three consecutive victories, but they had no answer to either the majestic Messi, who repeated his Vinotinto haul with a stunning goal and two assists, and the rest of the rampant Albiceleste.
Jurgen Klinsmann's men never looked like taking anything in Houston, and it was not just Messi. From the goal-hungry Gonzalo Higuain to metronomic Ever Banega in midfield, and even the supporting cast of Augusto Fernandez and Ezequiel Lavezzi, everyone pitched in to cap a complete performance across the pitch and a 4-0 win that took Martino's men to the final.
In four games since that tense Chile opener, Argentina have smashed 16 goals, conceding just once. Indeed, against the United States Sergio Romero did not face a single shot on goal, pointing at a dominance rarely seen in the international arena.
What is more, the South Americans have advanced to the final at a time when the atmosphere on the home front has been far from ideal. The Argentine FA (AFA) suffered judicial intervention just days before the team kicked off the Copa, on allegations of administrative irregularities, according to the Associated Press (via the Daily Mail).
There were even threats to pull the team out altogether from the tournament, which ultimately—and to the joy of fans stateside—did not occur. But the chaos back home can be felt thousands of miles to the north, most notably with Messi's complaint that the AFA was a "disaster" published on Instagram days prior to the final.
"The national team is a world force that needs to have the best things; that would be ideal," Messi explained in a press conference on Friday, per Ole, clarifying his outburst.
"I said what I did because different things keep piling up on us. We have to change and start doing things right." It was a rare controversial statement from a player who prefers to do his talking on the pitch and speaks of the political impasse that continues in the AFA's Buenos Aires office with endless plots, feuds and backbiting destroying everyday management.
Thankfully on the pitch that strife has been almost imperceptible. The Argentine team has clicked for perhaps the first time since Martino took over on a consistent basis, playing fluid, attractive football. Just one hurdle remains to cap that progress again; although Chile will be in no way inclined to sacrifice the title won less than 12 months ago.
If Argentina have been a model of constant excellence over the past month, the Copa America holders have found their best form as the competition has moved into the final stages. Juan Antonio Pizzi's men were fairly beaten against the Albiceleste and showed vulnerability even in wins over Bolivia and Panama to finish Group D in second.
Since then, however, the improvement has been stunning. Mexico were dispatched with a pitiless 7-0 humiliation, and while the scoreline was not as large in Chicago, Colombia were a distant second-best in Wednesday's tornado-interrupted semi-final.
Chile hit hard, they hit fast and they use the entire pitch to hurt their opponents. In Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal the Roja possess a creative axis not far off Argentina's artists Messi and Banega, an aggressive death-metal band in comparison with the Albiceleste Mozart and Beethoven but every bit as effective on the right day.
The two sides have already met twice since that fateful final, where Higuain and Banega's penalty misses condemned Argentina to defeat. In March's World Cup qualifier, Felipe Gutierrez threatened a repeat of Chile's victory in Santiago, before Angel Di Maria and Gabriel Mercado stepped in to reverse the scoreline and put Martino's Russia 2018 back on track.
Di Maria and Banega combined to post the same 2-1 scoreline in the nation's Group D opener, leaving Chile behind on paper. Indeed, with eight successive wins in competitive matches, few sides in the world could match up to this team when they are at their mercurial best.
None of that, however, will matter on Sunday. The pressure is on Argentina to make it third-time lucky after the disappointments of the Maracana and Santiago, and while they have the ability to do so, they must step up to the occasion and prove Messi's claims of being a world force can be backed up by the trophies to match.
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