Argentina beat Brazil 1-Zero on the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday night time to assert their first Copa since 1993 and provides captain Lionel Messi a long-coveted first medal for the nationwide crew to affix his a number of accolades with Barcelona.
It was a hard-fought match, with 41 fouls, 9 yellow playing cards, and Argentina spending a lot of the second half defending their first half lead from Angel Di Maria’s objective.
But the main points had been unimportant to the a whole lot of hundreds of individuals celebrating throughout Argentina. All that mattered was the lengthy and painful drought was over.
“I had been very shut (to successful a title) for a few years. I knew that it was going to come back proper in some unspecified time in the future, and I believe there is no such thing as a higher second than this,” mentioned a jubilant Messi, who had been determined to emulate World Cup winner Diego Maradona‘s worldwide success with Argentina.
“We’re nonetheless not conscious of what we did, however will probably be a match that can stay in historical past not just for being champions of America, but additionally for beating Brazil in Brazil,” added Messi, who was joint participant of the match.
Copa America: Messi wins first main title with Argentina
Messi might be 35 when subsequent 12 months’s World Cup kicks off in Qatar. However he’s surrounded by youthful gamers, with Rodrigo De Paul excellent within the ultimate and others akin to defender Christian Romero, marksman Lautaro Martinez and goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez at the beginning of their worldwide careers.
Whether or not Argentina have what it takes to problem outdoors Latin America and win a 3rd World Cup is an open query.
They’ve been efficient however unspectacular within the qualifiers and path leaders Brazil by six factors after six video games.
How they could fare in opposition to main European nations is an incognito. South American sides have discovered it nearly unimaginable to check themselves in opposition to prime European nations over the previous few years because the Nations League has squeezed the timetable.
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‘WE ARE CHAMPIONS’
Tostao, a Brazilian former World Cup winner, mentioned Argentina had progressed because the 2018 World Cup – the place eventual winners France eradicated them 4-Three within the final 16 – on each a person and collective stage.
However Brazil had been nonetheless stronger, even regardless of the Copa loss, he added. “Brazil are on the stage of the sturdy European sides. Argentina want to enhance a bit to get to the identical stage as Brazil and have possibilities of successful the World Cup.”
The hole in high quality between the Euros and the Copa America was evident during the last 4 weeks, with the South American recreation noticeably slower, extra truncated – and soiled.
There have been a mean of 27.5 fouls every recreation within the Copa, 4 greater than within the Euros the place additional time was included within the rely. There have been additionally 4.Three yellow playing cards per recreation within the Copa, in comparison with 2.9 per recreation within the Euros.
Argentina dedicated extra fouls than every other crew bar Colombia, in accordance with statistics within the Spanish newspaper AS.
Countering the euphoria in Argentina, Brazil coach Tite criticized their gameplan within the ultimate, saying they got down to play “anti-football” primarily based on fouls and time-wasting.
However there was no dampening the temper in Argentina.
As he watched scenes of followers mobbing the crew coach because it arrived dwelling, one TV presenter summed up the nationwide temper: “We’re champions, we’re euphoric and we’re having fun with it.”