Messi might have to just accept now that it is not meant to be. Incredible. Well Argentina is forever... Argentum (silver)
The biggest choke artist I ever seen. How many videos can we put up with him missing easy chances in big games.
Messi ganhará a 5ª Bola de Ouro. Mas pela seleção jogou + uma decisão sem assumir protagonismo e desequilibrar. Falta um pouco de Maradona.— André Rocha (@anunesrocha) July 4, 2015 @celito
Grats to Chile, they finally get a well-deserved title after years of playing their own unique way. Going to be a hell of a qualifying season if Chile and Peru play to this level.
To be fair if Higuain finishes at the 90th+ minute he would have been credited with creating the goal that won it (and correctly so).
Incomprehensible why Tevez didn't come to play. Also, he takes PKs very well, in spite of having missing one in another Copa América (but who doesn't, from time to time? Even greats like Zico did it). What's wrong with the coach? Messi, again, not decisive, not hungry enough, in the most important game. I'd say there *is* something wrong with him in these national team tournaments. He was instrumental in the win against Paraguay but then disappeared again when most needed. It is very hard to grant to Messi the honor of Greatest of All Time if he can't win titles with the national team and will forever only win with club. Sure, other greats didn't win titles with their NTs either, but they played for either non-powerhouses, or didn't have such clear opportunities to come up on top. In the WC final and in today's final, Messi was almost there. He just needed to actually show up and play, create attacking plays and assists; or score himself. Nope. He didn't do it. He can't aspire to be considered for GOAT over the likes of Maradona, Pelé, and Ronaldo the phenomenon, who actually did it, both for club and country. Di María out, and Argentina suffers, just like in the World Cup. I'm starting to believe that Di María is the most essential player for this offense, not Messi. This generation of Argentine players is brilliant. They have people like Messi, Di María, Mascherano, Agüero, among other great players, and can even afford the luxury of having subs like Higuaín and Tevez; they have a good goalie too. But then, they don't seem to be able to win any titles - more than two decades without a title, while in the same interval Brazil won two World Cups, four Copa Américas, and four Confederations Cups. Sure, Brazil is down now, playing horribly and maybe only the 5th or 6th best in South America if that high (it's not impossible that we'll not qualify for the 2018 World Cup) but at least, there's been some titles in relatively recent years. Argentina on the other hand has a much better team, but can't win. I think that Argentina played a great tournament and most importantly, played clean, and together with Peru, was one of the only two teams that most of the time tried to play football instead of resorting to diving and violent fouls. Also, neither Argentina nor Peru had refs on their side, and we can't say the same for all teams. So, congratulations Argentina for the sportsmanship. But the issue of not knowing how to actually win titles will hinder the memories of this generation of players. Maybe the Argentinians should revise their lack of solidarity with their South American brothers when they started the expression "Brasil, decime qué se siente" - because as a matter of fact, the expression applies to them as well, for frustrating all expectations. There hasn't been a tournament lately (and by lately you can look at a couple of decades) involving South American teams in which Argentina wasn't the favorite or at least one of the two favorites... with the end result of ZERO titles. So, people with glass houses should not throw stones. The "Brasil, decime qué se siente" may have turned out to be a bit premature. Sure, Brazil got humiliated by Germany, but at least won many titles in the last two decades, while Argentina came up empty. It would be valid for Germany to say so (but then, they didn't; they were very classy and generous winners), but I'm not sure if Argentina's string of disappointing finals and inability to win titles enables them to be so disrespectful to their neighboring rivals. Still, right after Brazil was eliminated by Paraguay, sure enough one of the newspapers in Buenos Aires rekindled the insult. So, I'd hope that with still another defeat in a final, the Argentines will put down once and for all this kind of tease, so that they don't expose themselves to be teased the same way. Still, like I said, they were deserving vice-champions and the team with the best sportsmanship in the entire tournament, and for this, I congratulate them.
Tevez sucks for Argentina. They will tell you that themselves if you go on there boards. I don't think he makes a difference. PK are a crapshoot.
Di Maria has been the most important in their offense for a while now. Messi shines against the minnows as usual. But I agree with the rest of this post. It feels like Brazil in the 80s, couldn't win anything but entertained us, difference is that 80s Brazil entertained even when we lost! They never not show up for a match like this.
Tevez with fresh legs at the very end of the game and hungry could have made a difference, I think. Not for full time, of course, but it's hard to understand, when everything else was not working, why not to try bringing him in.
Yes, then one starts to wonder... Messi accumulates all those goals for La Liga, but then, La Liga is full of minnows as well... It's been basically a two-horse race forever, and then lately a three-horse race, with the other 17 teams being insignificant. Messi plays well against Paraguay, and then disappears against any tougher team. He goes to these real grown men contests in major tournaments, and is always a non-entity in the final game... LOL. So much for Greatest of All Time. He seems to only do well against shitty defenses and when helped by some of the best players in the planet when with Barcelona.