Chile beats Argentina again on the final and become Champion for the second year

Tuesday, 28 of Jun 2016
By Pedro Carrion

In an intense match, full of friction from the both sides, the second final between Argentina and Chile in Copa America awarded again La Roja`s team and chastised for the third time in the past two years this talented generation of Argentinian players.

The final result also contributed to extend the period of fasting of Argentina, which is now in about 22 years without celebrating a title. To make matter worse, the world`s best player Lionel Messi didn’t hide his frustration, showing that his future in the National squad is now uncertain after one more lost.

The Chileans, however, nothing had to do with this. For the second time in a row, this tuff team showed why they deserve to be America`s Champion, beating the favourites in the final and showing solid presentations in their path to the crown.

The Game: No goals and Champion decided on the penalty kick-outs

Even though Messi easily took the Chilean centre-back Diaz off the game in the first minutes, the Argentinians couldn’t take advantage on their numerical superiority. With just a few shots on goal, they didn’t find their way to score, while the Chileans adventured themselves on the counter-attack.

The clearer chance of the first-half came at its end. In an unexpected gift from Gary Medel, Gonzalo Higuain got his chance of changing his own destiny, but failed again. Rage for the Argentinians fans, which had already lost their patient before, after unforgivable mistakes in both the final of the 2014 World Cup and last year's Copa. This time, the centre forward threw away his opportunity one on one with keeper Claudio Bravo.

The game intensity soon showed the jitters of the players, and also of the referee, that since the beginning tried to control the match by distributing cards. It only took some minutes until Rojo make a fault that also caused his ejection of the match before the halftime. 10 against 10 and plenty of space on the field in the second-half.

However, despite the space in the field, the tiredness of the players in this end-of-tournament was evident and impacted directly on their performance on the field. Both teams came back to the second-half with less intensity. While Argentina could not impose their possession game on the match, the Chileans didn’t scare much Romero as they did with other teams in the last matches.

Despite the desire of both teams to win this special edition of the Copa America Centenary, the Argentinians took the initiative during most of the match. Choked up by the last defeat against the Chileans, they tried to put the ball on the net anyway, anytime they got next to Bravo`s goal. However, it was the anxiety of Messi, Aguero and Cia. That prevented them to create some clearer chances during the game.

Better for the Chileans, which understood the game and knew how to cook it until a good opportunity appears. Lionel Messi tried, but even his talent couldn’t overlap his opponent. Even worst to him is to realize that he just committed the mistake when everyone was expecting from him what is always expected: glory, goals and winnings.

Today, however, Messi missed when it wasn’t suppose to. Clearly disappointed with himself, he couldn’t hide his sadness and showed his humanity saying that playing in the Argentinian squad “is not for him”. Only one evidence of a guy that cannot accept the lost because he wasn’t born for it. Let`s give him a time and hope to see him showing his talent soon again.