Messi named best player in Copa America; Argentina ends 28-year international title drought

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina ended a 28-year title drought after beating Brazil in the final of the Copa America on Saturday night (10) at the Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

Despite a lackluster performance in the final match, Argentina’s superstar midfielder Lionel Messi was elected by CONMEBOL as the tournament’s best player.

The Argentine team beat Brazil 1-0, with a goal in the 22nd minute of the first half. De Paul launched a long ball, Renan Lodi could not cut it out, and Ángel Di María scored a beautiful lobbed goal over the goalkeeper Ederson. Di Maria was voted best player in the final.

The Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, a hero of the semifinal against Colombia when he saved three penalties, won the title of best goalkeeper of the competition. However, he was not much in demand in the final against Brazil.

Besides the best player award, Messi shared the top scorer award with Colombia’s Luis Díaz, with five goals. He was also the one who provided the most assists, four in total.

Messi made three posts on his Instagram profile after the title – his first with the Argentine national team since the Barcelona star began playing for the country 15 years ago.

Before the game, CONMEBOL had also already said that both Messi and Brazilian Neymar were the best of Copa America. “It is not possible to choose just one player because this competition has two best players,” CONMEBOL said in a statement, saying that “both displayed themselves at a great level.”

The two superstars, once teammates at Barcelona, hugged on the field after the game and fraternized in the locker room.

During the on-field celebrations, Messi was thrown up and hugged by his teammates. “What beautiful madness! This is amazing, thank you God!!!” he wrote in one of the posts, hugging the cup.

Messi’s wife, Antonela Roccuzzo, also splashed with a po st on her personal Instagram of the star’s three children celebrating the victory. “Argentina, let’s go, let’s win,” sang brothers Ciro, Thiago, and Mateo.

FANS AT THE STADIUM

The few Argentineans who were at the Maracanã celebrated hard. The stadium received 10% of its public capacity – about 6,500 fans.

Everyone had to present a negative test for Covid-19 before entering the stadium, but “a considerable number of fraudulent PCR tests were identified among those accredited for the Argentina and Brazil sectors,” CONMEBOL said, prompting criticism.

The Brazilian team was seeking a second title after taking the 2019 Copa America title (which had also been played in Brazil) against Peru. Brazil became host on short notice after Colombia withdrew, amid protests in the country, as did Argentina, with the advance of the pandemic.

The decision of the Brazilian government, the Brazilian Football Confederation, and CONMEBOL to have Brazil as host when the moving average of deaths still exceeded 2,000 daily generated national and international criticism. The cities of Brasília, Goiânia, Cuiabá and Rio de Janeiro hosted the matches, and the final was held in the Maracanã, in Rio.

THE MATCH

The match began with many fouls and rough play. As early as the 3rd minute, Brazil midfielder Fred had already received a yellow card, and shortly after, Neymar had his shorts torn off in one of the fouls he suffered.

Argentina opened the score in the first opportunity of the game, at 22 minutes. After that, the Brazilians had difficulties in the first half. They insisted on attacking in the middle and were stopped by the strong marking of their rival. Neymar and Everton had shots blocked, and no clear chance was created.

With Firmino entering in place of Fred at halftime, Brazil went on the attack and had a goal from Richarlison annulled in the seventh minute for offside. Two minutes later, Neymar gave a great pass to Richarlison, who shot over the goalkeeper Martinez.

Brazil pressed for the equalizer and had the best chance with Gabriel Barbosa at the end, but the Argentine goalkeeper saved the situation.