Lionel MESSI lights it up in last Argentina Copa America semi final

By
Roy Nemer
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80
Jun 21, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; Argentina midfielder Lionel Messi (10) celebrates after scoring a goal during the first half against the United States in the semifinals of the 2016 Copa America Centenario soccer tournament at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

The last time Argentina participated in a semi final of a Copa America was in the tournament’s last edition which came in 2016 in the United States.

It was Argentina against the host nation and Argentina were on some roll. An appearance in the final of the 2014 FIFA World Cup was followed by another final appearance, this time the subsequent year at the Copa America. In the 2016, the team had another go at making a third consecutive final.

Lionel MESSI took matters into his own hands or in MESSI’s case, left foot to ensure that his country would qualify for the final of the 2016 Copa America. Against host name United States in the semi finals, despite only scoring one of the four goals, MESSI stole the show with one swift of his magical left foot which resulted in a goal.

It took Argentina less than three minutes to open the scoring. Ever BANEGA passed the ball over to Lionel MESSI who sent a cross in to Ezequiel LAVEZZI who headed it past the goalkeeper to give Argentina the 1-0 lead.

MESSI would go on to score arguably the goal of the tournament and one of the best of his career. Argentina were awarded a free kick and there was only one person who was ever going to take it. MESSI steps it up does only what Lionel MESSI can do. It’s a free kick you must watch to understand as words cannot do it any justice.

At 2-0, Argentina were cruising and in the second half, MESSI passed it out wide to LAVEZZI who crossed the ball into the penalty are to Gonzalo HIGUAIN. The number 9 had his shot initially saved but he would get his own rebound and score to make it 3-0 and put the match out of reach.

Argentina would go on to make it 4-0 after Javier MASCHERANO pressured the United States, the ball fell to MESSI who passed it to HIGUAIN who would go on to score his second of the game.

 

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80 Comments

  1. I know what really matters is tomorrow’s performance not past history, but its still interesting to see our head to head against Brazil given the long history of the rivalry.

    Brazil has 41 wins while Argentina has 38 wins, with the remaining 26 games ended with a draw. However, that’s only counting the matches that officially recognized by FIFA, otherwise both teams are on level term with 41 victories each.

    In Copa America, Argentina has 15 wins while Brazil has 9 wins. In 90’s both Argentina and Brazil won 2 Copa titles in which they eliminated each other on the way to win it. Since 2000’s Brazil has bettered Argentina by winning the 2004 (on penalties) & 2007 finals .

    In all, Brazil has better record against Argentina since 2000’s, they also won 4 times against Argentina in WC qualifier, while Argentina won 2.

  2. This is Brazil’s game to lose and that will make them very nervous at the venue which will remind them of their most shameful loss. They are, as far as I remember, playing a knock out game for the first time after that humiliation 5 years ago. That scar will remain. Scaloni has already delivered an above par performance and there is no discredit to him or our team even if we lose. I hope the pitch is better because if it is Messi will be a demon for Brazil I am sure. If we win, it will mark a great emotional turnaround for us. The youngsters will take off on a different trajectory. And for Messi and Aguero the ghosts of the past will be off their back. All I hope for is that we fight as hell to get the first goal. If we do that, Brazil will fall.

  3. This is the first time in this tournament that there is less pressure on Argentina than the opposing team.we all know Brazil is superior to us in many aspects.But pure passion, hardwork and determination is going to bring us glory!!!!!

  4. Ponga huevo Albiceleste!

    Pongan huevo Argentina,
    Pongan huevo huevo sin cesar,
    Que esta noche cueste lo que cueste,
    Esta noche tenemos que ganar..

    show balls Argentina
    show balls BALLS without cease
    for tonight at all costs
    for tonight we HAVE TO WIN…

    VAMOOOOS

  5. We should stick to same line up which we used against Venezuela.But this time substitute should be different.Dybla needs in 60 or 70 minutes Dybla is good in connecting with others which will help us ball possession.I think corners are our weapon we are very good in corners both at attacking or defending.Pezzela Otamemdi Aguero Lautaro are good headers.Messi Paredes good in free kicks or corner kicks.Armani is also good in corners.Brazil’s main strength is their speed.Gabriel Jesus looks in form,Firmino is not that good so far,Countinho had bad season in Barca,Everton will be nullified by Foyth.Everton takes a little time to take shot or adjust himself do Foyth needs to be fast to interrupt.The real threat is from the right wing of Brazil but there we will have Tagliafico and Acuna.Arthur is very good passer,Casemiro is solid in defending he has iron foot,I do not know about Brazil’s center backs but our forwards are very good.Allison is one of the best gks

  6. Don’t know about yall, but I’ll be pretty happy battling it out for 3rd place should the team lose. This team was a joke a few weeks ago, and they are finally starting to gel. I am be on my own here but I think Scaloni may have what it takes.

    May not seem like it now, but by next world cup…Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile will be at a loss if they’ve not integrated more youthful players…. I believe come next World Cup will be well situated to compete!

  7. One change is required Rodriguez or pizzaro must in place of acuna, parades against lone DM against Brazil would be suicidal since scaloni confirmed Aguero will be playing Acuna should be dropped. It will be much better if Argentina playing with one striker lautaro against Brazil with more midfilder plus DM.

    • This might work as it will limit space and slow the game down which will make Brazil feel more pressure to score and then we should hit them where it hurts. If i was the coach one thing i will make sure of is destroy their rhythm and close running lanes so their speed will count for nothing. Messi can take advantage and take the game to them at later stage.

  8. I think we have a great chance tomorrow, and I believe Messi will awaken the monster inside.

    What I’m worried about…. are our flanks.

    If Foyth stays at rb then he is going to have to be on point containing Everton. De Paul will need to help him if he remains on the right.
    Then on the left side both acuna and taglafico will be tested time and time again by alves. Of course couthino will be trying to open up the middle, so parades needs to control this area.

    This game will be very strategic and physical. Our defense has to stay disciplined, organised and most importantly FAST as F43K.

    Scoring first always helps in the game of futball… This game will be no different.

  9. tycsports.com/seleccion-argentina/brasil-argentina-scaloni-hablo-de-la-influencia-de-messi-en-la-seleccion-20190701.html

    Scalolni was asked about players saying “we want to win for messi” and Scaloni replied by saying that they say things out of endearment because they care for Messi but everyone wants to win.

    He’s basically addressing haters who read way too much into those comments. EVERYONE wants to win. It’s not just for Messi. Again, they say it out of respect and admiration for Messi, thats all.

    • Some will just twist,bend and work hard to create alternative universe just to satisfy their ‘beliefs’ . They will use any occasion to interpret in a way to suit their short sighted mental capacity

  10. Tite has lost 2 games in charge (over 40) in the last 3 years. No coach in the world has this record. In the last 20 games, Brazil has kept 16 clean sheets. Yet Brazil has many weaknesses. Scaloni might be tempted to bring in Lo Celso/ADM in place of Lautaro/Aguero but if he does that we will fail. We must play an unchanged 11. We need Foyth for his physicality. And we need both Aguero and Lautaro. And Acuna can play a role that few have predicted. Brazil will have about 65 per cent of possession with 15-20 shots at goal. We will get 8-10 opportunities and we must make it count. Brazil will play a high press game with a high backline and we will have 3 kinds of opportunities. 1) Messi gets past the first challenge and has space to first run and free up Lautaro / Aguero to go one on one with Allison 2) Paredes slips a pass through the midfield and provides opportunities to Lautaro/ Aguero to get the behind the defence and most importantly 3)Acuna whips in his wicked curling crosses, from upfield, along the ground behind the back line whizzing across the 6 yard box for someone to get at the end of (similar to Lavezzis pass from the right to Higuain in the disallowed goal against Germany in WC 14 finals – against a high backline). Acuna did that twice against Venezuela – one missed everybody and the second Lautaro almost got to it.

      • Brazil took 19 shots on goal against Venezuela. Only 1 was on target. They had 25 shots against Paraguay with 8 on target. They could not score in both matches. That is yet another area of weakness for them under Tite. They are not clinical in the final third and they don’t have a out and out goalscorer in their team. We have three Messi, Aguero and Lautaro. For all their midfield strength the inability of their strikers to score consistently match after match is a great concern for them. If our backline is firm and if our midfield Shields them well they will be restricted to taking speculative shots. Paredes and De Paul are key and so is Foyth since about 50 pc of Brazil’s attacks will be from their left flank with a fast one two wingplay cutting inside into the inside left channel. If our three key players hold firm they will not be able to pierce the backline. That is my expectation.

  13. I think the biggest thing we need to focus on is defense. If we can hold them off for scoring, Brazil’s confidence will fall and then we strike. Once Brazil scores, they tend to unleash on goals…

    My intake on the situation. I completely agree we need 2 forwards and Messi. Keep it the same, except maybe foyth and ACUNA. I honestly don’t know who would be better SARAVIA or foyth, either way it’s a tough call for the coach. Foyth does great tackles but also does some dumb fouls. We can not afford these with Brazil. ACUNA could work or some people say add guido.. I Don’t know if that would be good, since he hasn’t played with the team since first game. Either way can’t wait for tomorrow…

    Winner or lose, I will be watching with excitement !

    PS… if Messi is on, we will win

    • Armani
      Foyth Pezzella Otamendi Tagliofico
      Rodriguez
      Paredes De Paul
      Messi Aguero Lautaro

      Your correct Rodriguez HAS to play also he brings abit of muscle to the midfield, they would be over run with just Paredes being the anchor, Acuna and Dybala can be impact subs.

      Armani
      Foyth Pezzella Otamendi Tagliofico
      Paredes Rodriguez
      Messi Dybala Acuna
      Aguero

  17. Lautaro favourite opponents are brazilians, 5 goals in 4 matches in Libertadores and 1 late equalizer vs Brazil U20, i cant imagine we wont score at least one

  18. Those stadiums will Argentina arenas for Copa 2020:

    La Bombonera, El Cilindro, the Estadio Mario Kempes in Córdoba, Malvinas Argentina, Bicentenario in Mendoza and San Juan respectively.

    • That’s Jamie from TalkFCB. i follow him he is a great guy.Loves Messi a lot also wants success for Argentina even though he is a Welshman(Gareth Bale’s Country)
      What he meant was.Provide the ball to front 3 and nullify Brazil’s chance creations onto counter attacks Especially with Lautaro and Aguero they can really push Thiago Silva and Marquinhos.
      Silva always tries his best to save Brazil but partnering with Marquinhos?They haven’t been successful vlub football,also Paraguay threaned the defense badly. Tite’s biggest mistake was to pick Casemiro over Fabinho.Messi has always dribbled past or has beaten Casemiro in 2 previous NT meetings and also in El Clasicos.Fabinho was not 100% successful to stop Messi vs Liverpool,but when he was in there he tackled Messi and won the ball from Messi 3-4 occasions on Countering Liverpool.
      Still Never Rule out Brazil,Even as our rivals.I have my respect for them.

      But this time around Brazil are under more pressure.It will be exciting and one hell of a match if we judge practically.Messi might bring out rabbit out his hat.And we might see his Magical Passes and Momments vs Brazil.He will give his best,because he admitted he was not enough so far.

    • It’s very frustrating for opponent to close down 4312 with Messi. Both DM has to sit back to contain Messi. Also CB will need support from SB to contain two great forwards. If they don’t care anytime in the match Argentina will score. If Argentina sit back and counter attacking…it will be more interesting. If Brazil sit back and counter attack..it will be difficult for Argentina to contain them but still they won’t go all the way as the best trio will be waiting for the ball at the other end.

  24. In the last WC against France we were the underdogs. Usually, coaches of weaker teams are known to use the tried and tested formula to beat the stronger teams. They park the bus and try to score on counters. Had Sampaoli opted for the same kind of strategy who knows we could have beaten France, but thats history. Now, couple days ago Paraguay tried the same strategy against Brasil and almost knocked them out.

    I hope Scaloni & Co will try to focus more on our defensive tactics tomorrow . We can’t fight fire with fire against this Brasil team or else we are going to end up like against France. If we want to win , we will have to disrupt their flow and to achieve that Scaloni & co must have to come up with some solid defensive approach. It might not look pretty but I don’t mind if Scaloni opts for ultra defensive strategy tomorrow. With Lautaro, Aguero, Messi and Depaul we have more than enough fire power to score against them on counters. If we can score that first goal then I don’t see them winning against us. Tomorrow’s game is the biggest test of our four young coaches’ careers and it will need something special from them to outsmart Tite!!

    • Very true. I’d rather us to play a ugly football and win, especially against Brazil. Scaloni should be instructing the kids to focus on break opponent’s game plan first! Our prestigious attackers must convert all the smallest chances to close the match. I hate to say, but we can learn from Brazil in Copa 2004 and 2007, play underdog game, ugly, defensively, opportunism, and win the game.

      • Likewise!! Especially, after our last encounter , Brazilians should be expecting some sort of ugly physical football from Scaloni!!

    • Agree. You have to be smart and close the space and gabs behind our defense and play ultra defensive game and take your chances as lartaro, messi and aguero more than enough to cause damage

    • I was reading people will from Brazil association of futbol went to visit the pitch yesterday to have it examined and fixed for the match Tuesday

  27. Thiago Silva and Marquinhos may look prestigious on the paper, but I repeat the pair doesn’t work at club against any big team in champions league. Every time it’s 3-4 goals they took. For example this year against Man Utd, there were 0 opportunity and they took 3 goals. Thiago Silva tends to drop deeper for saving his ass. Marquinhos I found him better as DM than CB. I still remember his match against Barca during the famous remontada 2 years ago. Dani Alves is certainly not the same Alves anymore. Arthur is a great player but just him with Casemiro not enough balanced. He is more suitable for a 3 men midfield. Tite’s biggest mistake was not taking Fabinho with him, who is, in my opinion, as strong as Kante.

    Brazil is a lot of good names but as a team, they have their weakness. To win this game, the key is to watch how and to understand why PSG lost against those big teams during the past few years.

  29. 1st time ever Argentina is the the semis despite messi not playing good and without his contribution which rarely happened back to back 3-4 games if messi finally clicks against brazil then Argentina win 100% sure

  30. Funny, I still have that free kick goal Vs U.S. saved on my phone from that night. I made a video off my T.V. because I liked the commentary and moved the file from phone to phone.

  31. Aguero vs Firminho = Aguero
    Lautaro vs Gabriel Jesus = Lauaro
    Messi vs Everton = (You kidding me?) Messi

    Attack we’re superior, however, on the rest of the pitch.

    De Paul vs Coutinho = Cpoutinho
    Paredes vs Casemire = Casemiro
    Lo Celso vs Arthur = Arthur

    Tagliafico vs Felipe Luis = Felipe Luis
    Pezzella vs Thiago Silva = Silva
    Otamendi vs Marquinhos = Otamendi
    Foyth vs Dani Alves = Avles

    Armani vs Alisson = (You kidding me?) Alisson

    Our attack is unrivaled, but Brazil’s overall squad is better than ours.
    We just have to hope for a miracle, that Messi and Aguero finally click with eachother,

    Vamos Argentina!!!

    • Lo celso vs Arthur is close. I think Lo celso is better than Arthur. Lo celso is more creative than Arthur. I don’t think taglifico is much worse compared to felipe luis. Argentina don’t need a miracle to move into final. They just need to play as a team and hope Messi finally finds his magic. I think Argentina will win against Brazil.

      • The fact that Lo Celso scored more goals than Arthur is deceiving factor, as they both have different roles in their respective teams.

        Arthurs role in Barcelona and Brazil is to control the midfield, be that controller along with Busquets or with Casemiro, to maintain possession and create opportunities for the team. The only one who maybe helps Arthur is Busquets for Barcelona and Cesmiro for Brazil, but otherwise he is meant to support others, not the other way around.

        Lo Celso on the other has a different role.
        He is not a controller, that’s the jobs of Guardado, Carvalho, Canales, etc.
        He is meant to score, sometimes even acts like a forward than a midfielder, leading the line with Jese and others.
        He is heavily supported by his midfield, he is not supporting others.

        That’s why, in regards to where they both are being deployed this Copa America, to control the midfield, Arthur is the winner over Lo Celso.

        • He was supposed to join Betis as half 8, next to Canales and Carvalho. But Guardado has been so good that Setien is forced to move Lo Celso as 2nd forward, which was quite ok actually. But it also means that he is behind Canales and Guardado as CM. Lo Celso reminds me a bit of Guti, similar strength and weakness. Remember Guti was used as forward too when Morientes was injured during an entire season.

        • I know Arthur and lo celso are two different types of players. If this is the case then, you can’t compare those two players. Arthur’s role in barca is not only control the midfield but also takes some creative burden. That’s what Xavi did when he played in barca. If you are comparing both these players with midfield controlling abilities, Arthur has edge over lo celso but lo celso is better in terms of offensive output. Arthur is not defensively exceptional.

          • whoever it is, We have to preserve Lautaro/Aguero energy level in case we go over time. Scaloni needs to use his subs wisely. Aguero and Lautaro are good at penalties,too.
            It is better to use DiMaria first and introduce Aguero or LAutaro later on the game when the Brazilians get tired, than use him as a sub and then get fu..cked if the game goes overtime as we all know that El fideo can not go into overdrive

    • In this Copa, DePaul vs Coutinho for me

      We may be tempted to say this for Messi vs Everton too, but Messi is Messi. His mere presence itself can give the team an advantage.

  33. Recently I came across the 3 scenarios the Argentine media has on the shelf for Messi

    Scenario 1:
    Argentina wins – Messi played an excellent game and contributed much to the victory
    Criticism: Argentina are Messi dependable

    Scenario 2:
    Argentina wins – Messi did not play a great game
    Criticism: Messi did not live up to his Barca form

    Scenario 3:
    Argentina draws or loses
    Criticism: Messi failed to lift the team, is no true captain, can’t do what he does for Barca etc.

    So basically, there is no way for Messi to escape criticism in his home country.
    Meanwhile, we (the fans) enjoy his performances and hope he will do his part in the team to finally land us a trophy.

    • We are hoping for scenario 4:
      Argentina and Brazil play a great game, well even and a couple of goals each but is settled with a moment of Messi magic and there’s nothing wrong with that.

        • Yes because if Brazil plays poorly and Argentina wins they will still say they only won because Brazil was poor and not because Argentina were great.
          The young Argentine players will take more confidence with them knowing they outplayed and beat a brilliant Brazil

    • They have somewhat shifted away from messi-dependence in this tourney given Argentina’s victories without Messi playing well. But yes, he’s generally in a damned if you do/don’t situation.

    • I will not see things in this way. Every team has consistently 1-2 players on Messi. That free lot of space to Lautaro and Aguero. He just need to improve a bit his last pass and his corners/freekicks in order to be more decisive.

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