Argentina are Copa America champions! Angel Di Maria scores, Lionel Messi lifts the trophy!

By
Roy Nemer
-
106

It was Angel Di Maria the goal scorer as Argentina defeated Brazil 1-0 at the Maracana in the Copa America final.

Angel Di Maria has not been a regular starter for Argentina at this Copa America but Lionel Scaloni put his trust in him and it paid off.

Rodrigo De Paul with a ball deep from midfield which found Di Maria and the 33 year old chipped Ederson to give Argentina the 1-0 lead. Lionel Scaloni’s team were in control for most of the half with Brazilian getting some half chances but they were blocked by the Argentina back line.

Brazil applied the pressure early in the second half and in one opportunity they even had the ball in the back of the net but it was called for offside. A second effort by Brazil saw Emiliano Martinez make a big save to maintain the lead.

Lionel Messi had a glorious chance to make it 2-0 from just a few yards out but he slipped and Ederson got the ball.

Cristian Romero, who had a solid match was substituted out for German Pezzella and Pezzella with a huge block after coming on denied what looked to be a Brazil goal.

The referee blew the final whistle and Argentina were crowned Copa America champions. The first senior trophy since the 1993 Copa America!

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106 Comments

  2. Vamos Argentina! Congratulations every one.Enjoy today as much as you can.
    Next stop is qatar. Scaloni will keep more or same squad. May be Buendia and Senesi will get chance

  3. So massively happy today.

    Today the starting line up was pretty much what I wanted. But after the second half defensive substitutions, I was a bit worried. What if they a score a goal? Who will answer it now? But good thing we managed to hold on to the lead.

    The last 15-20 minutes my heart was beating so fast. But it’s over now. So happy that we won.

  4. Now no more words..no more judgements…no more opinions….just celebrate this very fantastic day!
    May be its one of the best day of all of us in our life!!
    Alhamdulillah. Hope this team will get more united day by day & will do something great in next yr’s confederations cup & world cup as well inn shaa Allah.
    This win will boost up the team’s overall confidence in the next tournaments inn shaa Allah.
    VAMOS!! Huge love from Bangladesh..💙🇦🇷🇧🇩💪💪✌✌

  5. Vamos!

    What a defensive masterclass from Scaloni and execution by the team.

    I mean Oatamendi and DePaul would have tackle a speeding train today if needed… Parades would have gone toe to toe with a bison… dimaria would have dribbled past the entire country of Brazil and scored in the pacific.
    Brazilians were playing like chickenshit for most of the match

    We were right up behind them so they were afraid to even turn aroind…

    That Oatamendi tackle on Neymar was brutal and beautiful at once. Omg what a defense..yes we actually gave an assist to Rucharlison for an offside goal and we’re still giving balls away…but tonight is about the positive.
    .it is about the conquest…the CHAMPIONS OF SOUTH AMERICA!

    Vamos! Next stop QUATAR…All the way baby….RIP through that bracket… take us home Albiceleste…
    I guarantee it..if we win the WC I will die with a smile

  6. Dear friends
    At last 28 years of heartbreak in finals come to an end. Like all Argentina fans around the world, I was also very nervous…. but after final whistle i also fell in ecstasy like all other Argentina fan…… I was waiting for this moment right from the 1998 world cup QF when bergkamp fired to our net in the dying minutes……like that we have undergone lot of turmoil as Argentina fans all around the world. Beating Brazil in maracana and lifting copa America is a special moment for all Argentina fans around the world…. Let’s celebrate this day of history………………………………… Good luck to Argentina
    A fan from India

  9. I’m ecstatic for the albicelestes, a hard fought match and a well contested tournament. I’ll be honest I gave Argentina a 10% chance of winning this match based on the what I saw in that sham 2019 copa match between the two teams, surprisingly though the ref(s) were fair because that Brazil goal was off-side by a hair and 2 years ago it would’ve been given but I guess Messi making a big fuss out of the dodgy referring in 2019 put those A-hole Brazilian officials on notice.

    The match itself was ugly as s**t and both sides were aiming for MMA style football but heck, this seems to be the norm nowadays in S.America and it sadly further reinforces the idea that Latin American football has fallen behind that of Europe.

    Few notes:

    – Dimaria should only play on the right side, that’s where he’s at his best. Then again that’s what I (and several others) have been saying for several years now.

    – De Paul is a world class player, one of the best CMs in europe and him playing in a 4 man midfield where everyone, including lazy Paredes, puts in the effort allows Rodrigo to cut loose and bring out his attacking side instead of usually having to compensate for Messi and Paredes’s lack of defensive cover.

    – You all surely have noticed how much better Montiel was this match, that’s because of the 4-4-2 structure where he had Maria and De Paul helping him out. I still think the kid is average at best and would take Molina ahead of him but this seems to be, for now atleast, the only way to compensate for Argentina’s problematic RB position, namely to apply a tight 4-4-2 structure where the RM and the RB double team on the opposing wingers.

    – Scaloni deserves praise for creating a tightly knit unit and fostering a deep team spirit but there is still one thing he needs to work on if this team has any chance of lifting the big prize of next year and that is: COUNTER-ATTACKING football.
    This team scores a goal and then sits back and absorb pressure, now this can work for a match or 2 but not throughout a tournament, especially the biggest tournament of all. Take a page out of Alex Sabella’s manual and learn how to counter. I say this because Argentina has the players for this kind of system with Messi, Kun and Maria being very familiar with countering thanks to their time with Sabella while the likes of Papu, Acuna, De Paul, Molina and Celso all do that regularly with their clubs, not to mention the likes of Licha and C.Romero being ball playing CBs who can easily carry the ball forward.

  10. The curse is broken. Champions at last 🇦🇷
    No one suffered more than Argentine fans over the last 30 years.

    Loss in WC 1990 Final
    Loss in Confederations Cup 1995 Final
    Loss in Copa 2004 Final
    Loss in Confederations Cup 2005 Final
    Loss in Copa 2007 Final
    Loss in WC 2014 Final
    Loss in Copa 2015 Final
    Loss in Copa 2016 Final

    Finally, Redemption at Maracana against the biggest Rival.

    Congratulations friends.. 🥳🤩 Now let’s go for the biggest one 🥇

  11. We have now gone 20 games unbeaten and now South American champions, The confidence is very high, but the question is can we carry this momentum till 2022 WC. We are now surely the favorites in qatar. Messi 7th ballondor incoming. Messi Will finish his career With WC.

  12. Where are scaloni haters di maria haters now?where are they who used to say Angel di maria is headless chicken?
    Due to angel de maria we won Olympic..we have levalled vs France..
    We win copa due to his goal..we need to still work out on defense and need to have a attacking mid likes of Maxi Rodriguez…we will be a strong force in 2022..
    Vamos albiceleste..we will win 2022 WC too

  13. I resisted myself from commenting here since November of 2020, for some obvious reasons. I said that we should wait to evaluate Scaloni until this Copa. Today i’m here just to express my love for this team. Like many of you, i’m not fully convinced with Scaloni either. But fuck that man. We have won at last. We have waited for so long for moment like this. I would take this ultra-defensive Argentina with strong mentality every day of week and win something over some flashy football only to see failure. This team has shown that being strong together means a lot. Flashy 11 on the paper is not everything in football. So we should be united in this forum also. I don’t have the right mind to write anything more at the moment.
    VAMOS ARGENTINA…. LOVE FROM BANGLADESH.

  16. Champions.. happiest day in my life.. maybe for all our mundo friends..we waited a long long time for this and we deserve this eternal tranquility.. thanks to Scaloni to..Messi and Maria..our ever beloved ones.. thanks for all our team members and staff.. it’s time for 🍺..cheers..happy.. happiest..our life will be in peace hereafter..fuck world cup..no matter what happens for next endless years.. Messi wins a Senior trophy along with Maria (n Aguero Otamendi ).. nothing more to ask God..thank you God n Goddess..

  18. Lutz Pfannenstiel, former goalkeeper and current head of International Relations and Scouting department at Bundesliga club Hoffenheim, thinks luck does play a modest role in football.

    “It’s about being in the right place at the right time. Skill and training can cut down the luck factor quite a lot but you still need the 20 percent,”

    In Chris Anderson and David Sally’s book ‘The Numbers Game’, football comes down to 50 percent skill and 50 percent luck.

    Anderson, an Economics and Politics Professor at Warwick University in the UK, said “football is driven more by luck and chance than other team sport”.

    “There’s the 50 percent that can be controlled, like tactics, team selection and preparation. The other half is all chance.”

    “There are sometimes situations where a ball takes a different direction and that can lead to lucky or unlucky situations,” said Berthold who added “luck played no role in Germany’s 1990 World Cup victory”.

    Some go back to the 2014 final, arguing that if Gonzalo Higuain had not squandered chances, things could have turned out quite differently for Argentina.

    Berthold, though, put that down to skill.

    “In 2014, there were quite a few games where luck Manuel Neuer were on the Germans’ side.”

    whatever the factor .. fortune favors the brave..
    today argentina weak cards of tournament shows the character of bravery …

    i hope scaloni as a manager won’t lost in achievement .. i hope he will keep improving his team more and more

  19. All the bad shit I’ve said about our team, all the times I’ve cussed at the TV when di Maria got called up or screwed up a finish, all the times our defense screwed up and I thought they were the worst defenders in the world… I take it all back!!!’
    Gracias dios, gracias messi, gracias ARGENTINA!!!
    Vamos por la copa del Mundo!!!

  21. I am so so so happy! I have always loved Di Maria and he came through big time today. De Paul was man of the match for me, he was EVERYWHERE!
    I am super excited to see how this team keeps growing. I’m excited for the WC in the winter. I have no idea how that is going to go.
    This game was thrilling. I had a huge worried grin on my face for the last 8 minutes or so. This was amazing.
    Thank you all for the great comments and commentary. I love coming hear to read what everyone is thinking.

  23. Has been following the NT from 2006 WC. Emotions are so high that I can’t even describe. Thank u Roy and everyone here for creating a platform that connects the english speaking argentine fans together

    • Same, have been following since 2011, has been a few months past a decade since I first embarked upon this magical team.

      People made fun of me and Argentina, and all of us, but today they stand in silence while we cheer!

  26. Montiel was great proved me wrong, he rarely does mistakes that is why Scaloni chooses him but he was great today. Otamendi The General was also great never doubted him. But Otamendi was consistently good in Copa America not just today.
    Emi Martinez with great saves the wall of Argentina. We can see if goalkeeper is solid player automatically Center Backs becomes good, Otamendi,Romero,Pezella all was great in this Copa America same happened at Aston Villa too. Rodrigo De Paul covered every blade of grass for Argentina Man of the Match for me.

  27. These 5 older players should be there in Qatar too: Messi, Di Maria, Aguero (supersub and Messi best friend), Papu (good teammate and vibe) and Otamendi (leader).

  29. Gracias Scaloni. Apologies to you for underestimating you. Mocking you. You knew better than us.

    You are a hero from now.
    Build an Impregnable, match winning machine for Qatar.
    Let’s make an Arabian Fairy tale next year, with all the immortals in Albiceleste shirt.

    Vamos Argentina

  30. Now finally we have some world class players (yes I repeat world class) in some positions:
    1. Lionel Messi world number 1, without doubt Ballon d’or winner again this year
    2. Angel Di Maria one of the best wingers
    3. Emiliano Martinez easily top 5 best goalies in the world
    4. Cristian Romero: His value just goes even higher than €60 million after his performance. Atalanta got a pleasant surprise for sure. One of the best center backs in the world
    5. Rodrigo De Paul one of the most complete midfielders in the world, remind me of the young Diego Simeone.
    6. Lautaro Martinez one of the world top strikers.
    7. Nicolas Otamendi, sorry haters but he is still one of the best center backs in the world.

    These 7 are at least top 10 in their position in the world. Guido is climbing up. Acuna also.

  31. Thanks to DiMaria for the goal.
    Thanks to DePaul for the assist.
    Thanks to Emi Martinez to keep us in the game. Clean Sheet.
    Thanks to the Whole team. It did not matter what form they were in but everyone fought hard like its their life depending on it.
    Thanks to SCALONI for puting up the right team formula that all the coaches failed in the past 28 years. He is a keeper he ll get better in the WC.
    And ofcourse I could not thank Messi enough. He always fought hard but the team failed him in the past. This time team stood up, used him as a decoy. But without Messi we would not be in the final. Congratulations to Messi the GOAT.
    I think we should keep some of these old players even if in the bench but play use these players in short burst. Especially, DiMaria and Papu.
    And atlast thanks to Roy ans Seba and all my Albiceleste brothers in this app. Forgive me if I ever hurt anyone. We won.
    Vamos Albiceleste.

    • I hate his diving and all that but the guy is, as they say in Argentina, a “personaje”. Very charismatic and provides for a fun viewing experience with all of his emotion haha

    • He is a fantastic player, but at the end of the day he has to stop diving!

      It’s sad to see. Vinicius is becoming just like him, and picking up bad habits.

      There is a reason Leo has won 6 balloon D’ors! He is a true sportsman.

  34. Two days ago I prayed that there would be no robbery or corruption and that Romero would play. Both happened. I was hoping today that just once Montiel would play with everything he has and he did. Thank you WARRIORS for letting this happen. On De Paul I have no words. He is a LION. Di Maria started and gave us a trophy, I will never never again call him a headless chicken here (last time) because despite all of the controversies and everything he won us a TROPHY for the first time in 28 year against BRAZIL in the MARACANA!!!! Thank you Di Maria forever and always

  35. Di Maria, like Messi, has always been my favorite player. I have never been disappointed in him. Like I said, if he had been in the 2014 final we would have been world champions.

    • I first saw Di Maria in the Classico so many years ago. His beautiful feints and speed made me shocked, and I was even more enthralled to discover he was an Argentinian! Just around the time I started to follow ARGENTINOS!

  36. Gratz everyone, It has been a very long wait….but finally we did it. Thx to all the players and coaches for giving all of us fans something to finally celebrate. We have been so unlucky in finals, finally our luck has changed just a shame that Diego didn’t live to see it…he would have been so happy…

  38. Diego Maradona quote: “I found a jewel in Angel Di Maria. Di Maria was always rejected. I remember in the game against Uruguay, everyone forced me to play other players instead of him (Di Maria), but I said to Di Maria, ‘I will die with you’.”

  39. I don’t know opinion of you guys, but to me otamendi was the best, second was montiel. What a game by otamendi, played with full of passion and madness. Montiel pocketed everton and vinicus, pressed a lot, cover the field.
    Emi with two great saves.
    My 1st comment since last copa.
    Good to old pals still active here, missing gonzalez and mamoun el pipita.

  40. This is my comment after i dont know may be after 4/5 years . so happy for the team . after this match i believe this team has the ability to win the world cup too

  42. Sheer Joy and relief. Beating Brazil in the Maracana to win a Copa America is HISTORIC.

    RODRIGO DE PAUL is a legend for me from now on. He was like 2 players today and that beautiful pass. Man of the Match
    Montiel shut the fuck us up of most of us, including me. Thank you Scaloni. You knew better than all of us.
    De Maria n Messi when they play together in a final they have never lost.. ha ha..
    I was never a big admirer of Otamandi. But today he was like Ayala
    Romero, thank you for playing
    Emi was just Emi. a new legend was made in 2021
    Lo Celso did good, but Rodrigo De Paul is playing 2 level ahead making him look much inferior though.
    Acuna, Lautaro, Paredes all did their part.
    All the other players, Nico, Correa’s,Pazzello, Pau all of you thank you.
    All the coaching staff thank you. Especially to Scaloni..
    Finally Leo, you deserve this.. I wish he had scored that last chance, but doesnt batter.
    Vamos Argentina..

    Might I also give a moment to think for Masche, Romero, Riquel me etc, who never could win a cup for us.

  43. Thanks you referees for there performance. Just thinking they came to correct things they did in 2019… After long time argentina got support of referee

  45. What a fantastic day for our all Argentine fan over the world..

    ❤️❤️🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷

    Champ is Here…..

    Never even feel the type of enjoyment..
    Now time for enjoying…

  51. Congratulations to my follow friends and Argentina fans who’s has been suffering for years Finally we did it. Thanks to God ( alhamdulillah)

    I’m sure we will be even better in Qatar

  56. 7 years ago, we lost here, in this very stadium. Possibly the most humiliating defeat. We faced criticism, hate, and burden of expectations from previous success for the next 7 years.

    But today, we are liberated. What happens in the World Cup next year will no longer matter, because now we are champions of South America.

    VAMOS ARGENTINA!!! 🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷

  57. Congratulations everyone !
    Big blog hug!
    I’m so happy, this is a great moment for all of us.
    It’s time to celebrate and stop all the inside fights.
    Now the pressure is off, it’s time to win our third world cup!!!!!!
    Salute !

  59. For all my disrespectful comments on Gonzalo Montiel, I am sorry on behalf of each and every Argentina fans here. Celebration begins!!!

    • Goalkeeper : Emi is over of the best in the world. Musso is a decent backup. We are all set with GK for 2022 WC.

      Defense: Romero is a surprise discovery. One of the top 5 defenders in the world.

      Otamedi is a warrior, he has always been. Very much suitable for deep lying defense. But in a game you’re chasing and have to put a high defense line, Otamedi may invite trouble.

      Montiel was outstanding and didn’t surprise me at all. Got good support from De Paul and Maria, and was never outnumbered. Arg did homework to control right side of defense. He is usually very good in defense but loses positioning sense when he commits forward run. He isn’t an attacking wingback, we don’t have any for that matter.

      Acuna did okay job. Lost tracking of Richardlison couple of times in second half and Scaloni immediately brought in Taglifico. This was a good move from the coach. Tagli did a better job.

      Overall, we need good backups in defense. At least one attacking wingback and a backup for Otamedi.

      Midfield:
      Paredes showed some commitment and was better than previous matches. But still he couldn’t spray out passes that was expected out of him.

      De Paul was a monster and MOM for me. He was everywhere, did everything right. He dominated the midfield and was the only Argentine to be visible and noticed in the midfield.

      Lo Celco: poor game for his standard. Was out of energy in the second half and could not track back Danilo and Richardlison in the beginning of second half which put Acuna in 1 vs 2 situation and could have cost us a goal.

      Overall, we need couple of midfielders who have better control over ball and can keep possession or make pass under stress.

      Attack:
      Messi choked; not unexpected.

      Maria is always a big match player.

      Martinez: Ran a lot.

      Our attackers have to do so much defense work that they soon become exhausted and can’t concrete on attack. You need that spur or surge of energy to beat a defender or make yourself available for a pass when in counter attack. When Messi got that ball in final moment, he was already exhausted and struggling to control the ball.

      Maria and Messi will probably stay around next year. But we need a backup for Martinez – specially someone who is good in air.

      Finally Scaloni: His substitutions came out good but were very risky. Had Argentina concede a goal, they were in no position to return that back and would have only played for penalty shoot-out. Not sure why he brought in Pezzela for Romero, maybe he thought the former is better in air and closed space. Scaloni is very defensive minded which I don’t mind though this can cost us big time, but he needs to learn how to counter attack and keep possession under stress.

    • Fuck them , i hope they loose to Italy otherwise all media will go crazy and praise them to the end of the world. They will forget even Argentina won a trophy.

      • who cares? England play like Scaloni’s Argentina btw, the most tactical team, who rather manage the game with the best defense instead of playing it spectacularly. Big team mentality,they know what they want just like Argentina, i dont see Italy winning.

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