After 28 years without titles, a desert that made even Lionel Messi sweat with suffering, the Argentine team finally climbed the highest peak on the continent, the soccer-loving Aconcagua, in the Copa América Brazil 2021. It seemed like the ceiling but then the Albiceleste reached the summit of the Everest of sport, the Qatar 2022 World Cup, and was received by five million people in Buenos Aires, an unprecedented mobilization even for a country with a tradition of street demonstrations.
Accustomed to running historical markers, the challenge that the Lioneles team, captain Messi and coach Scaloni, will begin to undertake this Thursday against Canada in Atlanta, at the start of the 2024 Copa América in the United States, also has no precedent in the continent: no team has won three consecutive official titles. If Argentina’s current streak, the World Cup-Copa América combo, was barely achieved by Brazil in 2002 and 2004, now Messi and his team will go for a record that in Europe only two-time continental champion Spain achieved in 2008 and 2012 with the 2010 World Cup like the ham in the sandwich.
“After a week in which the future of the country was raffled off and the national heritage was auctioned off, Argentina is racing for the Copa América,” the satirical magazine Barcelona published a few days ago, more seriously than jokingly, in reference to the approval in the Senate of the Bases Law, the legislative engineering for the dismantling of the State that Javier Milei intends, and the first official tournament that the Albiceleste will play after the collective delirium that aroused in the last World Cup. With the Scaloneta as the greatest point of consensus among Argentines, perhaps the only one, the country will once again surrender to Messimania without distinction of political ideologies – from the most rancid right to the most utopian left -, economic realities, ages, genders, football teams, numbers of followers on social networks or favorite Big Brother characters.
In his seventh Copa América after his debut in 2007, Messi will become the footballer with the most appearances in the history of the competition against Canada, with 35, one more than Sergio Livingstone, the Chilean goalkeeper of the 1940s. Stripped of the heavy weight Compared to Diego Maradona – who, on the other hand, never won the Copa América – the Rosario genius no longer has any outstanding accounts but he still has objectives. About to turn 37 – it will be on Monday the 24th, in the middle of the tournament -, his time at Inter Miami in the MLS summarizes a period of greater enjoyment and less demand, although in the Argentine team he always returns to his competitive gene.
Favorite of Group A, which it also shares with Chile and Peru, in addition to Canada, Scaloneta will present its two new offensive promises, both 19 years old, Alejandro Garnacho (from Manchester United, born in Madrid but with an Argentine mother) and Valentín Carboni (from Inter in Italy, loaned last season to Monza, and defined by Messi as “present and future”). The big change, however, began to take place in the middle of Qatar 2022, when Julián Álvarez (24, Manchester City), Alexis Mac Allister (25, Liverpool) and Enzo Fernández (23, Chelsea) won the title in full competition and despite of his youth were key for Argentina to win a World Cup after 36 years, after Mexico 1986.
In the United States, Scaloni will have a team very similar to that of Qatar 2022, with the same defensive base between Emiliano “Dibu” Martínez, the goalkeeper who won the position in the previous Copa América, Brazil 2021, and the central duo. between Nicolás Otamendi and Cristian “Cuti” Romero. The group’s winning spirit also seems firm: after the first six dates in the South American qualification for the 2026 World Cup, the Albiceleste occupies first place. Not only that: of the 14 friendly and official matches that it played after the epic definition against France in December 2002, Argentina won 13, including a historic victory against Brazil in the Qualifiers, the second in a row for the Scaloneta at the Maracaná after the one achieved for the definition of the Copa América 2021.
But beyond the other natural protagonists to win the title, such as Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia and some surprises – Argentina and Messi lost two finals in a row against Chile in 2015 and 2016, the second in the United States -, the Scaloneta will also have to compete against herself. One of the biggest challenges for the current champion is to avoid losing hunger after the two consecutive titles in 2021 and 2022. At the end of last year, when Scaloni surprised by announcing that his continuity at the head of the national team was in doubt, some specialists interpreted that the coach had perceived a certain relaxation of the players, especially due to the 0-2 against Uruguay in Buenos Aires, one of the two defeats of the cycle in the last 51 presentations.
The tournament in the United States will mark the farewell of Ángel Di María, at 36 years old, from the Argentine team. After 140 games and 31 goals, Fideo finished clearing the fans’ doubts in Qatar 2022 and established himself as one of the great footballers in the history of the Albiceleste. A goal of his, precisely, defined the 2021 edition of the Copa América at the Maracaná and gave Argentina its first title in 28 years, after the Olympic return in Ecuador 1993.
Messi’s future, on the other hand, seems assured even after the Copa América. Although he said that he will make the decision about his continuity on a day-to-day basis, he also gave signs that he will continue in the national team until his farewell performance in the 2026 World Cup, also to be played in the United States – along with Mexico and Canada -, becoming the final yard of his career. For now, his, and Argentina’s, new challenge will be to complete what no team in the history of America could do, three official titles in a row, a Copa América and World Cup sandwich.
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