It had to be Lautaro Martinez’s tournament. Once again, the forward came in as a substitute and scored the decisive goal for Argentina, this time in extra time, to win the Copa America 2024. He also bagged the Golden Boot with five goals to his name.
The match had several talking points, other than the game itself. The match, scheduled to start at 5:30 am IST had to be delayed one and a half hours because of security chaos at the Hard Rock Stadium, Miami. Many fans breached the security massively, entered the stadium without tickets and the safety of the crowd was at stake. Social media exploded with images and footage of fans entering the stadium premises through AC ducts!. The incidents raise one question: how ready is the USA to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup?
A goalless 90-minute physical display of football had to be taken to extra time until the Inter Milan striker Martinez broke the deadlock in the 112th minute. To mention ‘physical’ display of football, it was in a real sense. Colombia started the game with hard tackles, committed 18 fouls, and injured Lionel Messi. In the 66th minute, owing to a hard tackle a few minutes prior, Messi had to limp off the pitch, making way for Nicolas Gonzalez. It was an unusual scene, one hardly sees Leo Messi going off due to an injury. The Argentine captain had tears in his eyes as his right ankle had to be ice wrapped.
Son lágrimas de líder, Leo 🫶 pic.twitter.com/5XUSSYUVXg
— CONMEBOL Copa América™️ (@CopaAmerica) July 15, 2024
Lautaro Martinez’s substitution in the 7th minute into extra time proved to be a successful one. He brought fresh energy into the Argentine attack. Leandro Paredes, another substitute, won the ball at midfield; Giovanni lo Celso, in a perfect forward chipped through ball opened up the path for Lautaro, who made no mistake to finish it over the Colombian goalkeeper, Camilo Vargas.
Both the teams had a few chances, for instance, Colombia forward, Jhon Cordoba hit the post right within the first 10 minutes. Messi had a shot on target blocked accidentally by his teammate, Julian Alvarez.
Di Maria had a decent game. He created a lot of chances and helped Argentina maintain control of the midfield. He had tears in his eyes as he walked off the pitch for the final time for his national team in the 117th minute.
ALTA EN EL CIELO 🏆 pic.twitter.com/vjZaBc1ssB
— CONMEBOL Copa América™️ (@CopaAmerica) July 15, 2024
The game finished at 1-0. With this win, Argentina broke Colombia’s 28-game unbeaten streak, which started after a defeat to Argentina in February 2022. Coincidentally, the scoreline in that match was also 1-0, scored by Lautaro Martinez.
As it stands, Argentina successfully defended their Copa America title; Angel di Maria finished his illustrious international career adding another trophy to his cabinet, and the world awaits further information into Messi’s injury.
Special mention to Shakira and her band, who had to fit in the performance within the fifteen minutes in halftime due to the chaos at the start of the game.