Lionel Messi must again accept the bitter reality of failing to qualify for the 2019 Copa America’s final. This is the 4th failure of the Argentina national team with Messi in their work on the Copa America. Three previous failures were in the 2007 edition of the Argentina final 0-3 defeat to Brazil at Estadio Jos Pachencho Romero, Maracaibo, Venezuela. In the 2015 edition, Argentina again failed to win after losing to host Chile in a shootout with a score of 1-4. The 2016 Copa America edition returned Argentina defeated 2-4 from Chile in a penalty shootout.
In the match that took place at the Estadio Mineirao Belo Horizonte, the hosts Brazil faced their classic rivals, Argentina. In the interview after the match, Messi felt dissatisfied with the performance of the referee. Messi felt the referee from Ecuador, Roddy Alberto claimed to be more siding with the Brazilian home team because during the game did not use the video assistant referee (VAR). Moreover in the match there were several incidents that should have been able to use VAR, such as when Sergio Aguero was violated by Dani Alves in the Brazilian penalty box in the second round.
“They, the referees always gather nonsense in the Copa America and they don’t check it. Referees don’t want to use VAR. I hope Conmebol does something. But I don’t think they will do anything because Brazil regulates everything.” Messi said. Nevertheless the player who got the nickname La Pulga believes that the Argentina squad needs to get appreciation for the achievements in the 2019 Copa America.
Messi felt the appearance of the Argentine team having played a great match with a good effort. Some opportunities were created but had to hit the goalpost. Everyone had predicted that the Copa America 2019 could be Messi’s last event with the national team. But it turns out the ‘Messiah’ has confirmed that he will be willing to fulfill the national team’s call in the future if he is still needed. The players on this team show that they love the national team very much. They have a future especially those who are young at Argentina at this time.
Messi promised to accompany this squad in future Tango Team events because Argentina has the potential to continue to grow. 2020 is the Copa America event which takes place in Argentina as the host with Colombia. Besides that, it is also important that the 2022 Qatar World Cup qualification is targeted to qualify for the final round.
Lionel Messi will remain an important phenomenon in the Argentina squad. When losing in the 2019 Copa America semi-final, Messi no longer needed from anyone because he was able to provide for himself. In the middle of the field he looks tough and is not fragile to be able to accept what is happening and increasingly does not care about what people think. Messi now looks like he doesn’t want to burden himself with things that are beyond his ability. Lionel Messi still exists with the Argentina national team at least until the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
