Key events
Let’s put it this way – the last time Argentina were in a major international tournament and didn’t win it, no one had heard of COVID-19. They won this tournament in 2021, the World Cup in 2022, and now this tournament again.
They often do it without looking brilliant. But they have a mix of sublime skill and dogged determination.
Comparing them with Spain is a difficult question and maybe even a strange one. As much as the game has gone global, with most of the best players in the world mixing it up in the world’s top five leagues or their satellites, soccer in the Americas just looks and feels like a different sport than soccer in Europe. Argentina probably wouldn’t have won Euro 2024. But Spain probably wouldn’t have won Copa América 2024.
Winning in the Americas means slogging it out in the mud. Not literally, though field conditions have been questioned throughout. Messi wins by getting mes- … no, I can’t bring myself to make that pun. But you get the idea.
In basketball terms, Spain is the Boston Celtics. They won an intense but well-regulated sport. Argentina is the best basketball team on the playground, where the nets are made of chains and fouls are subject to the whims of the masses.
World Cup 2026 might be fun, right?
Argentina claim the Copa América trophy again
“Hard-fought” barely begins to describe it. This tournament has been a cauldron of insanity, but the class of the Americas, Argentina, found just enough to get through it.
We have a VAR check. We think. There’s no other reason for the referee to be holding the ball.
Borja decides to run toward the referee, as if that’ll help his case. He’s cut off by Argentina players.
This is silly. The Euro rule of only having captains talk with the ref seems to be working better.
It’s a dropped ball to Argentina. Players are supposed to be a couple of yards away. They’re not. But Martinez kicks it back toward the byline and then picks it up, and …
120 min +2: It’s frantic action in the Argentina penalty area! At least three players get a head to the bouncing ball. Several players end up on the ground. Eventually, Martinez collects the ball, and all Colombia can do is look to the referee and make a desperate plea for a penalty.
120 min +1: Not a bad buildup from Colombia, and then it’s cleared all the way down to Vargas, the only player in the Colombia half.
120 min: Colombia are playing with no poise whatsoever. Uribe finds a sliver of space and fires a long shot into the stands.
Only two minutes of stoppage time, because referees in this tournament don’t understand the concept of time.
118 min: Yellow to Lo Celso for a foul at midfield.
Colombia play a very speculative ball that sits in the Florida air until Martinez can position himself underneath it to catch with ease.
117 min: Argentina are wasting a lot of time with this sub, but perhaps we can cut them some slack. Angel Di Maria is walking off the field in an Argentina shirt for the last time. Tears are flowing. Otomendi is the sub coming in.
As long as the ref adds at least three minutes for everything that’s happened in the last … well, three minutes.
114 min: This may end with some violence, but give the referee credit here for trying to calm things down. Borja thumps Paredes in the chest, and several Argentine players make their feelings known by grabbing his shirt and yelling. Teammates break them up, though De Paul continues to walk alongside Borja and yell at him.
Yellow to Borja.
Paredes helped to win the ball at midfield. Lo Celso then tipped it into the path of Martinez, who was one-on-one with Vargas. The Colombian keeper sprawled downward, and Martinez put it right over him.
Gooooooaaaaalll! Argentina 1-0 Colombia (Martinez 111)
Perfect through ball, and he has his fifth of the Copa.
111 min: How is Di Maria doing this? He’s still creating this late.
109 min: Colombia with a good spell of possession, and Carrascal flicks the ball forward to Borja. Lisandro Martinez has to slide to interpose his body and force the ball out for a corner kick.
107 min: CHANCE for Argentina, probably a shot in Di Maria’s mind at first, but it turns into a cross to the onrushing Lautaro Martinez.
Joe Pearson: “This ref reminds me of one of the neighborhood moms, who had four boys. ‘Don’t call me unless there’s blood. Lots of blood.’”
Colombia had three subs left? They bringing in Carrascal, Miguel Borja and Uribe. They’re replacing Jhon Arias, Lerma and Luis Diaz.
The only midfielders remaining from the start of the game are Argentina’s De Paul and Di Maria. All of the other midfielders and all of the forwards on both teams have been replaced.
End first extra-time session: Argentina 0-0 Colombia
It’s hot, it’s humid, these players have played a grueling tournament, and they’ve played 105 minutes tonight. This game is one of those events that explain why Gatorade was invented.
105 min +1: In first extra-time stoppage time, Quintero cleanly flicks the ball over a midfielder and rushes it ahead with it. He plays to Diaz, who does everything but find an open lane to shoot.
105 min: I’m not sure anything is a foul any more. Some of these charges might be legal shoulder-to-shoulder contact that isn’t too reckless, but some are dubious.
103 min: Players are hitting the turf like rain falling in a Southern summer thunderstorm. They’re exhausted but are still throwing themselves into every challenge.
Corner to Colombia, but Martinez alertly tracks the ball and grabs it.
99 min: I know Rob Smyth likes to give updated formations after a lot of subs are made. I’ll see if I can figure out Argentina’s …
The first two subs were like-for-like injury subs, not that there’s anyone like Messi. Molina replaced Montiel; Gonzalez replaced Messi. After this wave of subs …
So most of the back line is intact:
GK: E. Martinez
LB: Tagliafico
CB: L. Martinez
CB: Romero
RB: Molina
L. Martinez and Romero collide as they converge to cut off a Colombian attack. Ouch.
97 min: Triple substitution for Argentina. In hockey, that’s a line change.
Off: Alvarez, Enzo Fernandez, Mac Allister
On: Paredes (Roma), Lo Celso (Tottenham Hotspur), and oh by the way, the team’s leading scorer in this tournament, Lautaro Martinez (Inter).
95 min: HUGE CHANCE for Argentina and one of the best saves of the tournament. De Paul works the ball toward the right post and cuts it back diagonally to Gonzalez, who gets a nice open shot from 12 yards out only to see the scrambling Vargas dive and trap the ball to his body maybe one foot from the goal line.
94 min: Perhaps it’s the green shirt and shorts silhouetted against the green grass, but all I saw of Argentina’s goalkeeper Martinez as he cut out that through ball was a blur.
93 min: Zzzzzz. They can’t keep up the end-to-end action all night.
91 mins: Argentina press early. Colombia seem to be doing a bit of time-wasting already.
The cameras catch Messi’s ankle. It’s severely swollen.
Subs … we think. Juan Fernando Quintero is agitating like he’s about to come in, and at least, we see the sign – he’s replacing James Rodriguez. Pity. Each team has lost their most exciting player.
Zach Neeley wonders what has become of the fans who appeared to be climbing through a vent to get into the stadium. “Did they think those work like the warp pipes in Super Mario 3?”
Liz White insists that the best cover version ever is William Shatner’s take on Common People, and I will agree that’s in the top five. I sometimes hear Shatner yelling, “You’ll never FAIL … (dramatic pause) … like common people” in my sleep, and I don’t mind it.
End regulation time: Argentina 0-0 Colombia
Yes, we should all be in bed by now. But this game has had plenty of half-decent chances, and both teams have been committing to attack, so maybe this will be a watchable session of extra time.
90 min +4: How are Colombia leaving Argentina’s attackers this much space?
They manage to get the ball going forward but lose possession near the byline.
90 min +2: Di Maria, operating on the right, gets the ball in space and barrels in on goal. Colombia’s clearance isn’t convincing.
Argentina play it back in, and Lerma tries to pass it back to a teammate, only to see the ball bounce awkwardly about five yards short of that teammate. He hoofs it into the sky to concede a corner kick.
Di Maria takes that corner, and it’s headed to Gonzalez, who mishits it.
That was the second minute of the four we’re going to get in stoppage time.
89 min: First Colombia subs at last. Rios and Cordoba depart. Borre and Castano are in.
88 min: CHANCE for Argentina, as Gonzalez rises majestically to head a cross back across the face of goal. Alvarez will regret his hesitance in racing to that spot, where he could’ve tapped the ball into an acre of empty net.
86 min: Argentina press forward and force a bad Colombia pass to win a corner kick.
Di Maria will take it in Messi’s absence.
Mac Allister and John Arias are in a staredown with mild shoving, as if hyping a boxing match.
84 min: Things are just getting strange now. Colombia play the ball forward, but Luis Diaz drags down Romero to give Argentina a free kick.
82 min: Colombia free kick in a dangerous spot, 25 yards out if that. Rodriguez, though, blasts it into the wall.
80 min: Gonzalez knocks down Santiago Arias but draws no whistle. In some form of karmic retribution, Gonzalez trips before he can shoot.
End-to-end action! That was Argentina’s best chance since the disallowed goal.
78 min: Free kick for Colombia, about 35 yards out. Rodriguez puts it in a good spot, and Cuesta gets his head to it, but it’s wide.
Romero is down now for Argentina, but he straggled back to his feet and will continue.
Goal disallowed!
What a brilliant move from Argentina, but it’s coming back. The replay is obvious – Tagliafico, overlapping on the left, was clearly a yard offside when the ball was played to him. He then tapped it to the center, and the ball is poked past Vargas into the net, but the flag went up just after the shot. The VAR check is shorter than most.
74 min: VAR check for a possible penalty as bodies go flying in Argentina’s penalty area. No PK given.
69 min: The broadcasters are trying to capture Argentina fans reacting to Messi’s emotional departure. But every time they show some fans, they see themselves on the big screen and immediately smile and wave.
We have a free kick for Colombia deep in their own half, but now Montiel is sitting down on the field. Atletico Madrid’s Nahuel Molina comes in.
No idea what happened to Montiel. We saw what happened to Messi, and the bad news is that it’s a non-contact injury. That may sound strange, but when players are kicked, elbowed or otherwise banged into by opponents, it’s usually just a painful bruise. If a player has an awkward step and hits the ground, it’s sometimes a serious ligament injury. No need to speculate here, but the concern is obvious.
68 min: Messi is in tears on the bench.
The sub isn’t Lautaro Martinez, who leads Argentina with four goals in this tournament. It’s Nicolas Gonzalez of Fiorentina.
64 min: Messi is down, and this could be bad. Replay shows he tripped and may have twisted something.
That’s it. He’s subbed out.
60 min: Cordoba gets a bit too ambitious with a back-heel pass intended for an onrushing pair of teammates, but it goes behind them.
Mac Allister, fresh from winning a challenge with an impressive hockey check that was probably just inside the bounds of what most referees would allow, fouls James Rodriguez to concede a free kick near the center circle. It floats to the top of the penalty area and is shot over the bar.
57 min: CHANCE for Argentina – multiple chances, actually. Mac Allister storms through the middle to collect a pass, and he heads it down into a defender. There are half-hearted calls for a handball, but it would clearly be a harsh call.
The ball pings around the penalty area, goes back out, and then Di Maria rips a shot that forces Vargas to sprawl and punch out for a corner kick.
Everyone’s mad and yelling at the referee. Or, as I call it, Saturday.
53 min: CHANCE for Colombia. Jhon Arias takes a long shot that’s deflected out for a corner. The ball sails to the far post for Cordoba, who heads it back across to Sanchez, who rises to get his head on it but can’t keep the shot under the bar.
Just a reminder – this game would have extra time, even though previous rounds did not.
51 min: Everyone’s whacking each other with elbows and forearms, and everyone’s down injured. And some people are slipping on the wet turf where the sprinklers operated. Ugly stuff.