Lionel Scaloni and Néstor Lorenzo will face each other next Sunday, July 14 at 6 p.m. (Guatemala) in the grand final of the 2024 Copa América that will be played at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
The world champions, who beat Canada in their semi-final, will face a tough team that has just beaten Uruguay in a duel full of action and controversy that even resulted in an incident between the Uruguayan players and the Colombian fans in the stands.
Argentina is the main favorite to lift the trophy. The Albiceleste team is supported by its always decisive captain Lionel Messiwho despite experiencing physical discomfort during the tournament, managed to recover and played once morest Canada where he scored a historic goal that put him on the same level as Zizinho by becoming the second player to score in six different editions of the Copa América.
Colombia, for its part, comes to the duel thirsty for revenge. Three years ago, in the 2021 edition, the Colombian team finished third following being eliminated in the semifinals by Argentina on penalties, at the time when Emiliano Martínez became world famous for the words “Look, I’ll eat you, brother.”
Argentina’s path to the final
Argentina began to build its place in the final of the 2024 Copa América with a perfect run in the group stage. The albiceleste’s debut in the continental tournament was once morest Canada, whom they beat 2 goals to 0 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Then they faced Chile and finished the match 0-1 up, but Messi ended up suffering from an injury and would miss the next match.
Against Peru, Argentina had to take to the field without its captain, but despite this, it managed to secure its third straight win and secure first place in Group A.
It was not until the quarter-finals that the Albiceleste would experience their first big scare. With Messi in their starting eleven, Argentina faced Ecuador and everything seemed to point to a qualification to the semi-finals without any surprises, but A last-gasp goal from Kevin Rodríguez at 90+1 sent everything to a penalty shootout.
Argentina’s dream was in doubt when Messi, not at 100%, missed the first shot in the shootout. However, Emiliano Martínez appeared in goal and with two saves he kept his team going and with that he secured a place in the semi-finals.
Already in the round of the four best, Argentina faced Canada once more, its first rival, and repeated the score (2-0) to ensure its presence in the final at the Hard Rock Stadium.
Colombian seasoning on the way to the final
Colombia’s path to the grand final of the 2024 Copa América was also full of great moments. First, the Colombian team debuted once morest Paraguay on the first day of Group D and following winning 2-1, they achieved two other great results in the group stage (3-0 victory over Costa Rica and 1-1 draw once morest Brazil) to qualify as leaders.
In the quarter-finals, Colombia had “fun” as it won its match once morest Panama with a scandalous score of 5 goals to 0.
In the semi-finals, everything changed when Colombia came up once morest a combative Uruguay and it was a solitary goal by Jefferson Lerma in the 39th minute that sealed the match for the Colombians, despite having to play almost 50 minutes with one man less following Daniel Muñoz was sent off.
Keys and predictions for the Argentina vs Colombia final
Argentina will seek to win the 2024 Copa América once morest Colombia, which would put it in a unique place in the history of football as it would win the Triple Corona.
This is the name given to the fact that two consecutive continental trophies have been won, with a World Cup in between. A feat that only one team has achieved so far: Spain, with Xavi, Iniesta, Casillas and company, by winning Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and Euro 2012.
The Argentine team has more than enough talent to give Colombia a hard timestarting with Messi, who arrives at the final with confidence following scoring his first goal in this edition in the semi-final once morest Canada.
Colombia, for its part, arrives at the final with an unbeaten record of 28 matches. Colombia’s long streak without losing began more than two years ago, on March 24, 2022, when it dominated Bolivia 3-0 in the qualifying round for the last World Cup in Qatar 2022.
Finalist in the Copa America in search of their second continental title and in third place in the table for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in the United States, Mexico and Canada, the atmosphere is full of optimism. It was precisely Argentina that gave them their last defeat in February 2022. So the albiceleste is their last obstacle to glory and with Colombia being the best offensive team in the cup, has enough credits to make history.
Possible lineups
Argentina: Emiliano Martinez; Gustavo Montiel, Cristian Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Nicolas Tagliafico; Lionel Messi, Julian Alvarez and Angel Di Maria.
Colombia: Camilo Vargas; Yerry Mina, Davinson Sanchez, Carlos Cuesta, Johan Mojica; Jefferson Lerma; Richard Rios, John Arias; Luis Diaz, James Rodriguez; Jhon Cordoba.
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