Argentina relied on a goal from Lautaro Martínez to beat Colombia in the Grand Final

A new saving goal by Lautaro Martínez, in the 112th minute, gave Argentina the victory over Colombia, its sixteenth title of the Copa América USA 2024 football tournament and the extension of a winning cycle that includes a historic treble (Copa América-World Cup-Copa América).

It was a meritorious victory, because Lionel Scaloni’s team overcame a poor start and the injury of Lionel “Leo” Messi in the 65th minute to give the impression that, as their coach says, they always find solutions to problems.

It was not an ordinary final. It started with a scandal four hours earlier, when a stampede of fans without tickets caused the closure of all the entrances to the stadium and the subsequent postponement of the start of the match by almost an hour and a half. And it ended with a stroke of efficiency from Lautaro Martínez, who has only needed a few moments in each match to lead the table for the gunners with five goals.

In a pressure cooker, with the capacity overflowing with excited fans, it was Colombia that entered the match in the best way.

Colombia played well

Néstor Lorenzo’s team is better at handling emotions. They enjoy it when the game speeds up and the disputes with the ball are more frequent. Argentina, on the other hand, prefers to control the game and, except for Ecuador at times, no one has challenged them in this tournament.

For this reason, despite Julián Álvarez giving a warning in the first minute, it was the Colombian team that dominated the proceedings and came close to scoring with a shot from Jhon Córdoba that hit the post (m.7) and a shot from Jefferson Lerma from outside the area that forced Emiliano Martínez to shine (m.34).

Despite Messi being more active in this first half than in recent games, the Albiceleste never felt comfortable. They had trouble blocking the leak that Santiago Arias opened on the right and saw the alarm bells ring when a hard tackle on the ankle by the current substitute Daniel Muñoz – which might have cost him a sending off – made the number 10 limp until the end of the first half.

Extended halftime

After half-time, which was extended to 26 minutes by Shakira’s performance – this time it didn’t matter that the stipulated quarter of an hour was exceeded – the Tricolor continued to take the initiative.

Arias gave a warning with a cross shot, then Dávinson Sánchez headed in a header following a long corner also headed by Córdoba, but it was Ángel di María who came closest to another date with glory, with a shot that fell wide and was blocked with difficulty by Camilo Vargas.

But the night did not look good for the Albiceleste and following the hour mark their key player was injured. It was while sprinting following Luis Díaz in the centre of the field. Messi, who was still limping from the action in the first half, noticed that his ankle was giving way, threw himself to the ground and asked to be substituted. The shock that this caused was so great that even the fans barely reacted.

It wasn’t until a couple of minutes later that the stadium began chanting his name, following the video scoreboard showed the captain’s tears on the bench.

To add to the drama, Gonzalo Montiel was called out to the pitch shortly followingwards, asking for a substitution, and almost immediately following, a goal was disallowed for Nicolás Tagliafico’s prior offside on Nicolás González.

The entrance of the Fiorentina striker, who was close to scoring once more with a header, had an invigorating effect on the Albiceleste, who finished the match in the Colombian area, with Nico always the protagonist of their attacks.

The definition of the cap

However, with the match in tangled conditions, with constant interruptions due to fouls, the final entered the realm of errors and, above all, the fear of losing before an overtime that became inevitable.

At the start of extra time, Néstor Rodríguez withdrew an unused James, who was replaced by Juanfer Quintero. Camilo Vargas saved his team following another shot from Nicolás González and Scaloni changed his midfield, with Rodrigo de Paul as the only survivor, and brought on Lautaro Martínez, in search of a winning move for the ‘Toro’.

Lorenzo did the same for the last quarter of an hour, with Miguel Borja replacing the missing Luis Díaz and a fresh midfield.

But of course, Lautaro Martínez appeared, to score another vital goal in the 112th minute, a goal that wins a title, that retains the crown on Messi’s head, says goodbye to Di María, who was substituted in the 116th minute, with a title, and makes him a legend.

Miami / EFE