Argentina’s national soccer team will kick off the 2024 Copa America, South America’s biggest soccer tournament, against Canada on Thursday in Atlanta. Fans around the world, especially those in Argentina, have been eagerly awaiting this day ever since their beloved team won the 2022 World Cup led by perhaps the greatest footballer of all time.
But when Argentina captain and superstar Lionel Messi took to the field with his teammates at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, he was the favorite to defend the 2021 Copa America title. , a long-simmering sadness will follow.
Messi, who turns 37 next week and who two years ago said this would be his last World Cup, will be the last time he wears the blue and white of Argentina in a major tournament? One of the most famous figures on the planet has brought joy to many during a period of uncertainty in his homeland. Will this be the last time he represents the country he loves football for?
“He’s already saying goodbye,” said Sergio Colque, a 40-year-old electrician, as he waited to attend a casual football match in the capital Buenos Aires last weekend, according to an interview he gave Look, he seems to be getting ready for us.
Jonathan Icikson, 27, ambulance dispatcher, Last week, my friend and I were outside a bar watching Argentina play Guatemala in the last game before the Copa America. “Obviously, sadness cannot be measured in words,” he said, “but not all endings are happy. All good things must come to an end at some point.
This Copa America will undoubtedly be the end of this group of Argentine players.
Angel Di María, 36, a star in his own right and Messi’s teammate for 16 years, said he would retire from international duty at the end of the three-week tournament. Other veterans, such as 36-year-old Nicolas Otamendi, have yet to specify how long they will continue to work, but age is catching up with Argentine football’s golden generation.
“People are a little worried that this is all going to end,” Messi said of his career in a recent television interview.
When Argentina defeated France in the Qatar World Cup final, it was the country’s first title since 1986. ) led the team to victory.
But in four previous attempts and the ups and downs of his relationship with the country, Messi has failed to live up to expectations as Maradona’s successor. It’s an achievement that eludes Messi, who has won the Ballon d’Or a record eight times as the world’s best player.
However, when Messi finally did it, Argentina celebrated like never before. five million people Representing approximately 10% of the country’s population, the streets of Buenos Aires were packed with the national team for the parade, one of the largest events in Argentina’s history.
“We went through the World Cup in a difficult moment,” said Lorena Rovere, a 45-year-old pharmacist in Buenos Aires. “Then we come back to reality.”
Argentina’s economy has been mired in recession for years and still has one of the highest inflation rates in the world, at about 276% annually.
Right-wing libertarian President Javier Milei was sworn in in December vowing to fix Argentina’s fiscal problems, warning that things would get better before they got better as he laid out a tough austerity plan. gets worse. He promised a “chainsaw” approach to public spending, which he blamed for the country’s economic problems.
Unemployment has risen this year, poverty has deepened and more and more Argentines are finding it difficult to make ends meet.
The Senate this month approved a bill that Milley said would make Argentina more attractive to investors by paving the way for privatization and rolling back labor protections, among other measures. The legislation sparked protests and led to the detention of more than 30 people.
For many Argentines, watching Messi and his teammates dart around the football pitch for perhaps one last game of nostalgia provides a much-welcomed, albeit brief, respite.
“It won’t solve the deeper problems of our country,” said Gabriel del Rio, 45, a youth soccer coach and city traffic light inspector in Buenos Aires. He said his 27-year-old son had recently started applying for an Italian passport and he believed life abroad might also be the answer for his 16-year-old daughter, since opportunities in Argentina are limited.
But football “does bring temporary happiness to people,” Mr. Del Rio said. “The players know this; they know it during the World Cup and now at the Copa America. It’s about providing a temporary distraction and having some fun with the ongoing challenge.
Manuel Peñalba, a 21-year-old Buenos Aires university student who works as a freelance video editor, said Argentina “deserves” the World Cup given the problems it faces .
He said he planned to watch all of Argentina’s Copa America matches with friends. They will have to rely on television coverage as all matches of the tournament, hosted by South American football confederation Conmebol, will be played in the United States for only the second time in the competition’s 108-year history. This is part of an agreement with CONCACAF, the federation that governs the sport in North, Central and Caribbean regions.
In addition to the United States and Canada, this year’s America’s Cup invitees outside South America include Mexico, Panama, Jamaica and Costa Rica.
In addition to the obvious economic benefits of playing in the United States, the Copa America serves as a warm-up for the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Messi has recently been noncommittal about playing in his next game, which will see him turn 39, admitting it is difficult to compete at that level at that age.
Messi recently told ESPN Argentina that he believes his current club, Inter Miami, will be his last club. (Last year, he surprised many by signing with Inter Miami of Major League Soccer, a relatively new league in North America, after playing in more talented leagues in Europe (Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain). ) served for twenty years.
But winning the World Cup breathed new life into Messi. After struggling to win for Argentina – a 2014 World Cup final loss to Germany and a brief exit from the national team after defeats to Chile in the 2015 and 2016 Copa America finals – he says he is now I want to stay in the national team more than ever.
“I knew there wasn’t much time left,” he told ESPN recently.
Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni Tell Telemundo deported the country this month, saying “we Argentines are too melancholic.”
“While he is still playing, we are already thinking about the day he leaves,” he added. “Let’s admire him and see him tomorrow.”
Argentinian sports journalist Alejandro Val, who has written seven football books, including one on Messi last year, said it was difficult to imagine a national team without Messi.
But he added that the team had entered “a transitional moment” with Mr Di Maria retiring, Messi’s playing time reduced and talented young players emerging.
“To a large extent, Messi will test himself in this Copa America,” Wall said, “to see how he comes out of it and see what happens next.”
Many fans say they hope Messi can stick around for a while longer at the next World Cup, even if it’s just as a player with fewer appearances. Saying goodbye is hard. He can still bring a few more smiles around the house.
“The team knows how to play without Messi,” Mr Penalba said. “This is the end of an era. It hurts, but it’s coming.
