Argentina’s time to prove that they are worthy of being the best in South America is running out. On paper, this team should have won at least one Copa America and were one Gonzalo Higuaín on target shot from winning last year’s World Cup. The reality is that history only remembers the trophy winners and decades from now when a fifteen year old soccer fan is looking back at history at this group of players such as Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez, Angel Di Maria and Javier Mascherano they will not see Argentina as having won any of the major senior international tournaments, World Cup and Copa America.
In the time span of Argentina’s golden generation of players, which runs from roughly 2006 through today, Italy, Spain and Germany have won the World Cup, while Brazil and Uruguay have won the Copa America. The next World Cup is three years away when Messi, Aguero, Di Maria and Higuaín will all be 30 while Tevez and Mascherano will be 34. They will still be serviceable and outside of Messi and perhaps one or two others, most will be past their prime. While there is no guarantee that the current up and coming crop of players will pan out, we would be kidding ourselves if we didn’t think that Argentina won’t be able to produce more quality players in the future. However, the current generation, which has won so much on a club and individual basis, baffles fans as to how they haven’t been able to get it together and lift one trophy as a team.
The argument could be made that even if Argentina doesn’t win this year’s Copa America, there is a special centennial one next year, Copa America Centenario in the U.S., so Argentina will have a shot then as well at another cup. Unfortunately, the winner of next year’s tournament, officially on the FIFA calendar, will not qualify for the Confederations Cup as normally occurs in the regional tournaments. Meaning that the winner of this 2015 Copa America will be the recognized South American Champion, no matter what happens in 2016. The other issue with thinking that there will be another opportunity next year is that the fall out of all the FIFA corruption has left the Copa America 2016 hanging in the balance after it was revealed that up to one third of the money spent to secure the rights to the tournament were in bribes.
Sizing up Argentina’s competition at this current Copa America, Argentina are once again in prime position to win the whole tournament. Argentina’s main rival, Brazil, does not have the intimidating look to them that teams in the past did and with Neymar playing with a hot head, it’s only a matter of time before Brazil implodes. The highest ranked team Colombia struggled in their opener against Venezuela, despite boasting a roster full of goal scorers. They improved enough to beat Brazil in their next game; however, their defense still looks suspect, while the players don’t seem to play as a cohesive unit. The tournament hosts have been the hottest team, however, their momentum has come to a grinding halt when their star player, Arturo Vidal, got into a drunk driving accident. Their group competition has been stiffer than expected as they blew a 2-0 lead to Paraguay to tie and grinded out a tough 1-0 win over Uruguay, however, no one has escaped their first two games unscathed.
Argentina has been criticized for not having a midfield. They have star strikers but the support has never been there. The emergence of Javier Pastore at PSG this past season and with the national team adds an element to the midfield that hasn’t always been there, a field general. Pastore’s arrival takes the pressure off Angel Di Maria to be the sole midfield playmaker, while Ever Banega and Javier Mascherano keep their defensive midfield positions and help out a back line that may be on their final legs as a group.
As Argentina look to close out Group B play against Jamaica and prepare for the knockout stages of the tournament, they still have the look of a team that can win it all; however, the burden of expectations will prove how far Messi and company will go.
