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Lionel Messi was all smiles. Argentina had just seen off Canada to force passage into another major final, their team’s relentless form of the past five years maintained and conviction bolstered that they will retain the Copa America title won four years ago.
“This is so beautiful, and it’s something we should value,” Messi said. “I’ve been saying that to play in another final, to play in four straight finals… what this group of players is doing is something to be proud of. We should value it and recognize it.”
There is little doubt now that this group of players — led by Messi, their venerable captain — are the best Argentina team of all time.
The Copa’s defending champions have lost just twice in 61 matches, a sequence stretching back half a decade. In that time they have won the 2021 Copa America, the 2022 World Cup and the inaugural Finalissima against European champions Italy in 2023. Beating Canada 2-0 on Tuesday night at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, already confirmed as the venue for the 2026 World Cup final, leaves Argentina 90 minutes away from another major tournament trophy.
MetLife Stadium witnesses Argentina’s greatest-ever team (Stephen Nadler/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
Messi has now led his national team to seven finals. But before lifting the Copa America trophy in 2021, he had only suffered crushing defeats on the grandest stages, which clouded his legacy with Argentina.
The 2014 team that lost to Germany in a World Cup final that went to extra time featured many of the same players who then lost the 2015 and 2016 Copa America finals. In recent years, Messi has made an effort to honor the teams and players deemed losers by Argentina’s fanatical footballing culture. Today, Argentina’s players are national heroes who have shown an unrelenting hunger to win.
The stadiums in which they have played in the United States over the three weeks of this tournament so far have been filled to the brim with fans clad in blue and white. Back in Buenos Aires, the country is eager to celebrate another title. There is a belief that this team have fortune on their side, unlike those sides who faltered in their biggest moments before 2021.
“We’ve done this before and it wasn’t valued, maybe because we weren’t lucky enough to win,” said Messi. “Those teams also played in Copa America and World Cup finals. But now we need to enjoy this moment.
Messi was all smiles in New Jersey on Tuesday night (Elsa/Getty Images)
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