Favourites Argentina brushed aside Paraguay 6-1 to set up a Copa America final showdown with hosts Chile and give Lionel Messi a chance for a first title with his national team.
Angel Di Maria’s two second-half goals and one each from Marcos Rojo, Javier Pastore, Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain showed why the 14-time champions were the favourites at soccer’s oldest international tournament. Lucas Barrios briefly gave Paraguay hope with a goal before halftime.
While not scoring, Messi was the dominant force, an elusive player who created three goals and several more chances in Argentina’s biggest win in a competitive game since 1947. The final with Chile, who have never won the Copa America in the tournament’s 99-year history, takes place on July 4.
“We got to the World Cup final, now the Copa America final, we want to win it,” Messi said. “Doesn’t matter if I score, as long as the team does.
Messi, a four-time FIFA world player of the year, is a serial winner with his club team Barcelona. In the last European season, his goals helped Barca secure a triple triumph of Spanish league and Cup and the Champions League. With Argentina, such success has been elusive even after completing 100 games with the country of his birth. He left the field distraught when Argentina was beaten by Germany in last year’s World Cup final.
Players came out to a thick, acrid haze created by residents of Concepcion, in Chile’s central-south zone, burning wood to combat plunging night temperatures. The smoke stung the eyes, created a bitter taste and reduced visibility in the arena.
It didn’t seem to affect Messi and his teammates, who helped carry on a recent tradition of high-scoring matches between Argentina and Paraguay. The past four meetings between the teams, including a 2-2 draw earlier in the tournament, yielded 21 goals.
“Everything was very tight, but we knew once we scored one, many goals would come,” Messi said. “We scored an early goal, found more spaces, and then it got better. We continued to play the same way, created many chances.”
Paraguay, supported by a majority Chilean crowd at the Estadio Ester Roa, should have taken the lead but Roque Santa Cruz wasted a chance in the seventh minute. After that Argentina took control.
Pastore had already missed one chance when played through by Messi, but made no mistake when the two players combined again in the 27th minute. The Paris Saint-Germain midfielder took a touch before dispatching a shot beyond goalkeeper Justo Villar.
Paraguay had rallied from two goals down to tie with Argentina in the teams’ tournament-opening game, and substitute Barrios gave it hope of a repeat with a firmly struck shot from the edge of the area as halftime approached.
That hope lasted just two minutes of the second half as Di Maria put the finishing touch to a sweeping Argentina move that cut through Paraguay’s midfield and defense.
Messi then produced a mesmerising run before feeding Pastore, whose blocked shot allowed Di Maria a simple finish for his second.
thing missing from Messi’s performance was a goal, and he almost got it in the 67th minute following another dazzling run that ended with a shot that Villar just kept out.
Striker Aguero, who like Messi and Javier Mascherano faced missing the final if they received a yellow card, got his fourth goal of the competition when he headed in Di Maria’s cross with 10 minutes to go.
With the game won, coach Gerardo Martino decided to withdraw Mascherano and Aguero. That allowed substitute Higuain to add his name to the scoresheet as Argentina continued to run Paraguay ragged. He reacted quickest when the ball broke to flash a shot into the top of the net.
After despair in the World Cup final, Messi now has another chance to add a first senior national team title to his bulging trophy cabinet, and help deliver Argentina its first Copa America crown since 1993. Paraguay’s wait for a victory over Argentina in the Copa America now is 24 games.
Bloomberg
