SANTIAGO: Profile of the Argentina team for the Copa America
Previous appearances: 39 (first in 1916)
Best performance: winners 14 times - 1921, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1937, 1941, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1991, 1993
Drawn in Group B with Uruguay, Paraguay and Jamaica
Coach: Gerardo Martino
Came to the job with an impressive CV having steered Paraguay to their best ever World Cup performance, reaching the quarter-finals in South Africa in 2010, then the Copa America final in 2011, winning the Argentine league title with Newell's Old Boys in 2013 and coaching Barcelona in 2013/14.
He likes his teams to take the game to the opposition, pressing when they lose the ball and playing in their half and admits to worrying when the play goes down Argentina's end.
Martino is not looking for his team to play like Barcelona, which was 2011 Copa America coach Sergio Batista's obsession, or as defensively as Alejandro Sabella's side at the World Cup.
He has a good relationship with team captain Messi, enhanced by the fact they both hail from the same city, Rosario, and started out at the same club, Newell's.
Key player: Lionel Messi
The world's best who, after getting over the disappointment of losing the 2014 World Cup final to Germany, has had a brilliant season leading Barcelona to the La Liga title, King's Cup victory and Champions League final.
He has scored some of his best goals this year, not least the opener in the King's Cup final against Athletic Bilbao, and laid on many for fellow forwards Neymar and Luis Suarez and shown maturing leadership qualities.
His presence alone makes Argentina favourites but he has team mates who can be brilliant too on their day in Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and Angel Di Maria, capable of inspiring the country to their first title since 1993.
Messi played in the 2007 final which Argentina lost to Brazil in Venezuela and the side that lost to Uruguay on penalties in the 2011 quarter-finals when he was struggling to replicate his Barcelona form for his county.
Goalkeepers: Sergio Romero (Sampdoria), Nahuel Guzman (UANL Tigres), Mariano Andujar (Napoli)
Defenders: Facundo Roncaglia (Genoa), Pablo Zabaleta, Martin Demichelis (both Manchester City), Ezequiel Garay (Zenit St Petersburg), Nicolas Otamendi (Valencia), Marcos Rojo (Manchester United), Milton Casco (Newell's Old Boys)
Midfielders: Javier Mascherano (Barcelona), Lucas Biglia (Lazio), Ever Banega (Sevilla), Roberto Pereyra (Juventus), Fernando Gago (Boca Juniors), Angel Di Maria (Manchester United), Erik Lamela (Tottenham Hotspur), Javier Pastore (Paris Saint-Germain)
Forwards: Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Carlos Tevez (Juventus), Gonzalo Higuain (Napoli), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Paris Saint-Germain)
Comments
Comments are closed.