Messi missed a penalty, Argentina once again gave the championship to Chile

The 2016 Copa America final between Argentina and Chile followed the same pattern as the two teams met a year ago. Once again, Messi and his teammates were defeated by Chile in a fateful penalty shootout.

A year ago in the final, Messi and his teammates unexpectedly fell to Chile, an opponent they had previously easily defeated. That humiliating defeat caused Argentina to once again miss the championship they had been waiting for for 23 years. The last time the black and white striped team stepped onto the podium was at the 1993 Copa America.

Defeating Argentina after a nerve-wracking penalty shootout, Chile successfully defended the Copa America championship.

In this 100th anniversary of the Copa America tournament, with a deep squad with many players shining in major tournaments. Messi and his teammates showed great determination to erase the streak of losing in the final. In fact, what coach Tata Martino's team has shown proves that they are a strong candidate for the championship title.

In the group stage, Argentina defeated Chile 2-1 in a match where superstar Messi sat out due to injury. Therefore, before the final match of Copa America 2016, Argentina is very confident with the service of captain Messe, a player who is in impressive scoring form in this tournament.

After the opening whistle, with the desire to take the lead against their opponents, coach Tata Martino's team rushed to attack from the first seconds. In less than a minute, they almost broke through the Chilean net. Immediately after that, the red team also responded with an extremely dangerous pass from Vidal's feet.

After about 15 minutes of exciting play, the match began to be torn apart by malicious tackles. Instead of kicking the ball, many players were just trying to destroy their opponents. A great opportunity came to Argentina in the 21st minute when Higuain faced the Chilean goalkeeper. Unfortunately, the striker who plays for Napoli clumsily sent the ball wide of the goal, much to the astonishment of his home fans.

Messi once again missed the championship after missing a penalty in the 2016 Copa America final.

The advantage came to Messi and his teammates shortly after when Diaz received a second yellow card and was sent off. Despite having one more player, Argentina failed to take advantage and then lost another player after Rojo fell into Vidal's trap and the referee did not hesitate to show a red card to force the Manchester United player to leave the field early. That was also the last notable situation of the first half.

In the second half, with a good physical foundation and the mobility of midfielder Vidal, Chile played much better. They showed themselves to be a unified team when playing football very precisely and scientifically. They continuously created dangerous situations. However, with the lack of luck of Isla, Sanchez and Vargas, they could not put the ball into the net of goalkeeper Romero on the Argentina side. Meanwhile, Argentina with many stars played extremely disjointedly and almost did not create any truly remarkable situations.

The two regular periods ended with a score of 0-0, forcing the two teams into extra time. With the goal of bringing the match to a nerve-wracking penalty shootout, the Chilean players played with concentration and were not afraid of collisions to preserve the score. The drama only began when in the 99th minute, a two-man attack by Chile took place on the left wing and a cross from Puch was headed in by Vargas, but Romero flew to catch the ball. A minute later, Argentina responded with a very dangerous header from Aguero from Messi's free kick, but Bravo, despite being a bit high, still managed to jump up and stretch his arm to knock the ball off the crossbar, saving Chile from a clear loss.

After two periods of extra time without a winner, the two teams once again had to decide the winner in a nerve-wracking penalty shootout. In the first round, both Vidal and Messi failed to take their first kick. However, with their own strength and the efforts of goalkeeper Bravo, Chile defeated Argentina 4-2.

Thus, by defeating Argentina for the second time after the fateful penalty shootout, coach Tata Martino's team deservedly won the championship. Meanwhile, by missing the penalty kick, Messi once again showed his inexplicable lack of luck in the finals he had participated in as a team.

Line-up:

Argentina: Romero, Mercado, Otamendi, Funes Mori, Rojo, Mascherano, Biglia, Banega, Messi, Higuain, Di Maria.

Chile: Bravo, Isla, Jara, Medel, Beausejour, Aranguiz, Diaz, Vidal, Sanchez, Fuenzalida, Vargas.

Cao Anh