With England vs Spain acting as the appetizer, Argentina and Colombia, two of the best teams in terms of form in the world right now will square off in the Copa America final concluding the festival of international football that began last month in the United States and in Germany with UEFA, CONEMBOL, and CONCACAF all participating in their major international tournaments. This is a fitting match for the final with Argentina the most recent Copa America and World Cup champions, and a hungry underdog Colombia team going without defeat in 28 consecutive matches. Our panelists offer their predictions.
Argentina vs Colombia (Sunday in Miami)
Steen Kirby: The conventional wisdom is that Argentina will win, Lionel Messi, the captain and emotional leader of La Albiceleste is playing at his third home base of Miami (alongside Barcelona and Argentina), where he plays club football in MLS for Inter Miami, this Argentina team just doesn’t lose as they hold Copa America and the World Cup trophy, and can now repeat in the Copa America while looking ahead to the next World Cup where they will be among the top four teams. Colombia has rarely been a threat to Argentina in South American football, very much the “little brother” side, Los Cafeteros are experiencing a huge upsurge in performance, the current team that wears the iconic yellow jersey is as good as, if not better, than the golden generation for Colombia of the late 1980s and early 1990s, that team was famous for a 5-0 defeat of legendary Argentina. The current Colombian team can watch that match for inspiration as they are clear underdogs in this final but will have plenty of fan support, and if Colombia wins Copa America will be a national holiday for the whole week.
Two players for Colombia have revitalized their careers and reputations this tournament, James Rodriguez the attacking midfielder has been involved in nearly every positive thing that has happened for Colombia this tournament, contributing on assists and scoring goals for his nation 10 years after he burst on the scene at the 2014 World Cup. Rodriguez has played better than Messi this tournament, but he has only seen limited action at Sao Paulo FC in the Brazilian league.
After two wins and a draw in the group stage, Colombia dominated Panama and slipped past Uruguay, defending valiantly with a man down in the second half. Davinson Sanchez, a 28 year old defender from Galatasaray has been their best defender, stepping in to replace an injured player, the longtime Tottenham defender has been less noticed in the Turkish league but he is playing great. Jhon Cordoba from FC Krasnodar in Russia has been their third highest rated player as an effective striker, he has outplayed his teammate, Luis Diaz from Liverpool while Jefferson Lerma and Daniel Munoz from Crystal Palace have also been solid.
Argentina has slightly more talent and slightly better players, if it goes to penalties, Emi Martinez in goal is a match winner, but there’s an energy, a confidence, and a chemistry about Colombia that can spur them to an upset, especially since Messi hasn’t been quite his best this tournament. If Colombia can handle Lautaro Martinez, they will win. Prediction: Colombia 2 Argentina 1
Ben Gray: The 48th edition of Copa América will crown its champions in Miami on Sunday night, so can Argentina retain their title, or will this be an historic triumph for Colombia?
Having endured a 28-year trophy draught, broken by Copa glory three summers ago, Argentina have subsequently also hoisted aloft the World Cup in Qatar, now seeking to capture back-to-back Copas for the first time since 1993. Winning this trophy would also advance them to top of the Copa America all time winners list ahead of Uruguay (who were defeated in the semifinals by Colombia).
Lionel Scaloni’s side have largely cruised through this competition, their toughest test coming in the quarter-finals against Ecuador, conceding a stoppage time equaliser in Houston, as la Tri forced a penalty shootout.
Lionel Messi attempted an audacious Panenka, but this caressed the crossbar, but luckily for him, Emi Martínez is the penalty shootout king, saving Ecuador’s first two attempts, as the world champions progressed.
Then, in Tuesday night’s semi-final at MetLife Stadium, la Albiceleste proved to be simply too strong for Canada, with Julián Álvarez bursting in-behind to break the deadlock, before Enzo Fernández’s shot was diverted in by Messi, his first goal of this tournament, sealing a 2-0 win.
So, Argentina have now reached six of the last eight Copa América Finals, their sole triumph during this period coming at an eerily empty Maracanã in 2021, but Hard Rock Stadium will be packed to the rafters for this one, so will la Albiceleste triumph again?
In contrast, Colombia have only ever won this competition once since debuting all the way back in 1945, prevailing on home soil back in 2001, with this set to be their first final appearance since then so, make no mistake about it, this’ll be a huge occasion.
Los Cafeteros topped their group unbeaten, pipping Brazil to first place, before hammering Panama 5-0 in the quarter-finals in Arizona, setting up a heavyweight last four clash with Uruguay on Wednesday.
This would prove to be a hotly-contested affair in North Carolina, with Jefferson Lerma’s first half header the difference, although Néstor Lorenzo’s team were rather hanging on throughout the second 45, given that Daniel Muñoz had been sent off on the cusp of the interval.
Nevertheless, this extends Colombia’s unbeaten streak to 28 matches, winning 12 of the last 13, their most-recent defeat coming on 1 February 2022, coincidentally enough this a World Cup qualifying loss in Córdoba at the hands of Argentina.
In all, los Cafeteros have won just one of their last 12 clashes with la Albiceleste, but this was a memorable, emphatic 2-0 victory during the 2019 Copa América at Arena Fonte Nova.
In all, their 15 Copa clashes have produced ten victories for Argentina and just three wins for Colombia, with Scaloni’s team prevailing on penalties in a semi in Brasília three years ago en route to glory.
Miami Gardens will be a sea of those bedecked in both yellow as well as blue and white, and it’s very tough to call which group of supporters will be celebrating long into the Florida night. Prediction: Argentina 1 Colombia 0
Uruguay vs Canada (Saturday in Charlotte)
Steen: The circumstances around this third place match are interesting, Copa America still features a third place match while the Euros do not, the World Cup also still features an official third place match. Uruguay are by far the stronger team on paper, Marcelo Bielsa has been able to harness a group of talented players who defeated Brazil and won all of their group stage matches, but this team did fail to score in the two knockout stage games, the win against Brazil was on penalties as Brazil was playing with a man advantage in the second half, while the loss against Colombia came when Uruguay had a man advantage in the second half but still failed to score.
Then things turned ugly as drunken Colombian fans attacked the friends, family and loved ones of Uruguay players in the stands in Charlotte, resulting in a brawl that saw Uruguay players including Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez go into the stands in a bid to provide personal protection for their families. At his most recent press conference, Bielsa railed against CONEMBOL, the Copa America facilities, security, and venues, especially the poor, unsafe condition of the pitches, and he backed his players despite the ugly scenes in the stands with Colombian supporters. Uruguay are a talented team but the offensive system has stalled and it looks like they want to go home.
Canada has had a much more positive tournament, they bookended their tournament with two losses to world #1 Argentina but they still made a clear bid as CONCACAF’s #1 team right now, under new American manager Jesse Marsch they drew with Chile to reach the knockouts after defeating Peru, and upset a good Venezuela team in the knockout stages, an impressive performance, and while Argentina was clearly better, losing two games by a 2-0 margin was not anything shameful for the team from the north. Canada is improving in football and with CONCACAF stalwarts Mexico, USA, and Costa Rica either rebuilding or in turmoil, it’s perhaps Canada’s time to carry the banner for CONCACAF. Canada defends well with Maxime Crepeau from MLS their player of the tournament, Uruguay’s mental state may be lacking, so this feels like an upset is brewing. Prediction: Canada 1 Uruguay 0
Main Photo Credit: Photo by ANDRES KUDACKI/AFP via Getty Images
