Almost all football fans across the world will surely remember the date: November 25, 2020. That was the tragic day on which perhaps the greatest player of all time, the legendary Argentine number 10 Diego Maradona, died of a heart attack at the age of 60.
As was expected, tributes poured in from the football world and beyond. Naturally, the reaction to Maradona's death in Argentina was more intense than it was anywhere else in the world. Fans flocked to La Bombonera, the home stadium of Maradona's former club Boca Juniors, to pay their respects. His coffin lay in state at the Casa Rosada, the official residence of the Argentine President. The President himself, Alberto Fernández, announced three days of national mourning.
Seven months on, the national team has the opportunity to honour Maradona's legacy in a major way on the field. They can do so by winning the Copa América for the first time since 1993. The Albiceleste took a big step towards doing just that by beating neighbours and arch-rivals Uruguay 1-0 in a Group A match. Real Betis midfielder Guido Rodríguez scored the only goal of the match.
For almost 30 years, Argentina have not been able to put together a squad which has been genuinely capable of winning titles. Despite the country's rich footballing heritage, every team since their early 1990s iteration has been fundamentally flawed in some way. These flaws have borne themselves out in Argentina's World Cup and Copa América results since their last title.
Over the past seven World Cups, Argentina have only managed to advance beyond the quarterfinals once. This came in 2014, when their underdog run to the final was stopped by Germany in a heartbreaking extra-time loss. In the 10 Copa América tournaments since their last victory, Argentina have four losses in the final and one in the semifinals. In the other five tournaments, they did not even make the semifinals.
To make their recent record even more galling, many of these tournament failures have come despite another candidate for the title of "greatest of all time" emerging from Argentina. That player is, of course, Lionel Messi. However, he has not always been able to replicate his brilliance for Barcelona on the international stage. In addition, he hasn't always had the right squad or coaches around him to best facilitate his success for Argentina.
However, this could very well be the tournament where that changes. In addition to long-time national team stalwarts such as Messi, Ángel Di María, Sergio Agüero, and Nicolás Otamendi, this current Argentina team contains a number of new or relatively new faces who might tip the balance of the tournament in Argentina's favour.
It has now been several years since Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martínez was heralded as the next all-time great to lead the line for Argentina. While he might never live up to the hype he received in the earliest stages of his career, Martínez is nevertheless one of the most exciting young prospects in world football today. Tottenham's Giovani Lo Celso has established himself as a key piece in midfield, as has Rodrigo De Paul.
The relatively inexperienced trio of Emiliano Martínez, Nicolás González, and Gonzalo Montiel have started both of Argentina's matches thus far in this tournament. Despite only having a cumulative 15 caps, the trio have acquitted themselves well despite having been thrown into the thick of the action straight from the jump.
However, as has so often been the case for Argentina, the biggest question mark lies in the dugout. Lionel Scaloni has thus far done nothing to prove that he is even an above-average coach, let alone a high-level one. To date, he has amassed 16 wins, nine draws, and four losses as Argentina's head coach. For an iconic, historic national team such as Argentina, that is simply not good enough. A poor performance at this tournament could mean the end of his stint of almost three years.
That being said, Argentina's X-factor might just be what I alluded to in the beginning of this post. This is their first tournament since Maradona's death. They will undoubtedly be emotionally charged and fully motivated to win it all in his memory. By drawing on this emotional energy and channeling the spirit of Argentina and Maradona's victorious 1986 World Cup campaign, this might be the year when Argentina snap their drought and go all the way.
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