SANTIAGO, Chile — After its outstanding 6-1 victory over Paraguay in the Copa América semifinals, Argentina had its last training session in Concepción yesterday before travelling to Santiago, where it will face Chile on Saturday for the title.
There were not many fans at the Intercontinental hotel in Santiago when the national team arrived. But when local supporters saw the Argentina bus on the Vitacura Avenue, they showed their Chilean flags from the windows of the buildings.
Today, the Albiceleste will practice at Universidad Catótila’s facilities to prepare for the tournament decider at the Estadio Nacional in Santiago at 5pm with Colombian Wilmar Roldán as referee.
In Concepción, Ezequiel Garay was forced to miss the training session due to the stomach complaint which kept him out of the semifinal victory over Paraguay.
The Zenit defender, who was taken ill earlier hours prior to kick-off, is currently suffering from gastroentercolitis and remained at the team hotel whilst his teammates trained.
Garay is coach Gerardo Martino’s favoured centre back partner to Nicolás Otamendi, but should the 28-year-old fail to recover, Manchester City’s experienced defender Martín Demichelis will retain his spot in the starting line-up.
Argentina worked on recovery drills during its light work-out, whilst some squad members, including Carlos Tevez, Gonzalo Higuaín and Erik Lamela, practiced ball retention under the watchful eye of Martino and his staff.
Lionel Messi heads into the final with a chance to end his nation’s 22-year title drought, and prove that he can replicate his club-level success with the national team.
The Barcelona star didn’t score in the 6-1 victory on Tuesday, but helped set up five goals, including a spectacular run past several defenders from near midfield.
It is Messi’s and Argentina’s second chance in a year to lift a trophy, and the first since the World Cup final in Brazil. The Albiceleste hasn’t won a significant trophy since the 1993 Copa América, when Messi was aged six.
Although Messi helped Argentina’s Under-23s win the Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Games in Beijing, his first major tournament was the 2006 World Cup in Germany, where the team fell in the quarterfinals. It was the same result at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and the great run in the 2014 World Cup ended with a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Germany in the final at Maracanã Stadium.
Argentina is odds-on favourite to win the regional competition. It is mostly quoted at 4-7 to lift the trophy while the host is 6-4, according to betting aggregator oddschecker.com.
Chile forward Eduardo Vargas is tournament top scorer and favourite to win the Golden Boot. He has scored four times so far, just one ahead of teammate Arturo Vidal and Argentina’s Sergio Agüero.
Herald staff with Télam, Reuters, online media
Source: Buenos Aires Herald