Chile Wins Copa America

The long wait is over for Chile. Ever since the first Copa America in 1916,
La Roja have been trying to win South America's prestigious continental
competition. Now they have and the celebrations have kicked off in earnest in
Santiago. For Argentina's golden generation, though, this was another chance
missed.
Chile took the game to Argentina in this one and even though they played very
much on the edge with some cynical fouls in the first half that left their three
centre-backs booked before the interval, few could argue that the locals did not
deserve this triumph - both for their performance on the night and also
throughout this tournament.
A sterile second half concluded as substitute Gonzalo Higuain hit wide at the
far post, failing to find the net from an acute angle. The miss evoked
memories of how he squandered a glorious chance in last year's World Cup
final and to make matters worse, the Napoli forward blasted his penalty over
the crossbar in the subsequent shootout.
The man he replaced on the pitch, Sergio Aguero, said before the Copa that
if this golden generation of Argentine players fails to win a trophy, they will
regret it for the rest of their lives. Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria and others
all echoed those words later on - but it was beyond them again on Saturday.
The Under-20 World Cup claimed by the Albiceleste in 2005 and the Olympic
gold medal in 2008 were special for these players at the time, but they have
been unable to replicate those successes with the full national side - even
though their generation of players has been described by many as their greatest
ever.
Last year's World Cup in Brazil was a wonderful opportunity. With Messi at
a peak age (27) and the stadiums filled with Argentine fans, it looked like it
may be their moment. Ultimately, however, they missed out and the current
Copa was supposed to bring some sort of redemption.
It hasn't happened. Messi impressed, but was squeezed into spaces where he
has less influence and he lacked support from his team-mates on Saturday.
Javier Pastore, superb in the 6-1 thrashing of Paraguay in the semi-finals on
Tuesday, was a shadow of that player in this game. And Angel Di Maria,
who missed last year's World Cup final through injury, limped off with little
more than half an hour gone.
By the end of the night, Javier Mascherano was playing on one leg and
Ezequiel Lavezzi limping around as well. Once again, Argentina resembled a
walking wounded when it mattered most - their players perhaps paying the
price for the sheer amount of games they played in a long European season.
But the same could be said for Chile and Alexis Sanchez, in particular, has
struggled for fitness in this competition. The Arsenal forward struck the
winning penalty in this with an outrageous penalty and the noise erupted in the
Estadio Nacional.
Having never previously one anything on a football field at this level, Chile
changed their history with a wonderful win on Saturday for what will now be
considered their best team ever.
For Argentina, though, it is another chance wasted for this seemingly doomed
generation of players. And with many of the players pushing 30 or already
older than that, the opportunities are running out for this talented team.