Lautaro Martinez gave Argentina back-to-back Copa América titles and a third straight major tournament win with his extra time strike Sunday night.
Martinez scored his fifth goal of the tournament in the 112th minute for a 1-0 win over Colombia at Hard Rock Stadium. Martinez broke toward the Colombia goal and shot across the goal from the right to beat Colombia goalkeeper Camilo Vargas.
Martinez’s goal came just minutes after he entered the game in the 97th minute as part of a triple substitution for Argentina. His five goals led all scorers at Copa América and three of them came after he entered the game as a substitute.
Argentina played nearly half the game without Lionel Messi because of the extra 30-minute period after a 0-0 deadlock at the end of regulation.
Messi left the game in the 65th minute after he crumpled to the ground while chasing the ball. He seemed to know right away that he was injured. It didn’t take long for the bench to ready a replacement in the form of Nicolas Gonzalez.
Messi limped off the field without a shoe on his right foot and soon slumped to his seat on the bench. Not long after he sat down, he broke down in tears, perhaps acutely aware that Sunday night’s game could be his last major tournament appearance for his home country.
The seriousness of Messi’s ankle injury became clear to viewers at home at the start of extra time when TV cameras zoomed in on the swollen joint.
Not long after Martinez scored, Angel Di Maria was subbed off for Nicolas Otamendi in the 117th minute. Sunday’s game was the final for Di Maria in an Argentina uniform and he too was in tears after leaving the pitch. After he got to the Argentina bench, Di Maria shared a hug with a smiling Messi.
The victory is the 16th Copa América title for the defending World Cup champions. Argentina won the tournament in 2021 with a 1-0 win over Brazil in what was the first major tournament win of the Messi era. A year later, Argentina took down France in penalty kicks in the World Cup Final to cap an illustrious career for a man who could be the greatest soccer player ever.
Messi didn’t retire from international duty after the World Cup and found himself playing Sunday night’s game in the same city where he currently plays his club soccer for Inter Miami. But he struggled to make much of an impact in his time on the field and was also briefly injured on a tackle in the first half.
Colombia finished the game with more possession and shots, though Argentina was the more dangerous team for much of the game. Sunday night was Colombia’s third appearance in a Copa América final as it looked for its second win. Colombia lost in its first title game appearance in 1975 and won the tournament as the host country in 2001.
Game delayed and marred by security breaches
Kickoff was delayed over an hour after chaos at the gates and in the concourses at Hard Rock Stadium. Without a perimeter around the stadium, fans crowded the gates to get into the stadium hours before the game.
Many of those fans didn’t seem to have tickets and that led to terrible scenes all across the stadium. At first, tournament organizers’ solution was to close the gates to everyone. And then, not long before kickoff, the decision was made to open the gets to anyone as tickets were apparently not scanned at all.
During the game CONCACAF, North America soccer’s governing body, made it clear that it didn’t have anything to do with the tournament. Copa América is run by CONMEBOL, South America’s governing body.
Here’s how the match unfolded in real-time:
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FINAL score: Argentina 1-0 Colombia
112′ – Lautaro Martínez finds the net with an assist from Giovani Lo Celso.
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Hard Rock Stadium: Gates opened to prevent fans from stampeding, per spokesperson
During halftime, stadium officials commented on the situation through a spokesperson, via USA Today’s Safid Deen.
NEW statement from Hard Rock Stadium spokesperson on allowing fans to enter Copa final without tickets scanned:
“In collaboration with CONMEBOL and law enforcement officers, the decision was made to open the stadium gates for a short period of time to all fans in order to…
— Safid Deen 💯💯💯💯 (@Safid_Deen) July 15, 2024
“In collaboration with CONMEBOL and law enforcement officers, the decision was made to open the stadium gates for a short period of time to all fans in order to prevent stampedes and serious injury at the perimeter,” said the statement.
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Don’t look at us, say CONCACAF staff. CONMEBOL is in charge of match day operations and security.
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Gates finally open at Hard Rock Stadium
The gates are open at Hard Rock Stadium and the fans who couldn’t get in can now gain entry. However, it’s not certain that some of the people going in even have tickets at this point, as The Athletic’s Felipe Cárdenas observes:
As you can see, people are just pouring into the venue.
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Fans still attemping entry into Hard Rock Stadium
The chaos outside Hard Rock Stadium doesn’t appear to be over. Video was posted to social media of fans continuing to try and get into the venue within the past half-hour, even climbing into vents to gain entry.
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