Copa America game thread

SoxFanInCali

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Whether this is just an emotional reaction to the loss or not, I find it hard to believe he won't be at the World Cup in 2 years.

Once the AFA cleans house and the players can negotiate better conditions (there were lots of complaints about their travel and lodging arrangements for this tournament), I would think there's a decent chance he comes back.
 

SoxFanInCali

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Now I'm hearing Aguero is walking away as well, in addition to Mascherano.

This definitely looks like a coordinated effort by the players to force the AFA's hand.
 

Boston Brawler

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Aguero is suggesting that Angel Di Maria, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Gonzalo Higuain and Lucas Biglia could all leave Argentina as well.

I think it's a power play as suggested above. Martino stated that he thinks they'll be back for the push for the World Cup.
 

BigSoxFan

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Now I'm hearing Aguero is walking away as well, in addition to Mascherano.

This definitely looks like a coordinated effort by the players to force the AFA's hand.
So that the AFA will do what? Seems pretty weak to quit just because they lost.
 

bosox4283

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Now I'm hearing Aguero is walking away as well, in addition to Mascherano.

This definitely looks like a coordinated effort by the players to force the AFA's hand.
If the AFA couldn't get things right in America, I can only imagine how rough things could get in Russia.
 

sachmoney

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Despite the ref show that overtook the first half, I thought it was some of the most intense play that I've seen. Both teams were going at each other physically and not holding back on challenges. There was an urgency that I've only seen in stretches of the Euro. While not a lot was happening in terms of scoring changes, I thought Chile's battle against Messi was fascinating. Vidal and Aranguiz didn't back down for a second. It is easy to fear or back down from Messi. It's easy not to make a challenge. Even on yellows, they continued to play their game and they got better as the game went on. Their efforts were exhaustive.

The tempo certainly slowed down in the second half as both teams were a bit punch drunk, but it was still entertaining because of battles like Chile vs Messi.
 

SoxFanInCali

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So that the AFA will do what? Seems pretty weak to quit just because they lost.
They are "quitting" because the AFA is ridiculously corrupt and incompetent. If them all walking out causes the current leadership to be replaced, they will have achieved their objective and a large percentage of them will probably return. It's 2 years until the World Cup, so if they are going to do it, now is the time.
 

Schnerres

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Are there any reports/statements on that front?

I mean, they were in the final, they played good, Messi missed his penalty and was directly responsible for the (another) Final loss. He said in the interview that it shouldn´t be with him, Argentina and a major title and it´s time to go away (for now?).
What, on the players sides, leads to you to believe they are forcing the Football Association people to step down? It might all be true or generally justified (I don´t know about their FA), but where´s a statement? If you want to force someone out, you would put the spotlight on them and not say "I´m out." so nobody cares about those other guys. Right? Right?
 

SoxFanInCali

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There were complaints from players throughout the tournament. Messi called the AFA "a disaster" a few days ago over travel issues, and I've heard complaints about them going back quite a while. FIFA basically took over administration of the federation last week. Yes, it's possible that Messi is really walking away. Yes, it's possible that he was just emotional and ends up coming back and this had nothing to do with the federation. I just think that given the earlier complaints and how many players were ready to announce they were leaving at the same time, that it's very possible they got together and planned to essentially go on strike once the tournament is over.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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I guess if you're going to strike, now is the time to do it, given that it will be 2 months until the next international break to sort stuff out.

Still, it's not like they have two years to figure it out -- Argentina is not a shoe in for the world cup and the margins are so thin for CONMEBOL qualification, that even missing just one or two match days could seriously hurt the team's chances. (Just by way of example, with six match days down, Brazil is out of the qualification spots at the moment.) Someone really good from South America is not going to make the world cup and at 3-2-1 so far in qualification, Argentina don't have a lock on anything. They have Uruguay at home on September 1, which is a pretty important game. This really probably needs to come to a head before then.