Sergio Aguero and other Argentina players could follow the lead of captain Lionel Messi and retire from worldwide football after losing the final of the Copa America on penalties to Chile for the second straight year.
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The Argentina lost to Chile on 4-2 penalties after a 0-0 draw at MetLife Stadium and there he announced this heartbreaking news.
“I have fought a lot, I did try, but it’s been four finals and I couldn’t win one. I’ve done whatever I would, it have the ability to harms not to be a champion”, said the 29-year-old Barcelona star hotshot in the wake of the penalty shoot-out demolition in New Jersey.
He was also on the losing side at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, losing out to eventual winners Germany.
“It’s a big sadness that it happens to me again”, said Messi.
“I think this is best for everybody”. First of all for me, and then for everyone. There won’t be too much time to figure it out, especially since the 2016 Olympics in Rio are coming up soon.
“I never feel greater pride in our team”, he said.
“He has to lean more on the lads who can help him take the team forward and less on those who say he should leave”, added Maradona, who played in two World Cup finals.
Despite a glittering career that has seen him named FIFA World Player of the Year five times, Messi has faced persistent sniping from critics in Argentina. “He must go on because he has it in him and will last for a long while, because he will reach Russian Federation in conditions to become world champion”, said the man who led the country to a World Cup title in 1986.
Another look at Lionel Messi’s PK miss in the shootout loss to Chile.
Messi had become Argentina’s all-time top scorer with 55 goals earlier in the tournament but final heartache was followed by his post-match announcement.
Argentina’s starting goalkeeper Sergio Romero hoped that Messi will reconsider his decision.
Messi’s failure to match the achievements of Diego Maradona, who single-handedly carried the team to victory in the 1986 World Cup, has often been held against him.
Messi, who turned 29 on Friday, won under-20 and Olympic (under-23) titles with Argentina.
The Barcelona superstar left the field in tears after missing a spot-kick in the Copa America Centenario final shootout against Chile on Sunday.
– 55 global goals, most in Argentina history.
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“That’s it, I’ve already tried enough, ‘ he told TyC”.
