Fans arrived at the Group D opener hoping to enjoy the magical feet of Messi, who suffered a back injury May 27 and has yet to train with Argentina.
Advertisement
And both those things helped fuel an emotional 80-minute performance in a 2-1 win over Chile in a Copa America Centenario game played before a crowd of 69,451 at Levi’s Stadium.
And the game was played at a relentless pace from the start with the likes of Di Maria and Sanchez trying to make an impact for their respective teams.
He was replaced in the starting lineup by Nicolas Gaitan, who at times, was a handful for the Chile defenders.
“The team is different if Messi is playing or not”, Chile coach Juan Antonio Pizzi said.
The Argentinian national team has been a force to reckon with in global tournaments having been able to compete at the highest level at two of the last major competitions: the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and the 2015 Copa America.
Preparing for a third summer tournament in three years as Argentina’s key man, and being called back to Europe to stand before a judge in his long-running tax case, it’s no surprise Lionel Messi’s back has given out.
He chose to play anyway, and when he put Argentina ahead to stay early in the second half, he dedicated the goal to her.
Ever Banega went on a solo run before feeding the ball to Angel Di Maria, who finished under Claudio Bravo to give Argentina a 1-0 lead in the opening minutes of the second half. Chile substitute Jose Fuenzalida scored an injury time consolation for the holders.
Argentina coach Gerardo Martino revealed afterwards Di Maria had kept his loss a secret from him.
How they react to losing the last two will have a huge say in their fortunes over the coming weeks, but a fit and firing Messi could drag them to glory regardless.
Argentina even began the second half better and it took just six minutes to open the scoring.
The game started as if shot out of a cannon, with Argentina nearly cashing in two minutes in.
Argentina have not conceded versus Chile since the 1959 edition when the Albiceleste won 6-1 – since that game, Argentina have kept a clean sheet in all the following seven encounters.
“I’ll listen to the doctor, then I’ll talk to Leo to know if he still feels pain”, Martino said Sunday at a news conference.
Advertisement
A flowing move saw Argentina create another great opportunity as they quickly turned defence into attack and Banega’s ball into the box was cleared behind for a corner.
