The winger played a key role to help Argentina, despite an injured Lionel Messi, to a third straight major tournament trophy

So much of the talk around Copa America 2024, as with any international tournament, has been about Lionel Messi. Could the greatest of all time win yet another trophy? Could this competition be his last? Could Argentina even survive without him?

Two of those questions were answered in full on Sunday night in a raucous Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. Yes, Messi won another trophy. And with Angel Di Maria pulling the strings, Argentina proved that they can very much operate without their legendary leader – his influence leading La Albiceleste to a 1-0 Copa America final win.

The hours leading up to the game were marred by the mass confusion that took place around the stadium. Fans, many without tickets, stormed the gates prior to kickoff, and the stadium was still just half full as the opening whistle approached.

And when the game did eventually start, more than an hour after the scheduled kickoff, the first half was a cagey affair, with Argentina nullifying every expansive Colombian attack. There were chances to be found – with Messi and Jhon Duran both coming close – but neither side offered a crucial moment of quality to seize control.

The game was changed in the second half, when Messi exited with an apparent leg injury. His departure sucked the energy out of the Albiceleste’s attacking flow. But Di Maria remained, running up and down the wing, finding neat angles and cute passes. Even as Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni shuffled his pack in extra time – taking off three of his four midfielders – Di Maria created and sprinted, the oldest Argentine on the pitch squeezing every ounce of energy out of his tired legs in his last game in international football.

Lautaro Martinez may have buried the winning goal – with a Gio Lo Celso assist – but it was Di maria’s smart movement that created it. The winger, 97 minutes in, made a clever run to drag the Colombia defense open, vacating a pocket of space that Lo Celso found. Martinez made no mistake.

And at the end of it all, Di Maria and Messi were hugging as the final whistle blew. Di Maria is done with the national team. Messi might be, too. If this was an ending, it was a fine one.

GOAL breaks down the winners and losers from Hard Rock Stadium.

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  WINNER: Lautaro Martinez

  The forgotten fact about the famous 2022 World Cup final is that Argentina should have won the game in normal time. Indeed, for all of Kylian Mbappe’s late heroics to tie things up, La Albiceleste created enough to put the game out of sight. Only, as the clock wore down, Martinez missed repeatedly.

  Such has been the story of his international career to date. Martinez has scored goals in bunches, but never provided a signature international moment to lift him to the pantheon of his country’s greats. Finally, late on Sunday night, it happened. The chance was the kind of thing he would have fluffed in so many other big moments: a run into the channel, bearing down on goal, only the keeper to beat. This time, though, Martinez was the coolest man in a sweltering stadium, simply feeding the ball into the top corner. Game won. Tournament sealed. Hero status secured.

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    LOSER: CONMEBOL

    What. A. Mess.

    First of all, let’s establish something here. The chaos pre-match was not just the fault of the thousands of fans who hurried to their seats. Nor can it be blamed on the children passing out, dehydrated and crying to their parents before a formative sporting event of their lives. This, on the face of it, should fall on CONMEBOL, who have spent the last month mismanaging what should be a massively important summer of soccer. The whole thing was poorly organized at so many levels. There was no perimeter to check tickets, no reliable staffing to control crowds. And, perhaps most damningly, fans were eventually just allowed to walk into the concourses – ticketed or otherwise.

    Yes, there is something to be said for self control, and individual actors doing their part. But a soccer organizing body of that size, used to dealing with such impassioned fans, should be able to handle it. There will likely be an investigation into the events of the day, one in which individual actors will take some blame. Either way, the organizing body failed to deliver on what should have been a memorable celebration of soccer in the U.S.

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      WINNER: Lionel Scaloni

      Who says you need vast international coaching experience to win things? It is often forgotten, but Argentina is Scaloni’s first job in senior management. His job history, aside from a brief spell as an assistant coach for Sevilla, doesn’t make for remarkable reading.

      But he gets something out of this Albiceleste side. Scaloni’s tactics aren’t particularly advanced, nor are they complex. There are no complicated pressing structures or consistent patterns of play to be found. Instead, Scaloni instills the right energy into this team. This is a selfless group that bonds around one central star, but proved on Sunday night that they can operate without him.

      Scaloni did everything right. He refreshed his midfield when their legs were gone, held Martinez until he knew Colombia could be stretched, and ensured that his side kept the attacking tempo up – even as fatigue set in. Tactical genius? No. One of Argentina’s greats? Without a doubt.

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      LOSER: Lionel Messi

      Oh, Leo. No one wanted to see this. Messi picked up a knock in the first half, and after receiving treatment, was able to play on. But when he went down in the second, there was no hope. The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner immediately signaled to the Argentina bench that something was seriously wrong, and hobbled hopelessly off the pitch, wearing just one boot.

      A few seconds later, he was pictured in tears on the bench, inconsolable as he was forced to watch the rest of the action unfold from the sidelines. It ultimately mattered little, of course. As has happened so often for this side, the rest of Argentina stood up. If this is Messi’s last competitive international fixture, he will leave with a medal around his neck. Still, he deserved to be on the pitch for the key moments.

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        WINNER: Rodrigo De Paul

        This Argentina side relies on Messi, but is buoyed by an elite supporting cast around him to make things work. Since the 2022 World Cup, the likes of Alexis Mac Allister, Angel Di Maria and Julian Alvarez have offered legs and quality to Scaloni’s side.

        Throughout that period, De Paul may just have been the most important supporting actor. The Atletico Madrid midfielder does a bit of everything, and such is his movement and yardage covered that he never really seems to be playing a position. Here, he was loosely a right midfielder, but spent most of his time hounding the ball down, flying into tackles and blocking passing lanes. Colombia play frightfully direct football, and De Paul was central in the Argentine effort to nullify it.

        He wasn’t bad going the other way, either. De Paul played six passes into the final third, and constantly fed the dangerous Di Maria on the right wing. It was yet another impressive performance from a footballer who doesn’t get nearly enough credit for all he does for this team.

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          LOSER: Luis Diaz

          To beat Argentina, Colombia would need a superstar. James Rodriguez tried and threatened a few times. Luis Diaz never got close.

          The Liverpool star was corralled from the opening whistle as he struggled to do much of anything against Argentina. Even in the moments Colombia threatened, Diaz was a bystander. It just never looked like it would ever be his night.

          Diaz, though, is the type of player that can win games suddenly, even on such nights. Before that could happen, though, he was mercifully substituted in extra time. Colombia needed something different. Diaz was supposed to be Colombia’s best chance to go out and shock the world. Instead, he was relatively anonymous.

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            WINNER: Angel Di Maria

            In this sport, you rarely get storybook endings. Di Maria got his this summer, and he earned it.

            The Argentina winger was handed Man of the Match honors in the Copa American final, a contest that served as his last in an Argentina shirt. He had said prior to the tournament that this would be it and it’s safe to say he went out by giving everything he had. Di Maria was somehow, despite his age, Argentina’s most energized player all night long.

            So 115 minutes in, there he was, still running. He knew there was no point in leaving anything in the tank, and so he gave every last ounce. Martinez got the goal, but, afterward, the focus was on Di Maria. This was his goodbye, and there’s no sweeter way to say farewell than by kissing a trophy on your way out.

            “The truth is, this was written,” Di Maria said. “I dreamed it, I dreamed that I would arrive to the final and win it and retire in this way. I have so many beautiful feelings and I am eternally grateful to this generation and today I am leaving in this way with a title.”

            He was right: this was a perfect way to leave.