It was another sad day for Lionel Messi on the international scene as his country Argentina lost to Colombia 2-0 in theor opening game of the on going Copa America which is held in Brazil. After the game, Messi sends message to his teammates and the entire nation claiming there is no time for Argentina to complain after their shock loss to their first opponent in the tournament Colombia.
In the continuation of his reaction, the Barcelona captain believes the Albiceleste are still in control of their destiny after a disappointing loss in their tournament opener something most fans will slightly disagree due to how they played the game.
After an unexciting first half with both teams failing to find the net as tackles were just flying in, Argentina went down after the break to two well taken goals by Colombia. Two substitutes got the goals for Carlos Queiroz led team. Roger Martinez opened the scoring with an unstoppable drive in the 72nd minute before substitute Duvan Zapata finished off a good team move with four minutes of the game remaining.
Despite the setback for Argentina in their first game, the Blaugrana’s forward still believes there is time for his country to turn things around in the tournament as he seeks for a first international title with Argentina.
“There are positives to come out of this, we are ready to accept the challenge that we have,” Messi said after the game. “There is no time to complain, we have to look ahead, we have to raise our heads and continue, there’s still a lot of the tournament left.
“They kept the ball well but didn’t create clear opportunities, but when we took a step forwards in the second half they scored a goal. “When we were playing at our best, they scored a great goal and it cost us.”
Messi also spoke on behalf of the Argentine squad claiming that his team will learn from the defeat, their first in regular time in the competition since going down do Brazil in 2007.
“We’ll take it as a lesson for the upcoming games. We continue to depend on ourselves. “It’s not easy to start with a loss, but if we beat Paraguay, we go back to a comfortable situation.”
The Albiceleste’s game against Paraguay is on June 19, and they finish their Group B campaign with a match against Copa America invitees Qatar. Messi has seen his country advance to the final in the last two editions of the tournament. In each match they were defeated by Chile on penalties.
Head coach Lionel Scaloni was angry at the state of the pitch in the Fonte Nova Arena in Salvador: “I found the state of the pitch regrettable, it was the first match there, I don’t want to imagine what will happen from here onwards. “It leaves a lot to be desired for these players to play there.”
The stadium is scheduled to host four more games in the tournament, including a quarter-final that may feature Argentina if they go through as the best third-place team from Group A or B.
Do you agree with Messi that Argentina will bounce back in this competition after their awful performance against Colombia?
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