Now what, Argentina?
The Copa America is about to start. So is the blind faith.

Image from www.deportes.canalrcn.com

Don’t ask me why. I have no idea why we keep believing that we can win the Copa America this year. Every single time Argentina is to play a tournament, we think we can win it. “Just because we are Argentina”. And the Copa America 2019 is not the exception.

It’s true, we have the best player in the world, that gives us a little bit of advantage. But we’ve had him for almost 15 years and we’ve got enough to learn that that doesn’t guarantee success. It’s also true that, if we look back in history, we are one of the best teams in the world. But history doesn’t get into the pitch.

As you may already know, the South American football is perhaps the toughest in the world. There are almost no differences between the teams and anyone can beat anyone. Thus, any team can win the Copa America. For instance, Bolivia or Venezuela are not the favourites, but it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if they raised the trophy. The qualifiers for the 2018 Word Cup made as sweat a lot. Suffering until the last match, imagining ourselves watching the Russian action without being part of it. So why could Argentina even think of winning this tournament?

Problems in the Argentinian Football Association are part of the everyday life. New coaches every now and then, complete disorganization in the top leagues, no long-term projects. Like it or not that gets reflected into the pitch. If the bases are not strong enough, the whole building is going to fall down.

Psychology is not my field, but I know how bad it can be. After losing three finals in three years (or how I like to call it, “reaching the second place three years in a row”) the players were bombed with brainless critics. Those things do hurt. And every time these players face another competition something negative may happen inside their minds.

5 years later, we’re hoping to find ourselves playing in the Maracana the last Sunday of the competition. We just want the ending of the story to be different. We just want to get freedom. We just want to be able to feel a fleeting happiness, to get a little bit of glory. How does that feel?

I’ll be with you again, Argentina. Yesterday, today, tomorrow. Another Copa America full of intensity and emotions, full of victories and defeats, full of laugh and tears.

Now I think I know why I believe we can win this Copa America despite all the negative facts against us. Because, after all, it’s just football.
['Ignacio Zambello']
['Soccer', 'Copa America', 'Football', 'Argentina', 'Messi']