Substitute striker Lautaro Martinez led the Argentine national team to achieve the Copa America title and hold the record for the number of titles, after scoring the winning goal against Colombia 1-0 in the final match at “Hard Rock” Stadium in Miami.
Martinez scored the only goal in the 112th minute after a pass from Giovanni Lo Celso, who came on as a substitute in the 96th minute alongside Leandro Paredes. These substitutions were part of coach Lionel Scaloni’s plan to strengthen the team’s attack.
Argentina raised its tally to 16 Copa America titles with this victory, surpassing Uruguay, which has 15 titles. The Argentine national team became the first team from South America to win three major tournaments in a row: Copa America 2021, World Cup 2022, and Copa America 2024, achieving a historic achievement.
The Argentine national team halted Colombia’s streak of 28 matches without defeat, depriving it of its second title in its history after its victory in 2001. Despite the defeat, the captain of the Colombian national team, James Rodriguez, received the award for best player in the tournament.
Argentina excelled in this edition by achieving five victories out of six matches without conceding a single goal, with its goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez, being crowned the best goalkeeper in the tournament.
Despite the injury of team captain Lionel Messi and his exit in the 64th minute, the team was able to achieve the victory.
Messi was injured after losing his balance while trying to recover the ball, which required him to be replaced by Nicolas Gonzalez.
The match witnessed a delay of one hour and 22 minutes due to the crowd chaos that took place in the stadium, as fans forcefully stormed the stadium, which led to police intervention and the arrest of several people. As a result of the high temperature and crowd pressure, some fans fainted, which required the intervention of ambulance teams.
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