Argentina can defend Copa America title but needs fine-tuning: Where Messi and Co are lacking after group stage

World champion Argentina had an extra chip on its shoulder heading into Copa America 2024 – defending the title.

But it has ticked all the right boxes so far: it has won all three group matches, conceded zero goals and booked a place in the quarterfinals. The Albiceleste look well on course to defend their title, a feat last achieved by Chile when it won the title in 2015 and 2016.

However, Argentina’s coach Lionel Scaloni will be cautious of not getting too complacent with wins over lower-ranked Canada, Chile, and Peru

Not clinical enough

Argentina opened its campaign against Canada as the favourite and won it 2-0 comfortably.

Despite that, it left a bitter aftertaste because of how wasteful the Albiceleste were in front of goal. Apart from the two one-on-one chances botched by Lionel Messi, Argentina’s overall conversion rate was disappointing in the final third.

Out of 19 shots, only nine were on target, rendering a shot accuracy of just 47.4 per cent (56.3 per cent if blocked shots are excluded). 

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According to Opta, Argentina had nine big scoring chances against Canada, the most for the team since 2013, alongside two friendly matches against Guatemala (3-0 in 2018) and Curacao (7-0 in 2023).

Chile was undoubtedly Argentina’s biggest challenge in the group stages. The positional dominance of Messi and his team clashed with La Roja’s defensive compactness, which saw them have a 59.1 per cent tackle success rate. They made 17 clearances in the final third and 53 recoveries in total, with 30 inside in their defensive half.

Argentina’s game plan of crowding the final third was not coming to fruition due to Chile’s low block.

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As a result of that, Scaloni’s men mostly resorted to long-distance shots but failed to convert. Out of 22 shots, nine were on target. Eight shots came from outside the box, and 14 came from inside. But Messi and Co. failed to break Chile’s compact shape at the back and finished the match with a shot accuracy of 40.9 per cent.

It was a momentary lapse from La Roja’s backline, where it failed to deal with Messi’s corner and Lautaro, at the back post, capitalised by putting the ball inside the net. 

In its last group match against Peru, Argentina did not have the genius of Messi, which was evident in its lack of penetration in the final third.

Despite the lack of goals against Chile, the Albiceleste had more intent because Messi tended to drop back and use his vision to find openings in the Chilean backline.

Against Peru, the midfield of Giovanni Lo Celso, Leandro Paredes, and Exequiel Palacios hardly provided any penetration with their passing.

Argentina kept half of its efforts on target (six on target out of 12), while only two shots came from outside the box.

An interesting thing to note is that, under Scaloni, Argentina tends to take a lot of shots at goal, with the simple principle of increasing the probability of finding the net. As a result, the Albiceleste never attained a goal-conversion rate of more than 50 per cent in their 2022 World Cup and 2021 Copa America winning campaigns. 

Midfield woes

Against Canada, Messi made seven passes that broke through the final defensive line, more than twice as many as any other player in the clash. In this campaign, Messi has partnered with Julian Alvarez up top in a 4-4-2 formation. 

Messi, who usually finishes attacks with goals, has reverted to an additional midfielder role as its current midfield trio of Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernandez, and Giovanni Lo Celso has failed to gain momentum till now.

Against Chile, Messi dropped down to make four key passes, all line-breaking ones inside the Chile box. On the other hand, Fernandez managed three (with only one inside the box), and Mac Allister failed to make even a single key pass. 

Compared to this, Mac Allister was at his absolute best in the 2022 World Cup, racking eight key passes throughout the tournament. Rodrigo De Paul had seven. But even in the World Cup, it was Argentina’s forward line, which was responsible for most of the chance creations. In the key passes leaderboard, Messi finished second with 21 key passes, while Angel Di Maria was seventh with 10 key passes.  

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The figure deteriorated in the Albiceleste’s final Copa America 2024 group match against Peru, where the combined midfield trio of Palcios, Lo Celso, and Paredes managed just one key pass (Palacios played the entire 90 minutes, while Lo Celso and Paredes were subbed off in the 66th and 77th minutes, respectively).

Enzo, who replaced Lo Celso, managed just one key pass during his time on the pitch. 

It is evident that Lo Celso, a permanent figure in Argentina’s 2021 Copa America winning-midfield, has not been the same after his hamstring injury, which kept him out of the World Cup. Even after his return, his progress was hampered again due to a groin injury. 

Making his return in an international friendly against Curacao on March 29, 2023, Lo Celso provided two assists in Argentina’s 7-0 win. 

Since then, Lo Celso has mostly operated from the bench but has had his moments, scoring a goal and bagging three assists, one of which came in Argentina’s 1-0 win against Brazil in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying match, where he set up Nicolas Otamendi for the winner. 

Argentina, however, has had plenty of positives in this Copa America too, with all clean sheets and Lautaro Martinez’s fine form in front of goal, scoring four times in three matches.

​**(In the graphics, Green indicates on target and Red indicates off target. The number indicates jersey numbers to identify the players)**