Miami, July 16 (IANS): Argentina scripted history with their 16th Copa America trophy but that does not take anything away from Colombia’s performance at the tournament.
Los Cafeteros failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup which saw the appointment of Nestor Lorenzo as the head coach. Alongside Lorenzo, Colombia built a 28-game unbeaten streak which also saw them defeat Uruguay in the semi-finals of the tournament.
"I think I don't feel it as a defeat, it's something strange, I feel that the boys came out victorious in the tournament, I think it was the team throughout the tournament that played the best and were protagonists," said Lorenzo to reporters in the post-game press conference.
The 2024 Copa America has been full of controversy with managers and players alike criticizing the state of the pitches, training facilities and refereeing decisions which is not a good look for USA as the country is all set to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Another snafu took place before the game as the security and crowd control was not up to the mark delaying the start of the game by 82 minutes which according to Lorenzo was an ‘unusual situation’ which affected his players heading into the final.
"I think we had a very good build-up to the game but then some unusual situations started to happen. (The players) warmed up, cooled down, warmed up again, before the kick-off. Then we had 25 minutes of half-time, strange things for both teams," he added.
Lorenzo also went on to emphasise how proud he is of his team and drew comparisons with the World Champions Argentina, which lost in the finals of the Copa America (2015 and 2016) and the World Cup (2014) before capturing their back-to-back Copa America title and overal three major titles in a row.
"Of the two finalists there is one who is marking an era, it is not a coincidence and before this era he lost two Copa America finals and a World Cup final. Scaloni has been with the boys for 7 years, I congratulate you. We're just getting started. I hope we play in the next final and qualify for the World Cup. I'm proud of the boys. I thank the players," concluded the Argentine.