MIAMI:
Argentina winger Angel Di Maria said Sunday’s Copa America triumph over Colombia was the perfect dream ending to his national team career.
A 1-0 win after extra time secured a third successive major title for the Albiceleste following their Copa triumph in 2021 and their World Cup triumph the following year.
The 36-year-old winger had announced in November that he would retire from international duty after the tournament.
“I dreamed of it, that’s why I said it was the last Copa América and it ended here. I dreamed of reaching the final, I dreamed of winning it, of retiring like this,” he said.
Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni took off Di Maria in the dying minutes of extra time, making sure he received a huge farewell from the team’s fans whose eyes showed he was moved.
“I have so many beautiful feelings..I am eternally grateful to this generation, they gave me everything, they made me achieve what I wanted so much, and today I leave this way, what could be better than that?” he said.
Di Maria was part of a generation with Lionel Messi that won the Olympics in 2008, but then struggled for silverware, losing in the final stages of the tournament to the disappointment of the country.
But the “Triple Crown”, which also gives Argentina a record 16th Cup, confirms the position of Lionel Scaloni’s team among the greats of South American football.
“It looks easy, but it’s very difficult. I know because I lived on the other side for ten, 11 years, fighting for it,” said the Benfica winger.
“It’s not easy to reach finals and win them. And now it’s happening, it’s like this, at some point it had to happen and I wish I could have won one with the previous guys, we deserved it too, but we persevered, we kept fighting and these guys gave me everything,” he said.
Di Maria scored the gold medal-winning goal in Beijing and also scored in the 1-0 win over Brazil in the 2021 Copa final.
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