MIAMI GARDENS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – With star teammate Lionel Messi sidelined by an apparent right ankle injury, substitute Lautaro Martinez led Argentina to a record 16th Copa America title with his goal in extra time for a 1-0 victory over Colombia Sunday night.
Martinez, who entered the match in the seventh minute of added time, made the best of a brilliant through ball from Giovani Lo Celso to score his tournament-best fifth goal in the 112th minute overall.
Argentina, the 2022 World Cup champion, defended its 2021 Copa America crown while breaking a tie with Uruguay for the most titles at the tournament.
Colombia’s only title came in 2001 as the host nation. The Colombians had a 28-match unbeaten streak (22-0-6) come to an end on Sunday.
The start of the match was delayed 82 minutes from its original 8 p.m. ET kickoff due to ticketless fans breaching the gates, forcing a lockdown of the stadium. Later, because of the swell of people trying to get in, some gates were opened to allow anyone, ticket or not, entry.
The match ended at 12:09am (ET).
Messi, 37, exited the match in the 66th minute. He went down untouched, but after medical attention, he walked off the field with his right shoe in his hand and was shown on the bench in tears.
The injury originally occurred in the 35th minute after a hard challenge about a yard beyond the end line by Colombia’s Santiago Arias, who appeared to clip Messi in the leg before rolling on his right ankle. Messi stayed down for a few minutes before returning to the play.
A sellout crowd of over 65,000 saw Colombia control the first half but come up empty.
Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was forced to make four saves in the first half and saw a shot by Jhon Cordoba kiss the outside of the left post in the seventh minute.
However, Colombia didn’t have another shot on target for the remainder of the match, finishing with four to Argentina’s six.
Midfielder Angel Di Maria, 36, started in his final match for Argentina, ending his 17-year international career with 145 appearances, tied for third most in club history.
Di Maria was subbed out in the 117th minute.
–Field Level Media