The Copa America this summer has been a fascinating tournament. Manchester United have two players – Angel Di Maria and Marcos Rojo – involved in tonight’s finale between hosts Chile and Argentina in Santiago.
Lead by Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez and former United target Arturo Vidal, Chile are hoping for their first ever Copa America triumph.
Meanwhile, Argentina have not won the tournament since 1993 when they beat Mexico 2-1 in the final. It was the fourteenth time they won the Copa America and they will be hopeful of doing it again tonight going into the game as favourites.
The United duo both scored for Argentina in their 6-1 semi-final win against Paraguay. Rojo scored the opener and Di Maria scored two in the second half. Following the game a lot was said about the former Real Madrid man’s form and whether he can turn around his club career by returning to Old Trafford and replicating his form of the Copa America.
Miguel Delaney of ESPN has been writing about Di Maria getting back to his best ahead of the final. An interesting segment of the article can be read below:
“Some Argentine media, such as La Nacion, have even reported that there is considerable irritation among Martino’s staff at how United manager Louis van Gaal has treated Di Maria and with the limited ways in which he has been used. They reportedly believe the United boss has “ruined” the record signing and taken away “his football rhythm.” La Nacion also reported that Di Maria barely has a relationship with van Gaal and would favour a move away from Old Trafford this summer — preferably to Barcelona or Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich, and Manchester City have even been mentioned.”
If reports from Argentina are true we may as well not look too much into Di Maria’s recent performances. A question like ‘do you think United will sell Di Maria’ before the transfer window opened would have been a rather difficult one to answer due to uncertainty. Now it appears he will be given a year to get back on track.
The final kicks off tonight at 9am with both Di Maria and Rojo likely to start. You will also be able to keep an eye on Manchester United target Nicolas Otamendi at the heart of Argentina’s back four in a 4-3-3 formation.
WhoScored.com have predicted line-ups for Chile v Argentina
Chile: Bravo; Albornoz, Medel, Mena; Diaz, Aranguiz, Vidal, Isla; Valdivia, Sanchez, Vargas.
Eduardo Vargas, who you will know from being on loan at QPR last season, is the Copa America’s top goalscorer with 5 goals. Arturo Vidal trails by one.
Argentina: Romero; Zabaleta, Garay, Otamendi, Rojo; Pastore, Mascherano, Biglia; Messi, Aguero, Di Maria.
Lionel Messi has not scored for Argentina in 10 games, but against Paraguay in the semi-final he assisted 5 goals. Not bad for someone ‘struggling’ with form.
