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Copa America 2021 kicks off on the 13th of June and a star-studded Argentina team will fight it out with the top American national sides for continental supremacy. This is the 47th edition of the storied competition and it will take place in Brazil.
Argentina is the second most successful team in the tournament, having won the title 14 times. But the last time they won the Copa America was way back in 1993. Despite having some of the best players in the world on their side over the years, La Albiceleste has consistently come up short in the competition.
It has been a testing season for Argentina captain Lionel Messi, who is coming off a difficult season with Barcelona. Copa America 2021 could very well be the last time he plays in the continental tournament.
Though they still have a talented squad, Argentina's chances of winning Copa America 2021 look rather bleak. Without further ado, let's take a look at five reasons why Argentina will struggle in the tournament.
#5 No home advantage for Argentina after Copa America 2021 venue was shifted to Brazil
In the face of rising Covid-19 cases in Argentina, FIFA were forced to look for another venue for Copa America 2021. Alejandro Dominguez, president of CONMEBOL, consulted the Brazilian government to see if they would like to host the tournament. Brazil's president, Jair Bolonaro, approved the request to host Copa America 2021 immediately.
Argentina have struggled at the Copa America for close to three decades now and would have been hoping to make the most of the home advantage this time around. However, they have been divested of that opportunity and will need to fight it out in the land of their biggest rivals in football.
#4 Argentina attack lacks cutting edge
Despite having some brilliant attackers on their side, Argentina have struggled to make the most of their opportunities. In fact, their goalscoring return in recent times has been rather pedestrian given the talent they have at their disposal.
Their most recent outings came in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Despite squaring off against relatively weaker opposition, Argentina weren't able to produce dominant performances. They beat Ecuador 1-0 and Bolivia 2-1. Lionel Scaloni's third win in five World Cup qualifiers came against Peru.
They played out two 1-1 draws against Paraguay and Chile. In each of the five World Cup qualifiers, Argentina were able to create a lot more chances than their opposition. But they were not able to apply the finishing touches to it.
Argentina have tested out various attacking combinations and formations but none of them have so far brought out the best in their players. They will be wary of carrying that form into Copa America 2021 and will need to be more clinical if they are to eke out positive results against the best teams in the tournament.
#3 Argentina have an inexperienced backline going into Copa America 2021
In the build-up to Copa America 2021, Argentina have shuffled their backline and tested various combinations in defence. The ageing Nicolas Otamendi has usually taken one of the centre-back spots in recent World Cup qualifiers. In his absence, Scaloni has chosen to go with Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martinez.
Even though both Romero and Martinez are promising young defenders, they have very little experience on the international stage. The same goes for right-back Gonzalo Montiel and his deputy Juan Foyth. Nicolas Tagliafico and Marcos Acuna are experienced but neither of the two left-backs has really shone on the international stage.
Romero, Martinez, Lucas Martinez Quarta and Nahuel Molina are all playing their first major cup tournament for the international side. Argentina have a relatively green defence and they might find themselves out of their depth against some of the best attackers in the world.
#2 Lack of creativity in midfield
Argentina midfielders have consistently failed to provide a creative spark in midfield. They are often too sluggish and fail to provide thrust from the centre of the park. While Argentina have quite a talented unit of midfielders, they have not yet been able to gel well with each other.
Rodrigo De Paul and Leandro Paredes have started alongside each other in each of the five World Cup qualifiers so far. While the duo are technically efficient and are good ball-carriers, they have often come up short for the national team when it comes to creating opportunities for their attackers.
They need Giovanni Lo Celso to add some creativity to their game. However, including Lo Celso means that Rodrigo De Paul will need to be pushed out into a wider role as we saw in the qualifier against Paraguay.
Scaloni has also favoured deploying Lucas Ocampos and Lionel Messi behind Lautaro Martinez instead of pushing the Barcelona man up front and adding an extra midfielder. But they will need to incorporate the likes of Angel Di Maria or Papu Gomez to play more of an enterprising kind of football or they will struggle to break down defenses.
#1 Over-reliance on Lionel Messi
The lack of creativity in midfield often forces Lionel Messi to drop deep and force the issue. The responsibility of creating chances often falls to Messi. In recent times, we have quite often seen the Argentinian side look bereft of ideas, causing the Barcelona man to drag them forward all by himself.
Scaloni will need to take that load off his best player's back by adding more creative players to support him. He has used Papu Gomez and Di Maria sparingly. It's time for Argentina to stop being Messi-centric and play to the strength of the entire side.
They have a reliable young striker in Lautaro Martinez and the other players need to step up as well. Most of the mainstays in Argentina's starting lineup are coming off good individual seasons.
They need to capitalize on that. But to do that they will need to break away from the habit of looking to Messi to bail them out. But as we all know, old habits die hard.
