Argentina lost out 4-2 to Chile on penalties in the Copa America 2016 finals and the loss has had a profound impact on the Argentine players.
Argentina are already reeling from Lionel Messi’s and Javier Mascherano’s retirement and Sergio Aguero has now revealed that many Argentina stars are now considering retirement from the national team.
Sergio Aguero in a revealing interview said:
"El de hoy es el peor vestuario que vi de la Selección, yo ya lo vi así a Leo, le dije que no puede ponerse así por un penal. El hizo todo lo posible para estar acá".
When translated, it meant:
“I have never seen the team in a worse state than this. I already spoke to Leo and I think that the crowd treats him like a criminal which is unfair. He made every effort to be here.”
Aguero also said:
"Varios evaluamos no seguir en la Selección"
Translated, it meant:
Various national players are evaluating their future for Argentina.
There were widespread reports that Aguero himself had decided to retire from football, but he said:
“Now we just have to rest, think about something else and move forward.
“Penalties are a matter of luck . We gave it everything, we wanted to win, but we could not”
The players supposed to be considering retirement are Ezequiel Lavezzi, Angel Di Maria, Sergio Aguero himself and Sergio Romero. The loss of three major finals consecutively seems to have hit the players hard and the retirements of such stalwarts for the national team can cause a lot of problems for Gerardo Martino and Argentina.
With Messi and Mascherano already having confirmed their retirements, it definitely signals an end of an era for the Argentina national team.
