"It was when the two Lionels -- coach Scaloni and star player Messi -- began to put together a project that would give Argentina arguably their most successful national team of all time. In 2019, they were eliminated in the semifinals of the Copa América at the hands of eventual champions Brazil, but the side was starting to come together, and the signs were promising."
"Going into that year's Copa Libertadores, the trophy had only gone to a Brazilian team once in the previous five seasons. And it looked as if it would be once in six as the 2019 final was coming to an end. Right at the end of the match, Rio de Janeiro's Flamengo were trailing River Plate of Buenos Aires 1-0. The Brazilian club struck twice in stoppage time to win, and the Libertadores has never been the same."
The crunch year was 2019 when coach Scaloni and Lionel Messi began a project that transformed Argentina into one of its most successful national teams. Argentina lost the 2019 Copa América semi-final but then won two Copa Américas and the 2022 World Cup. The club game in Argentina lagged as most top players moved abroad. The same year marked a turning point for Brazil after Flamengo's stoppage-time comeback in the 2019 Copa Libertadores launched an unbroken run of Brazilian continental victories driven by rising finance, smarter spending, foreign coaches and improved scouting.
Read at ESPN.com
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