Defeat does not imply a setback and that is the most important lesson that can be learned from this Copa America that was lost by very little and that leaves you mumbling with rage for having been so close. And beyond the result against us, we must appeal to the title of this column because today not everything will have that Monday tone, so desolate, so empty. It is that this formation that faced the Argentines, current world champions and reigning defenders of the Copa America, brought the country together again around a national asset that was recast quite recently because if there was one thing that failed in the nation-football relationship it was in love during the recent past.
First, after the departure of José Pékerman and the arrival of Carlos Queiroz – the only coach in the history of football who, playing with the “Galácticos” Real Madrid, finished fourth in the Spanish League – there were capitulations, due to the extreme lack of trust that could be confirmed with the 0-3 against Uruguay and the 6-1 against Ecuador. And with that trauma so recent, the freshness to play was kept in Sanalejo’s room. Reinaldo Rueda, with whom it seemed there would be a reconciliation, left havoc everywhere and a more than predictable conclusion: the conflictive divorce between fans and players, due to that emotional weakness that condemned Colombia to watch the World Cup on TV.
That’s why not everything seems like Monday: the new administration of Néstor Lorenzo – a tough defender in his time as a footballer, a wise strategist from the bench and a great manager of egos in the locker room – began by giving a place to the “historical” players of the national team and taking them to play in contexts that were favorable for them. James Rodríguez once again performed like in those days when Real Madrid signed him and was the most outstanding performance of the country in the Cup that leaves a runner-up position, a position in the table that, until recently, seemed utopian.
He set about recovering the lost souls dressed in yellow, blue and red, because the reshuffle not only covered James Rodriguez: Dávinson Sanchez, repeated protagonist of strange bloopers in the tricolor, regained confidence; Daniel Muñoz, previously with ups and downs and overloads of harmful enthusiasm, became a decisive alternative to defend and attack on the wing. Jefferson Lerma, who in past cycles did not know if he was 5 or 8, in this process is 5, because he cuts play and smashes legs, but he is also 8 and contributes on offense. Added to this, he added new blood: John Lucumí, a figure of Bologna, unmovable in the Cup and who was left out due to injury; Richard Rios, the Palmeiras midfielder who in his free time is an involuntary “sex symbol”, thanks to the large female fan base that is enthralled by his look of highlights and pearly teeth; Jhon Córdoba, not so young but eager for opportunities that he never missed, removing Rafael Santos Borré from the starting eleven…
That’s why not everything seems like Monday, because the most valuable thing about the Cup that’s gone is that the national love for the team was recovered, much more so in this tournament full of oddities, because we have to talk about that too: it was the Cup with the longest intermission that this sport allows, for example, and it was the Cup of the final that started almost an hour and a half later than agreed. It was the Cup of disorganization sponsored by Conmebol and the host country, which less than 24 hours after suffering cracks in the security of Republican Donald Trump, wounded in one ear by a bullet fired by Thomas Mathew Crooks, had to endure the overflow and chaos of Colombian and Argentine fans, eager to get in, rapacious and carrying as a shield the South American malice as the best tool of their own struggles, taking advantage of a certain character. naive of the Americans. Faced with the inevitable and to avoid a tragedy, the decision was to leave the Hard Rock Stadium with its doors open. Meanwhile, Alejandro Domínguez, the top official of the governing body of South American football, made a fool of himself again by going down to the field to throw stuffed animals into the stands, while the VIP invitation to disaster was being experienced in the streets surrounding the venue of the final. It was the Cup of complaints by Lionel Scaloni, Ricardo Gareca and Néstor Lorenzo about the precariousness of the fields on which their teams risked their legs and it was the Cup of Jesse Marsch and Marcelo Bielsa, coaches of Canada and Uruguay, capable of going against the whole world. establishment football-like by spitting out truths like bullets.
But it was also the Colombian Cup, for good play, for bravery, for temperament.
Yes, Argentina won, but there were so many good things in our favor that, despite losing the final, today does not feel like Monday.
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