Miami: Colombia coach Nestor Lorenzo said his team had been impacted by the delayed start to the Copa America final on Sunday but conceded that winners Argentina were creating a golden era.
"I think we had a very good build-up to the game but then some unusual situations started to happen," he said referring to the 82-minute delay to the match caused by crowd and security problems at the entrances to the stadium. "(The players) warmed up, cooled down, warmed up again, before the kick-off. Then we had 25 minutes of half-time, strange things for both teams," he said. The extended interval was to allow for a show from Colombian singer Shakira. "Generally the tension is felt more by those who have less experience in finals, and it took its toll on us," Lorenzo added. "It's not easy to play in a final for everyone, the boys felt a bit of the effort of the whole tournament, they played six games in 21 days.
"I must clarify, all the players who I substituted, all of them, came off with cramp, some in both legs, but all of them asked to be changed," he added. Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni agreed that the long delay had been a strange challenge for his players too. "What happened before the game is difficult to explain, difficult to understand, players standing for an hour outside the stadium waiting for their families to come and we had to go out and play the game like that with the whole feeling of not knowing where your family was," he said. "No messages were arriving, some didn't answer, we saw the videos that were circulating and we were not unaware of what was happening and in those conditions we went out to play the game and I think the boys from Colombia were also in a similar situation, very strange," he said. Lorenzo acknowledged though that while his team were at the start of their journey while Scaloni's Argentina were creating a golden era.
Argentina's win earned them their third straight major tournament title following their World Cup triumph in Qatar in 2022 and the Copa win in Brazil in 2021. Lorenzo said the different levels of experience of the two teams was evident in the game at the Hard Rock Stadium. "Of the two finalists, one is creating an era and it's not a coincidence. Before this era started, they lost two Copa America finals and a World Cup final," he said.
The defeat ended an unbeaten run of 28 matches for the team with 25 of those games coming under Lorenzo, who took over the side in mid-2022. "While Argentina is in a spectacular process, which is no longer a streak, but an era, we have only just begun," he argued. "Hopefully we'll play in the final again next time and qualify for the World Cup (in 2026)" he said. Colombia, who did not qualify for the World Cup in 2022, are well positioned to make the World Cup, sitting in third place in South American qualifying.
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