Copa America Final 2021: How Argentina used Messi as a decoy to fool Brazil – tactical analysis

The Copa America finally came to an end as Argentina lifted the trophy after beating Brazil by Ángel Di María’s only goal. It might not be the most entertaining game as there were not many for Ederson and Emiliano Martínez to do, the match only had six shots on target in total. However, the final was very intriguing from a tactical perspective as we saw a hardworking, relentless, smart Argentina. Lionel Scaloni might catch Tite a bit of surprise when he tweaked Lionel Messi’s positioning, so the 34-year-old did not get touches in every construction of attack.

This tactical analysis will tell the key points of the game and show you why Argentina were the deserved winner of Copa America 2021.

Lineups

Argentina came with a fresh squad as Scaloni decided to make some changes after beating Colombia in the semi-final. Nicolás Tagliafico, Nicolás Gonzalez, Germán Pezzella, Guido Rodríguez were all starting on the bench as Marcos Acuña, Leandro Paredes, Cristian Romero, and Di María came into the lineup.

Brazil had Gabriel Jesus returning from suspension, but Tite did not let him play. Everton continued to start as the right-winger as he solved the width issue against Peru, while Lucas Paquetá also started at the midfield after handling top-class performance in the knockout stages.