Silence and sadness for losing the Copa America… (Meluk tells him)

The soul was walking on a tightrope throughout last night’s final.

Sometimes she gained more ground on the wire and moved forward, but sometimes it seemed that the Argentine wind was moving her and…

Until the 112th minute of that eternal overtime, Lautaro Martinez A gust of wind crossed the field that ended the match, the Copa América, and the hope of winning the title. Colombia selection.

And the football soul slipped off the wire, fell with that hollow, dizzy feeling in the pit of the stomach. It’s a pain to lose.

It is an overwhelming feeling, especially when you were so, so close to grabbing the Cup in your hands and raising it to the top.

Perhaps last night in the final against this more earthly Argentina, with Lionel Messi crying over his swollen ankle on the bench after being substituted, Colombia He didn’t play his best game in the Cup. Maybe James wasn’t sharp or consistent. Maybe Luis Diaz tried more than he achieved…

But really, really, that doesn’t matter now, because finals are not played, finals are won, as Argentina won last night without being a steamroller, without being obviously superior to Colombia.

In a one-on-one match we flipped the coin and it landed tails and today it’s our turn to load it. That’s what we have to do…

Outside there is silence. The horns that sounded all day can’t be heard. There are no car horns with the “ta-ta-ta” that created a traffic jam of hope and excitement on Sunday afternoon. There is also no sound of the gunpowder that exploded in fireworks when night fell and the game hadn’t started and anxiety increased.

It’s almost midnight now

It’s almost midnight now and there’s silence in the streets because it’s okay to stay like that, sad, bored, scratching your head, complaining, even crying, swearing a few times in frustration, replaying the game in your head, cursing the referee and swearing that there was a penalty that wasn’t, thinking about what could have been… And it was lost and it wasn’t the title you wanted and there’s that bitter taste that won’t go away…

Yes, it is true that this team gave us 15 wonderful days, full of emotion and faith. We recited the verses of the left-footed poet, James Rodriguez, reborn for football. We saw a magnificent tournament of Davinson Sanchezwho many no longer believed could be in the National Team. He was a panther Jefferson Lerma chasing balls in the middle of the field… Or the very sure Camilo Vargas from the hands of a magnet!

Yes, it is also true that the future looks encouraging, that for the qualifying round the team has the strength to reach the 2026 World Cup and that there is a crop of players to believe in again, as was believed in throughout this beautiful Copa América.

But today it is valid to be sad.

There is silence outside and there is sadness inside…

Gabriel Meluk

Sports Editor

@MelukLeCuenta