This week means a lot for the world of football. Everyone is curious to know for which team it will be a Super Sunday in the Euro Cup and who will lift the Copa America Cup. Will England be able to capture the title for the first time? Will the Italian team, playing in a completely different style, win this after a long time? Will Neymar and Messi’s clash in the Copa America Cup be successful in grabbing everyone’s attention?
If we talk about the Copa America Cup, then FIFA has given very interesting information about it. According to FIFA, a total of 105 matches have been played between Argentina and Brazil, in which Argentina’s team has been victorious on 38 occasions while Brazil’s team has won on 41 occasions; 26 matches were drawn. There was not much difference between the two teams in terms of scoring goals. While Argentina scored a total of 160 goals, Brazil scored 163 goals. This time the final of the Copa America Cup will be played between these two at the Maracana Stadium on 10 July.
If we talk about Brazil and Argentina, Neymar and Messi are the biggest attraction. Both are stars of their respective teams. Neymar’s biggest strengths are his quickness, dribbling, dodging and ball skills. All four of these things have been witnessed in the Copa America Cup as well. At times, he is adept at scoring goals by hitting three defenders. On the other hand, Messi is the legendary footballer, as far as free-kicks are concerned. This time, on two out of four occasions, his goals were seen on the free-kick itself. The whole world knows that he proceeds in playing on the right and surprises everyone by scoring a goal with the left footer. It becomes almost impossible for any team to stop him. Of course, Neymar is slightly above Messi in dribbling, but this time at the Copa America, Messi has taken a slight lead in this matter.
Neymar proved to be the second most dribbler in this case. His scintillating dribbling on 21 occasions in four matches was a sight to behold. Messi has been seen doing almost similar dribbling on 22 occasions in four matches. Neymar is also enjoying the experience of PSG. He has scored two goals in this tournament and has a hand in three goals, while Messi has scored four goals in the tournament and has assisted in five goals.
It is also true that so far Neymar has not been able to perform at the continental level as per his abilities. This can be said by looking at his performance in the Copa America for the last ten years. In 2011 and 2015, his team got out of this tournament very quickly. Then the team of Paraguay was also dominating this team in the penalty shoot-out. Well, Neymar likes to play for the country. Four years ago he participated in the Rio Olympics and was instrumental in getting Brazil its first gold.
On the other hand, most of the successes of Lionel Messi have been seen in club matches. It is a different matter that he is counted among the greatest players of the century and is placed in the line of all-time greats Pele and Maradona. However, Messi’s team-mates can also be held responsible for not winning a major final for his country. Following the match against Peru, Neymar admitted that he would like to play Argentina in the final. As the Selecao striker will look to help Brazil retain the crown on their home ground, Messi on the other hand will want to be third time lucky after missing out on two Copa America finals.
It wouldn’t be the World Cup title, but winning this Copa América would lift an enormous burden off Messi’s shoulders. After losing the 2014 World Cup final and two consecutive Copa América finals (2015 and 2016), Messi will have another shot at a title against another formidable foe. Ahead of the final, Lionel Messi was talking to the press and was full of praise for his former club teammate, Neymar. He admitted the game against Brazil would be difficult, especially because of Neymar. Lionel Messi is currently a free agent as his contract at Barcelona has expired. The Barcelona star is free to hold talks with any club in the world but reports suggest that the Catalan side are confident of keeping him.
Now it remains to be seen whether the magic of Neymar’s dribbling and dodging works or the magic of Messi’s free-kick and his especially left-footer works.