When the whistle blew at the end of last year's Copa America final, the entire victorious Argentina ran towards Lionel Messi. Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 to win their first senior title in 28 years. But in that moment, it seemed more important, Messi finally picked up some senior trophies in his country. It was indeed Messi's moment – overshadowing the only goal scored in the game.
But Angel Di Maria seemed pleased. In the history of gaming, it's hard to imagine an offensive genius combining an extraordinary resume with such a lack of ego. After helping Argentina win the 2007 Under-20 World Cup, he left Rosario Central as a teenager, where, as if accustomed to his future role, he was seen as part of Sergio Aguero's supporting role. He then played for Benfica, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and now Juventus – five clubs in five different countries.
Prior to last year's Cup, Messi's greatest success in Argentina was at the 2008 Olympics, an under-23 competition that allowed three over-age players to compete. Argentina defeated Nigeria 1-0 in the final to claim the gold medal. Who scored the only goal of the match? Of course, this is Di Maria, as he did 13 years later against Brazil, who rushed through the defence and beat the goalkeeper with a calm finish.
Argentina can look back with regret how close they were to winning the World Cup in Brazil in 2014. They will cringe at Mario Gotze's late goal, which won the game and the title for Germany. They would have squirmed at earlier missteps by Gonzalo Higuain and Rodrigo Palacios. But the real moment when their World Cup challenge lost momentum came a few rounds ago, when Di Maria was injured, which prevented him from playing the rest of the race.
The team squeezed through Switzerland in the second round of that match. Extra time ended with Di Maria scoring the only goal of the game and Messi's shot into the far corner. In the quarterfinals against Belgium, he received the ball from Messi and slipped past a pass made by Higuain in the spin. But a few minutes later, he stopped with injuries and was forced to leave. His World Cup is over – and so is Argentina's attacking prowess. They didn't score again in the game.
Di Maria screamed when he lost to France at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. But at that time, few would have imagined that he would still play for Qatar – especially after Argentina's horrific performance at the 2019 Copa America. Lionel Scaloni was just a caretaker coach at the time, heavily influenced by France's rapid transformation. He tried to set Argentina in a similar way, but it didn't work out - predictably, because it did not fit the characteristics of the players - and Colombia chose them in a 2-0 win in the group stage.
Isolated on the left wing, Di Maria took most of the blame, although he was substituted at half-time and the game remained goalless. The team's response was to move on to something more compact and practical, and Di Maria did not start another game. At this point, his international career seems to be over, especially when he was left out of the first two rounds of World Cup qualifying.