For the second game in a row, the coach of the opposing team bested by Argentina has been forced to admit: “We tried but the opponents were superior.” So said Mexico’s Hugo Sanchez Wednesday after his men were handily beaten 3-0 in the Copa America semifinal. And there can be little doubt that this Argentina, which includes the near-unstoppable attacking of foursome of Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez, Juan Roman Riquelme and Juan Sebastian Veron, is better than the outfit that barely scraped by Mexico last year in the World Cup round of 16.
Riquelme made Argentina’s first, floating his free kick into exactly the area that Mexico keeper Oswaldo Sanchez couldn’t reach for Gabriel Heinze to touch home. The second was all about Messi: after exchanging passes with Tevez, the Barcelona striker took one look at the goal and lofted a perfect chip over the helpless Sanchez. “Only a genius could do this,” Argentina coach Alfio Basile said of Messi’s goal, his second of the tournament. A few minutes later, Tevez was brought down in the area after darting past two Mexican defenders. Riquelme converted the ensuing penalty with all the arrogance of Zinedine Zidane’s chip in the World Cup final last year. Argentina is now the only team in the tournament to average more than three goals per game.