Angel Di Maria fills void for Argentina with Messi out
Argentina’s Angel Di Maria took the field with a heavy heart and without his most accomplished teammate Monday. And both those things helped fuel an emotional 80-minute performance in a 2-1 win over Chile in a Copa America Centenario game played before a crowd of 69,451 at Levi’s Stadium.
Di Maria knew days ago that Argentina would play its Centenario opener without Lionel Messi, a five-time world player of the year. But it wasn’t until hours before the game that he learned his grandmother had died.
He decided to play anyway, and when he put Argentina ahead to stay early in the second half, he dedicated the goal to her.
“It’s difficult to be away when something like this happens,” Di Maria said through tears during an on-field interview. “My mom asked me to stay here with my teammates and to win the game.”
His teammates, especially midfielder Ever Banega, helped with that, Banega setting up Di Maria’s score before adding a goal of his own.
On the first score, in the 51st minute, Banega intercepted a poor pass near the midfield circle, rushed up the center of the field and sent the ball ahead for Di Maria, who pulled up in the penalty area and sent a low left-footed shot past Chilean keeper Claudio Bravo at the near post.
Di Maria then raced to the Argentina bench and grabbed a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Grandmother, I’m going to miss you so much.”
Said Di Maria: “I am so happy because I was able to score. It was for my grandmother and my family that are having a difficult time. In the morning, when I knew what happened, I knew that I would score today. And it was for her.”
Eight minutes later, Banega made the score 2-0 when his shot from nearly the same spot ticked off the foot of Chilean defender Mauricio Isla and into the net.
Chile struck back in stoppage time when second-half substitute Jose Pedro Fuenzalida headed in an in-swinging free kick from Fabian Orellana. But that proved to be far too little and far too late.
Argentine Coach Gerardo Martino, who didn’t learn of Di Maria’s loss until after the game, said he would have given the player the night off. But Di Maria never asked for it.
“Those are very important circumstances and aspects of life that transcend soccer,” he said. “He didn’t tell me anything. He was feeling good to play. Not all people respond the same in those situations.”
Di Maria said his grandmother wouldn’t have wanted him to sit out.
“I don’t play,” he said, “my grandma was going to get mad.”
All that made Messi’s absence from the most anticipated group-play game in the tournament seem minor by comparison.
Officially he was unavailable after suffering a bruised back in a friendly against Honduras 10 days ago. But in the last week he also endured two 13-hour-plus plane flights and an appearance in a Spanish court, where he defended himself against tax-fraud charges. So since arriving in Northern California over the weekend, he has been training lightly, away from his teammates.
Martino hopes to have Messi back in time for Friday’s game against Panama in Chicago.
But if Argentina was dealing with injuries and emotions, Chile was saddled with high expectations after beating Argentina on penalty kicks in last summer’s Copa final. The man who coached La Roja to the title, Jorge Sampaoli, resigned in January, and his replacement, Juan Antonio Pizzi, has lost four of his first five games.
“I trust in the ability of my players,” Pizzi said. “We’ve just got to work. We’re going to recover physically and mentally from this game.”
kevin.baxter@latimes.com
