James Rodrigues Says Foul Play Copa America Final: Colombian football star James Rodriguez has claimed that Argentina and their star player Lionel Messi were given preferential calls and judgment in the final of the 2024 Copa America, suggesting that foul play was the reason for his side not winning the competition.
Copa America is the premier international football tournament in the Americas, where national teams from North and South America compete to be the best. The 2024 edition saw Argentina face Colombia in the final at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.
Despite taking more shots and having more possession, the Columbians lost the game in the 112th minute of extra time as Lautaro Martinez scored the winning and only goal of the match, the result being 1-0.
This was the second continental title win for Argentina, who had previously won the Copa America in 2021. After years of failing to win the trophy with and under Lionel Messi, La Albiceleste now wins two in a row. But if Rodriguez is to be believed, that did not happen through legitimate means.
James Rodriguez, the former Real Madrid player and World Cup Golden Boot winner, was named the Player of the Tournament for the 2024 Copa America for scoring one and assisting six goals, bringing his team to the final.
Despite his solid run of form, Rodriguez couldn’t drag his team over the finish line at the last hurdle. But he now claims that the Argentine team and Messi were getting favourable decisions from match referee Raphael Claus. The former Everton player alleges that the ref did not give Columbia a penalty where there clearly was one.
James Rodrigues Says Foul Play Copa America Final
Speaking on the Los Amigos de Edu program, Rodriguez had this to say about that tournament and that final, saying,
“We had an excellent Copa America. Obviously, we wanted the title, but we didn’t win the Copa America because of external things, I think. The referee favoured Argentina. He didn’t give us penalties. For me, a clear one.”
It should be noted, however insignificant this detail might be, that the final of the 2024 Copa America was played in Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, in the same city that Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami calls home.
Messi and Argentina will now look to do the double-double. Having won two Copa America titles, they will now look to win back-to-back FIFA World Cups, the next one being played majorly in the US as well.
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