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Rodrigo de Paul imagined it, but not like that. “We went years without playing the Copa America in our country and we had the opportunity to live that,” he says. “We know the passion the Argentines feel. We knew the stadiums were going to explode. We knew that every team that came to play would not only face us but 60,000 or 70,000 people screaming. We saw it in Brazil two years ago like they played with an extra player. This year it was our turn, With us he will be more powerful, but…”
But Argentina is heading to Brazil. The Copa America was supposed to start at the Monumental in Buenos Aires on June 12, 2020. Instead, it begins at Mané Garrincha in Brasilia on Sunday; De Paul and his teammates in Argentina started the following night against Chile in Rio. After being postponed for a year, the contest was lost by hosts Colombia amid political turmoil on May 20. Ten days later, Argentina also gave up due to the coronavirus crisis. The next day, the 2019 hosts intervened, if not willingly.
2019 winners too. Argentina were defeated 2-0 in the semi-finals by Brazil, Lionel Messi was sent off in the third-place play-off, refused to attend the medal ceremony and was suspended for three games for saying the competition had been “held”. For their competitors the ruling is “corrupt”. However, De Paul insists Argentina was left “proud”.
There was, he says, something deeper and more important beyond frustration: a new era, new hope after the 2018 World Cup, and a new generation rising under coach Lionel Scaloni, who aspires to success this month. He’s one of the players the Udinese midfielder stands at the core – even if, relying on his teammate, he calls himself “a spare tyre,” an expressive description that says a lot about his vision of football, and a collective conscience that goes with his quality.
“This process started with [last] Copa America,” says De Paul. “With a new round of players, we had 14 shots on goal for Brazil, hitting the crossbar and the post. We started a process and then followed the same path: we beat Brazil, drew with Uruguay, drew with Germany in Dortmund, beat Mexico, drew with Chile, and won in La Paz which we haven’t done in 20 years. We’ve gone nine and ten matches without losing. With each outcome we had fewer doubts, it grew. The virus interrupted him but I think the process is good.”
“I will do whatever I have to do to wear the Argentina shirt,” Rodrigo de Paul says. Photo: Juan Mabromata/EPA
And then, he adds without hindrance: “And for the sake of this process, we have the best captain we can have. I won’t talk about his level in football, because that is indisputable. As a person and guide, Leo [Messi] incomparable. With him, everything is easier.
“On a human level, I only called him once: in Valencia – Barcelona. We are talking 2014. Apart from that I didn’t know him. Looking at everything he lives – you can’t go anywhere; he set foot in an airport and there were 200 people – He may be a reserved personality, so he surprised me. He enjoys his companion, he enjoys listening to a song, he enjoys a truce [cards]. We do warm-up games where you dribble, hoop and shoot. I say: Leo. I’ll take you. He likes it. This comforts him. You can see him as existing in another dimension but he is a person.”
But can you win? DePaul laughs. “No, it’s impossible. And I’d tell you if you did, eh. You could try to put it off, try anything, but it’s impossible.”
Guillermo Maripan: The best defender in Europe
The test of how far this new Argentine generation has come, and whether they can get past those barriers, comes in the first match. Argentina face Chile, the country they have beaten for the last two years in a row – and on penalties. Chile is ready, insists Guillermo Maripan, the central defender of Monaco who has been the best defender in Europe this season, but knows his job will be more focused on stopping Lionel Messi. And then, in the next match, he suspended Luis Suarez.
“The best thing you can do is call a teammate to help you,” he says. “Or better yet, two teammates. Between two or three of you, you try to get the ball out of him, but it’s still very difficult against Messi.
“Suarez is hard to tell because of the way he moves, the physique, the way he collides with defenders and the intelligence he has. He never stops for a second: he spends the whole match in motion, he changes position, he jumps, he hits you so he is the kind of striker that is hard to deal with It’s a little bit more aggressive, and although you can handle it in the end, it takes more work, and you can’t stop it. That’s it, that’s what it is. But he’s a great professional with a great career.”
Bypass those and Brazil can wait. But Mariban has reason to be confident: this is after all the man who dominated Kylian Mbappe when Monaco won at PSG this season. So when asked who the tournament favorites are, the response was quick: “For me, it’s Chile.”
Photo: Agustín Marcarian / X03747
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De Paul won them, a consistent match since Scaloni took charge. Hearing him analyze his game is to find out why, depth and remarkable insight. “Scaloni understands my prayer [physical coverage] And the tactical understanding that Italy learned,” says De Paul. “With that, we can cover Leo Paredes and help Messi. I have a despliegue to press the back or cover. How will I explain my role? I like spare tires. The important players often focus on me.”
It’s a very unflattering description of the Udinese captain, among the leading footballers of Serie A, having provided nine goals and nine assists this season. “But I have no problem putting it that way,” he insists. “And whatever I have to do to put on the Argentina shirt, I’ll do it. Everything comes in its own time: there is a moment to get into the box and score, to break lines, to help Leo be new to attack or hold on to Paredes. You complete them.”
“People talk about goals and assists but I was looking for stats on getting the ball back that day. In my first year I was almost triple: it was 150, I’m over 400 now. What I didn’t have at the time, now I do. So now You think: “Well, then what? What is missing?’ The day I stop playing for Argentina, it will be because someone was better, not because I didn’t work. I like giving passes more than scoring and there are moments when you throw in the tackle. I have no problem doing that, and I don’t want to be on the front pages.”
Rodrigo de Paul in a match with Udinese against Inter Milan last month. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
This made DePaul an attractive proposition. Atletico Madrid are interested. He called the Premier League and will be back again. A quickly deleted tweet last fall responded to reports of him moving to Leeds with fingers crossed. He did not go anywhere after that; He seems likely to do so, and the suitors are even more important and alert the Udinese to the market.
“I was very honest and very clear with who I had to be clear with,” DePaul says. “I said what I thought, what I want. I am 27 years old now. I will not speak anywhere else because I respect everyone in Udinese, especially the fans who really love me.”
Another Copa America, more pressure, more expectations. Argentina were runners-up twice, and World Cup runners-up too, but that wasn’t enough, as Messi was portrayed as a loser. “For me, they are heroes,” says DePaul. “I understand that people in Argentina need the cup and the victory. Because people ask the football team what was not presented in other areas: government, work, insecurity. Since there is no one asking for that, anyone to empty it, they turn to football.
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“What matters is to arrive on the first day and try to leave on the last day. In the final, the ball hit the post. It’s a centimeter. Football is moments. You can’t base judgments on a missed penalty.”
Now Argentina is trying again, even if this is not the way they wanted, the tournament has sunk into a crisis that does not have the usual enthusiasm. “We are in a moment in life that no one has taught us how to live and we have to be very careful at every step,” says DePaul. “The fans are bringing football back to life and I want them soon, with all my heart. They made it as beautiful as the players. But now it is up to us to take that happiness home.”
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