Salvador (Brazil) (AFP)

Lionel Messi "bitter" of his first missed period, Angel Di Maria "gone unnoticed" ... Argentina sails in doubt after its defeat of entry at the Copa America against Colombia (2-0) in Salvador .

The players of Albiceleste conceded two goals in the second half, while, paradoxically, they had raised their level of play after forty-five minutes tasteless.

"The second period was worthy of Argentina," reassured the Argentine coach Lionel Scaloni, after a match where the collective mistakes were highlighted by individual bankruptcies, like Angel Di Maria .

"We made the necessary adjustments and we had possession of the ball but Colombia, which is a good team, surprised us against the moment when we played the best," he added.

Nothing catastrophic for the technician, who says that "the most important thing is to keep the good results and to correct the mistakes made".

Except that this defeat of entry into a competition that escapes Argentina for 26 years, are aggregated several statistics that say a lot about the morale of the troops: Colombian Cafeteros have beaten the Blue Sky and White for the first time in Copa America for 20 years. And Argentina had not lost its first match in this competition for 40 years.

- "Team in formation" -

"We are bitter," said superstar Lionel Messi, who won everything with Barcelona but who stumbles on a glass ceiling in selection, like the last two finals of the Copa America (2015, 2016), lost on penalties against Chile. Not to mention the defeat in the 8th finals of the World Cup-2018 against France.

"Obviously we did not want to start like this, but now is the time to raise our heads and continue," said the five-time Golden Ball. "I think this group is ready for this challenge."

Voluntarist remarks supported by those of his teammate in selection, the Paris player SG Leandro Paredes, who insisted on the "good" second period of his, "a team in full growth" which must however "improve".

The Argentinian press, it has rehashing the first failed period: "Gross errors.looks lost.The team of Lionel Scaloni was in the purest perplexity at the start," noted the newspaper Clarin. The latter took the opportunity to comment on the poor individual performance, with in mind that of another Parisian, Angel Di Maria, who "did not attack", was "not productive" and "went unnoticed".

However, commented in the press "Coco" Basil, the last Argentine coach to have won a title (the Copa America 1993), "this is not the time to make hasty judgments".

"We can see that Argentina is a team in formation, we have to wait a little longer, we see that there is a lack of working time, because there was neither aggressiveness nor intensity in the pressure", he continued, insisting that "there is time to correct some aspects" before the next match.

Time, yes, but little: the Argentines will play their second match against Paraguay in Belo Horizonte on Wednesday.

? 2019 AFP