Lionel Messi and the Top 3 Soccer Players to Never Win Copa America Championship
The 2015 Copa America is over. Chile fans are still celebrating their incredible victory over Argentina, but Argentina fans can only wonder "what if."
The Copa America is special for soccer fans because it means your country is the best in all of South America. Unfortunately, some of the best soccer players ever have not been able to hoist the Copa America trophy.
Here are the three best players of all-time to never win the Copa America.
Lionel Messi
He's dominated Spain unlike any young player we've ever seen for Barcelona in the Spanish Premier League. Lionel Messi is arguably the best player in the world today with his amazing dribbling and passing, but his latest loss to Chile in the finals is going to sting for a while. Fortunately for Messi, he still has time on his side. Messi is just 28 years old, and there will even be a Copa America held in the United States next year. Most likely Messi will participate in two more Copa America tournaments at minimum. As for Argentina, they have not won the Copa America since 1993 when they defeated Mexico in the finals.
Pele
He guided Brazil to three FIFA World Cup victories showing world dominance, but he couldn't dominate the continent. Pele is widely regarded as the single best player in soccer history, but incredibly, even he never won the Copa America. His best chance came in 1959 when he was the leading scorer with eight goals. Brazil had to beat Argentina in the final game to win it all, but they tied, 1-1. Pele scored in that game, but Argentina, the host nation, won the tournament based on a better overall record. Brazil's next Copa America championship wouldn't come until 1989, when they defeated Uruguay in the finals.
Diego Maradona
This is a really tricky, complicated and unfortunate tail of "what could have been." Diego Maradona provided Argentina fans with some of the most amazing goals ever, and he led his country to the 1986 World Cup championship over Germany, 3-2. Argentina won back to back Copa America titles in 1991 and 1993, but Maradona didn't play in either one. In 1991 he was suspended for 15 months for testing positive for cocaine. In 1993 he didn't compete because of a conflict with his team. Maradona even missed the 1994 World Cup because of a failed drug test. He will always be remembered as one of the all-time greats, but poor off-the-field decisions kept Maradona from ever being part of a Copa America championship squad.
Other notable players who never won the Copa America include Garrincha, Elías Figueroa, Sócrates, Falcão and Carlos Valderrama.