JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Argentina and Colombia met last night in the Copa America soccer final. The game took place near Miami. And besides being an exciting match, there was a whole lot going on. Disruptive fans, delays, injuries, and did I mention Shakira? In the end, Argentina walked away with its third championship in row. To discuss all of this and more, we're joined by Luis Miguel Echegaray. He is an analyst for ESPN and ESPN Deportes. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
LUIS MIGUEL ECHEGARAY: Thank you so much for having me.
SUMMERS: OK, there's a whole lot to talk about here, but I want to start with what happened before the game - a lot of chaos. Tell us what was going on.
ECHEGARAY: Yes, a lot of chaos - thousands and thousands of fans, notably, those that did not have tickets, entered or tried to enter the stadium hours before. This was just too much for the infrastructure of Hard Rock Stadium to contain to the point where there was people trying to break in, children crying. It was a horrible, horrible situation, especially for folks that had tickets because by the end of it, a lot of them didn't even - were not able to go because they just - was just overwhelmed by the numbers in the stadium.
SUMMERS: Oh, gosh. OK, let's turn now to the actual game. Tell us about the game. How did each team perform?
ECHEGARAY: It was a tumultuous game, a lot like the scenes before the kickoff started anyway. Argentina, who are the defending World Cup champions and Copa America champions, entered this game without losing a game. They only conceded one goal. But offensively, they had not been that great. Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest player that's ever been, is getting older. He's 37 now, so he's not really always the focal point. And Colombia, who were the hot ticket throughout the entire tournament - led by James Rodriguez, the charismatic, 33-year-old MVP of the competition - were looking good and were feeling confident. But by the end, it went into extra time with no goals and Colombia lost. Defensively, this was two teams that were so back and forth against each other that - trying to find an opening door for a goal, and it just wasn't happening.
SUMMERS: I want to talk a little bit about Lionel Messi, who left the game in the second half with an injury, and that was a really emotional moment. Any sense of how he's doing now?
ECHEGARAY: There's going to be obvious tests about that ankle, which looked horrible, as you mentioned. He was very emotional about it. Part of it was the pain obviously because he really was in a lot of pain. The other part was wanting to be on the pitch with his teammates. But the other component is your emotional side of it, right? This is getting to the end of his illustrious career. So was this his final game in a major international tournament for Argentina? Who knows? So weeks and weeks are going to have to go by to see really how he rehabilitates as Inter Miami, his club, will wait on that fate. But yeah, it's not looking good. I'm imagining it's going to take a few weeks if not months for him to be fully recovered.
SUMMERS: I can't have this conversation without talking about Shakira, who performed a halftime show for what I understand as the first time in the championship. What was the reaction like?
ECHEGARAY: Well, being a Latin American/South American tournament, you can imagine what the reaction was like. And being the fact that Colombia were part of this final, you could also imagine what it was like as Shakira herself is Colombian. I mean, Shakira is a massive, massive impact on the entire community. It's not just about "Hips Don't Lie" or the English-speaking songs. She has a catalog that is unrivaled, to be honest, for any Latina artist. And she had to make it shorter because obviously kickoff was delayed due to what was going on before the game started, but as always, Shakira never fails to deliver.
SUMMERS: That is ESPN's Luis Miguel Echegaray. Thank you.
ECHEGARAY: Thank you so much.
(SOUNDBITE OF SHAKIRA SONG, "HIPS DON'T LIE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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