With 13 goals, Messi is currently ranked 7th on the Copa America history bomb list, less than his predecessors Norberto Mendez and Zizinho, who have 4 goals. Norberto Mendez (nicknamed Tucho), who led Argentina to its only three consecutive Copa America championships (1945 to 1947), was VPL of the first year in the treble with 7 goals and is one of the few players scored a hat-trick in the epic match Argentina vs Brazil also in 1945. Tucho’s equal is Zizinho, although he is a midfielder, he scored 17 goals in 6 tournaments from 1942 to 1957, with the highlight being the poker shot against Chile in 1946.
In the list above Messi, there are still two players participating in this year’s tournament: Eduardo Vargas (Chile) and Paolo Guerrero (Peru) with the same 14 goals.
After 5 Copa America participations without winning either the VPL title or the championship (2007 (2 goals), 2011 (0), 2015 (1), 2016 (5) and 2019 (1), the efforts Messi’s success was rewarded with the Copa Cup in 2021 in Brazil, and with Luis Diaz (Colombia) leading the scoring list with 4 goals, Messi now needs to repeat this achievement to surpass the feat of his two seniors Stable for 77 years.
There are still countless other records waiting for Messi to break in this year’s tournament. If he plays in the opening match against Canada on June 21, Messi will become the player who has played the most matches in Copa America with 35 matches as well as the first Argentine player to appear in 7 editions.
Messi scored a hat-trick in the 2016 Copa America group stage against Panama, and if he does the same thing this summer, he will join a group of 10 players who scored hat-tricks in two different tournaments.
Messi has won the Copa America best player award twice (2015, 2021), equal to Enzo Francescoli and Jose Nasazzi (both from Uruguay) and Manuel Seoane (Argentina). Copa America 2024 can help Messi become the first person to win this honor 3 times and also the first time in 2 consecutive tournaments.
