Final, 0-0 (Chile wins penalty-kick shootout 4-2): Both the venue and continent are different than last year, but the story remains the same: Chile estan Campeones.
Chile wins Copa America after downing Argentina on penalty kicks for the second consecutive year. Chile becomes the first team to repeat as Copa America champion since Argentina in 1946-47. It’s more heartbreak for Argentina and Messi, as they lose in a major final for the third consecutive year.
That’s all for now, and thanks for joining us. Let’s discuss this one on Twitter @NESNsoccer and Facebook. Be sure to keep an eye out for some news, fan reactions, analysis and opinion coming up on NESN.com/soccer.
Postgame analysis of Argentina-Chile >>
Penalty-kick shootout: Silva scores. Chile wins Copa America 2016 on penalty kicks.
Silva can win Copa America 2016 for Chile.
Bravo saves Biglia’s shot. Chile can win by scoring on its next penalty kick.
Biglia steps up for Argentina.
Beausejour converts his spot-kick for Chile.
Aguero slides his shot past Bravo. It’s 2-2 after three rounds.
Aranguiz scores with full confidence.
Now it’s Aranguiz’s turn for Chile.
Mascherano scores to make it 1-1 after two rounds.
Mascherano steps up as Argentina’s second shooter.
Castillo converts Chile’s second penalty kick.
Messi shoots first for Argentina.
Romero saves Vidal’s shot.
Chile will shoot first, and Vidal does the honors.
120th minute, 0-0: The referee blows the whistle. The Copa America 2016 final ends in a goal-less draw.
Only penalty kicks can determine a winner between Chile and Argentina.
Stop us if you’re heard this story before. Maybe last year.
116th minute, 0-0: Funes Mori heads Lamela’s cross toward Chile’s goal, but Beausejour heads the header clear of danger.
113th minute, 0-0: Erik Lamela replaces Banega, as Argentina counters with a late substitution.
109th minute, 0-0: Chile makes another substitution. Vargas exits. Nicolas Castillo, 23, enters for his first action in Copa America 2016.
106th minute, 0-0: The second period of extra time is underway.
105th minute, 0-0: The first period of extra time is over. The teams will swap sides and play another 15 minutes.
103rd minute, 0-0: Chile makes a change, replacing Alexis with midfielder Francisco Silva.
Alexis scored the winning penalty kick in the 2015 final. That won’t be the case this year.
100th minute, 0-0: Bravo makes a fantastic save on Aguero’s glancing header. The Chile goalkeeper tips Aguero’s header off the crossbar.
99th minute, 0-0: Puch sets up Vargas for his best scoring chance of the game, but the Chile striker heads too closely to Romero, who dives left and saves the shot with both hands.
96th minute, 0-0: Gonzalo Jara blocks Aguero’s shot and leaves the Argentina striker writhing in pain. It’s a goal-saving block.
94th minute, 0-0: Funes Mori rakes his studs down Isla’s calf but escapes a yellow card.
94th minute, 0-0: The referee shows Kranevitter a yellow card for a foul on Alexis.
91st minute, 0-0: Aranguiz is down. His left knee collided with Lucas Biglia’s right knee.
91st minute, 0-0: The first period of extra time is under way.
End of normal time: The referee blows the whistle. As was the case in 2015, the Copa America 2016 final is going to extra time.
The players are exhausted, but neither side is giving an inch. The teams are allowed an extra substitution, per new FIFA rules. Argentina can make two personnel changes. Chile can make three.
Another thing to note: We’ll need at least another 30 minutes to determine a winner, as extra time doesn’t follow the golden-goal (sudden death) rule.
90th minute, 0-0: Ramiro Funes Mori makes a heroic block, stopping Alexis’ tap-in from reaching the goal from just 2 or 3 yards away.
Play flows to Chile’s end of the field, but Messi shoots powerfully wide after dribbling to the top of Chile’s penalty area.
90th minute, 0-0: There will be a minimum of three minutes of added time in the second half.
90th minute, 0-0: Ever Banega misses the target with the latest of Argentina’s wayward shots.
85th minute, 0-0: Aguero rockets another shot wide of the mark.
81st minute, 0-0: Aranguiz receives the ball in a promising position near the by-line, but he crosses straight to Romero.
80th minute, 0-0: Chile makes its first substitution. Edson Puch replaces Jose Fuenzalida, presumably as a right-sided forward.
80th minute, 0-0: Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero makes his first save of the night, denying Vargas’ shot from a tight angle.
80th minute, 0-0: If the game remains tied at the end of normal time, extra time beckons — a departure from the rules of every previous round.
77th minute, 0-0: Alexis is down on the field in obvious pain. The Chile forward is running himself into exhaustion for his country.
He limps to the sidelines, but it looks like he’ll re-join play soon.
73rd minute, 0-0: Aguero hits a shot into orbit in his first meaningful attacking contribution.
Messi has moved into a central position, and Argentina is benefiting from the shift. Messi is creating danger on the dribble and setting up others in good positions, as he just did for Aguero.
70th minute, 0-0: Sergio Aguero replaces Higuain in Argentina’s second substitution.
It’s another final to forget for Higuain.
69th minute, 0-0: Aranguiz is cautioned for a foul on Messi. The Chile midfielder pleads his case with Lopes, but the official is steadfast in his decision.
68th minute, 0-0: Chile is outplaying Argentina in the second half, showing more work rate off the ball and invention when in possession.
64th minute, 0-0: Chile counter attacks with a numerical advantage, but the move breaks down because Vargas is offside.
57th minute, 0-0: Matias Kranevitter replaces di Maria, as Argetina makes its first substitution of the game.
57th minute, 0-0: Mauricio Isla shoots wide in Chile’s first attempt at Argentina’s goal.
In Copa America 2016, Chile has scored 10 of its 16 goals in the second half. Maybe Isla’s effort is a sign of things to come.
55th minute, 0-0: Higuain swivels and slices a shot over the bar.
52nd minute, 0-0: Just when we thought cooler heads might prevail, Chile left back Jean Beausejour is shown a yellow card for a foul on Gabriel Mercado.
46th minute, 0-0: The second half of the Copa America 2016 final is underway.
Halftime, 0-0: The referee blows the whistle for halftime. It’s goal-less at the break.
What was supposed to be a celebration of the beautiful game turned into a street fight and veered toward the farcical in just over 45 minutes. Neither team managed to breach the other’s goal, as the game largely was clogged in the midfield and scoring chances hard to come by.
Higuain missed on the best opportunity either team created. He chipped his shot wide and triggered memories of his miss in the 2014 FIFA World Cup final. Argentina lost that game to Germany 1-0 in extra time.
But Lopes is in the limelight following a first half in which he controversially sent off Diaz and Rojo, cautioned Messi for diving and showed yellow cards to a host of others, including midfield stars Vidal and Mascherano. Lopes started losing control of the game within the first five minutes, and this, naturally is the result.
Another 45 minutes remain, and the teams must figure out how to navigate both that time-span and Lopes’ enigmatic decision-making with just 10 players at their disposal.
The first half of Copa America 2016 wasn’t pretty, but it was compelling for reasons we didn’t imagine before the game.
45th minute, 0-0: There will be a minimum of five minutes of added time in the first half.
43rd minute, 0-0: Lopes, the referee, shows Marcos Rojo a straight red card for a tackle from behind on Chile.
Argentina might miss Rojo, its first-choice left back and unexpectedly creative influence.
Argentina now is down to 10 men, following Rojo’s dismissal.
40th minute, 0-0: Messi slaloms into Chile’s penalty area and goes down under some contact. Chile’s incensed players demand that the referee shows Messi a yellow card.
And he does. It’s a yellow card for Messi. For diving.
Word on the street says Messi never dives. There you have it.
37th minute, 0-0: The referee shows yellow cards to Vidal and Javier Mascherano after the star midfielders engage in some pushing and shoving.
33rd minute, 0-0: Di Maria tests Bravo from distance, but the Chile goalkeeper collects it with no problem.
31st minute, 0-0: The Diaz decision clearly will tilt the balance in Argentina’s favor, but Chile has commanded more possession since the midfielder’s dismissal.
28th minute, 0-0: Referee Heber Lopes has shown Diaz a red card for a foul on Messi. Chile is down to 10 men after the harsh decision. Messi sold the contact for all it was worth.
24th minute, 0-0: Nicolas Otamendi heads Messi’s floated free kick to the wrong side of the post … by inches.
21st minute, 0-0: Higuain takes the ball off a Chile defender and races in alone on the goal, but his chip rolls wide.
Chile defender Gary Medel collides violently with the post, but “the pitbull” is one of the toughest players around and will play on.
19th minute, 0-0: Di Maria hits a right-footed shot way over Chile’s goal. Some Argentina fans greet di Maria’s effort with whistles.
17th minute, 0-0: Messi shoots the ensuing free kick straight at Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, his club teammate at FC Barcelona.
16th minute, 0-0: The referee shows Diaz a yellow card for tripping Messi, bringing an Argentina counter attack to an end.
13th minute, 0-0: Now Eduardo Vargas is down on the turf in apparent pain. The Chile striker leads Copa America 2016 in goals with six, but he has failed to make an early impact on the final.
Vargas returns to his feet and will play on.
Ninth minute, 0-0: Arganguiz required treatment after taking a powerfully struck ball to the face. The Chile midfielder returns to play.
Eighth minute, 0-0: Di Maria over-hits a cross by a country mile. The Argentina winger can’t be at his sharpest having missed all but his team’s first two games in the tournament.
Fifth minute, 0-0: Alexis is down on the field with an apparent ankle injury. He looks like he’ll run it off, but FOX Sports’ broadcast reports the Chile forward has battled a left ankle problem for the last week.
Fourth minute, 0-0: Chile has shown its trademark aggression, often winning the ball in the midfield and moving it forward as quickly as possible.
First minute, 0-0: Ever Banega fires a shot narrowly wide of Chile’s goal just 15 seconds into the game. What a shock that goal would have been.
Kickoff: The 2016 Copa America final between Argentina and Chile is underway.
It’s a rematch of last year’s final, which Chile won on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw in normal and extra time.
The teams have been this close to glory before but haven’t always struck gold.
Pregame: Angel di Maria makes a shocking return to Argentina’s lineup, having apparently recovered from the thigh injury he suffered on June 11. Di Maria joins Messi and Gonzalo Higuain on Argentina’s stacked front line.
Messi sat out the first Argentina-Chile game of Copa America 2016 due to a back injury. He’s in the lineup Sunday, nominally on the right side of Argentina’s front three. Regardless of where the superstar positions himself, Chile must close him down immediately … or else.
As expected, Vidal returns to Chile’s starting 11 after serving a one-game suspension in the semifinals. Vidal will drive Chile from the midfield, and Charles Aranguiz and Marcelo Diaz will support him in the middle.
Vidal and Aranguiz are first and joint-second in most fouls committed at Copa America 2016 with 11 and 10, respectively.
7 p.m. ET: Here are the starting lineups:
Argentina
Chile
5 p.m. ET: The national soccer teams of Argentina and Chile have proven themselves to be superior to the rest of the Copa America 2016 field, so it’s fitting they should meet for supremacy over the Western Hemisphere.
Argentina plays Chile on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., in the Copa America 2016 final. The matchup pits FIFA’s top-ranked team, Argentina, against the fifth-ranked side, Chile, as well as the two highest-scoring teams in Copa America 2016.
Argentina’s Lionel Messi leads the cast of stars involved in the game. Messi, 29, is one win away from claiming the first senior-level international title of his illustrious career and ending his country’s 23-year wait for a title. Argentina has won nine consecutive games, and its perfect, five-for-five record at Copa America 2016 includes a 2-1 win over Chile on June 6 in the group stage.
Arturo Vidal and Alexis Sanchez led Chile’s defeat of Argentina last year in the Copa America 2015 final. Chile’s win came via penalty kicks and took place on home soil. If Chile can down Argentina once again, it will become the first team to successfully defend its Copa America title since 1947. Argentina was the last side to accomplish the feat. In a way, symmetry will converge with history in New Jersey.
The teams have scored a combined 34 goals at Copa America 2016, with Argentina enjoying a slight 18-16 edge over Chile. Expect plenty of fireworks, as the two finest teams in the Americas go head-to-head for “Centenario” glory.
The Copa America 2016 final kicks off at 8 p.m. Join us right here for all the action from MetLife Stadium.
Thumbnail photo via Kelley L Cox/USA TODAY Sports Images
