Copa America

[I Just Blue Myself]

It's bigger than this tournament and bigger than the manager. The fact that Messi, Mascherano, Agüero, Higuain, but also 'nobodies' like Lavezzi and Biglia are to retire is hinting at that. Messi openly labeled the AFA a 'disaster' on Instagram a couple days ago and the post is still up.

Btw, Higuain gets a lot of (deserved) flak for bottling the biggest chances three tournaments in a row, but Sergio has been crap for the largest part of his international career.

[bigblue]

Apparently ESPN Argentina now confirming Agüero and Mascherano "retirements"... also Lavezzi, Biglia, Higuain, etc. in the coming hours to days.

Great news for us if true. Injury prone Sergio can focus on playing for us without trans-Atlantic flights every month or so.

As for why they're all retiring, it seems to be a mix of the horrible treatment from fans and the deep corruption of the AFA. Here's a brief explanation I came across about the corruption:

The long-time president of the AFA died in office in mid-July 2014. Luis Segura automatically stepped in as provisional president, and they scheduled new presidential elections for December 2015. Unfortunately, despite having 75 electors they somehow ended up with 76 votes in a 38-38 tie... so Segura stayed in office as provisional head until a new vote could be held. That was scheduled for the end of this month.

An Argentinian judge, Servini de Cubria, started an investigation into Segura (and others) for embezzling TV rights money from the first and second division leagues.

FIFA and CONMEBOL sent their own investigators, then promptly declared a state of emergency, announced that Segura was removed from his post as provisional head of the AFA, and that they were putting in place a FIFA-appointed committee to straighten out the AFA before holding a new election for president next year.

Servini de Cubria, in response, ordered the AFA to ignore FIFA's orders because he wanted all evidence preserved for his own investigation which was ongoing.

Also, wouldn't be a final without a point blank miss from Higuain:

https://streamable.com/h0ci

[Wonderwall]

Apparently ESPN Argentina now confirming Agüero and Mascherano "retirements"... also Lavezzi, Biglia, Higuain, etc. in the coming hours to days.

Great news for us if true. Injury prone Sergio can focus on playing for us without trans-Atlantic flights every month or so.

As for why they're all retiring, it seems to be a mix of the horrible treatment from fans and the deep corruption of the AFA. Here's a brief explanation I came across about the corruption:

The long-time president of the AFA died in office in mid-July 2014. Luis Segura automatically stepped in as provisional president, and they scheduled new presidential elections for December 2015. Unfortunately, despite having 75 electors they somehow ended up with 76 votes in a 38-38 tie... so Segura stayed in office as provisional head until a new vote could be held. That was scheduled for the end of this month.

An Argentinian judge, Servini de Cubria, started an investigation into Segura (and others) for embezzling TV rights money from the first and second division leagues.

FIFA and CONMEBOL sent their own investigators, then promptly declared a state of emergency, announced that Segura was removed from his post as provisional head of the AFA, and that they were putting in place a FIFA-appointed committee to straighten out the AFA before holding a new election for president next year.

Servini de Cubria, in response, ordered the AFA to ignore FIFA's orders because he wanted all evidence preserved for his own investigation which was ongoing.

Also, wouldn't be a final without a point blank miss from Higuain:

https://streamable.com/h0ci

I reckon it's all smoke and mirrors. Wait until there is a backroom AFA shakeup and they will all return on mass