Copa America win would make up for World Cup, says Messi

The Argentina captain wants to erase the memory of last summer's World Cup final defeat to Germany and claimed he would pay just to watch several of their opponents play football

Argentina talisman Lionel Messi claims winning the Copa America in July would erase the memory of their 2014 World Cup final loss to Germany.

The Albiceleste skipper is currently in Chile preparing for their tournament opener against Paraguay on Saturday and expects his team to justify their tag as one of the favourites to claim the trophy.
Importantly, the 27-year-old is hoping to exorcise the memory of Argentina's defeat on penalties in the World Cup final a year ago and acknowledged his incredible run of form in recent months.
"I’d love to win the Copa America for everything it would mean for us after enjoying a spectacular World Cup and coming so close," Messi told reporters.
"This Argentina generation wants to win and we’re aware that we are the favourites. As a team, we deserve to win something. We know that it would be the best thing ever to end the season by lifting the Copa America.
"I don’t know if this has been my best year, but I feel fine myself, and very happy. With the national team we are all in good shape and we have some great players who can help us to achieve what we want.
"We’re going into this in better shape than we did at the World Cup because we had a few players injured. It’s important for us, and for Argentina because it’s been a while since we last won it."
The star is lso hoping he and his compatriots at Barcelona will be carried into the Copa America by the momentum of securing a treble with the club.
"We [Barcelona] won every competition we entered and it’s incredible to do the treble again," he continued.
"Thankfully, we were able to fulfil our objectives with our club and hopefully we can now gain more success with the national team which is what we all want.
"But all of our rivals are going to be difficult; this is one of the closest tournaments in a long time. I love good football and would pay to watch Brazil, Colombia and Chile."
Apart from Paraguay, Argentina have been drawn with holders Uruguay and Jamaica in Group B.