"We won't win the Copa America by walking because we are World Cup winners"

Argentina captain Lionel Messi said, two days before the start of the Copa America, that his team is the favourite, but that he expects a "very, very evenly matched" competition in which the 'Albiceleste' will have to "keep doing the same, even more" to win it again.
"I've always said and I always say that Argentina are favourites, but, well, the way we are, we're always the best. We take things for granted and that's why we've beaten ourselves so much. Today, we can say that we are the best, because we are the last world champions, but that doesn't mean that we are going to win this Copa America by walking" in an interview on America TV with journalist and former president of San Lorenzo, Marcelo Tinelli.
Messi highlighted Ecuador, who "have a generation of very good players, who know what they want and are intense" and also put Colombia, Uruguay and Brazil in the group of favourites. "That's why I say it's going to be a very, very close Copa America. The good thing about us is that the group knows that and is aware that we're going to have to keep doing the same, even more, to win again," he said.
The Argentina captain stressed the good atmosphere in the group of players called up by Lionel Scaloni, which has been helped by the winning of three titles (Copa America, Finalissima and World Cup), because "having achieved everything we have achieved in this short time gives you peace of mind".
Messi, who again insisted that his participation depends on how he feels about the whole process until 2026, admitted that winning the World Cup was "revenge" after losing the final in 2014.
"I was always grateful for the love I received throughout my career. It was like everyone wanted it to end that way, that I couldn't leave football without becoming a world champion. Thank God it happened and for me I have crowned everything. I have achieved much more than I dreamed of when I started, because I never imagined I would experience everything," he said.
"I think that everything happens for a reason and that everything is written. For me, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be and it's meant to be now. God had it in store that it had to be this way and that's why it happened," she added.