The Weight of a Nation: How Argentina's Burden Grew Too Heavy for Lionel Messi

By Justin Sherman (@JShermOfficial)

He was the first to walk the requisite 51 yards to the spot for his country. Chile’s Arturo Vidal had just had his shot blocked by Sergio Romero, sending the Argentinian contingent into a frenzy.

Camera phones by the thousands were raised forward by adoring fans ready to witness history. Bulbs flashed, lighting up the stadium as bright as the New York City skyline, and almost as quickly as they vanished, the ball sailed off the pitch and into the stands. Messi tugged at his jersey like a man wanting to rid himself of his skin.

He knew what it meant, and everyone else did too.

USA vs Argentina: A Pivotal Moment for US Soccer

For the first time since their friendly on March 26th, 2011, The United States and Argentina will lock horns with a berth in the Copa America Centenario final at stake.

By Justin Sherman (@JShermOfficial)

Face it, we’ve been spoiled these past few weeks.

An NBA finals that looked all but over at 3-1 was turned on its head. We witnessed a player get suspended for a low blow after being the recipient of a LeBron James tea-bag, the league MVP threw his mouthpiece at a fan, his wife tweeted that the NBA was rigged in pushing the series to a 7th game for more money, and the Cavs completing history by becoming the first NBA team to ever come back from that series deficit to win the title.

The 2016 Euro Cup hasn’t been too shabby either, supplying an amazing amount of drama, with over 31% of the tournaments goals coming after the 88th minute of play. In addition, we’ve seen flares light up the pitch and explode in a collector's face, Russian and English fans duke it out in the streets of Marseille, with Heineken bottles as their weapons of choice, and the smallest country in the tournament (Iceland) stun Hungary and Portugal with draws.

But under the radar, something else has been just as exciting and worthy of our attention -- the Copa America Centenario.

To many American fans, the Copa America is a foreign entity.