Veteran Argentine star Angel Di Maria bid farewell to his country’s national team, on the sidelines of the “Tango Dancers” match with its guest, the Chilean national team, in the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, early Friday morning.
Di Maria announced his international retirement after Argentina won the Copa America in the United States last July, after defeating Colombia 1-0 in the final match of the continental competition.
The Argentine players celebrated Di Maria by carrying him on their shoulders, and there was also a video clip of him in which Lionel Messi, the team captain, spoke about his teammate who shared the coronation of many titles with him, most notably the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and the Copa America.
Afterwards, Di Maria’s family received the president of the Argentine Football Association, Claudio Tapia, who, along with Alejandro Domínguez, president of CONMEBOL, presented him with a plaque and a replica of the Copa America.
Di Maria addressed the Argentine national team and the Argentine fans in the stands, saying with tears streaming down his face, “It’s hard to talk, I have a lot of feelings inside me. First, I want to thank all the workers at the Argentine Football Association.”
“These people have always been by my side for 16 years,” Di Maria added. “I want to thank them for everything they have done for me and for the players I have played with throughout my career.”
“I don’t want to forget all the players,” Di Maria said in statements reported by the Argentine Football Association’s official website. “We had the opportunity to win everything with these boys here, but I also don’t want to forget my former teammates because they taught me to keep fighting.”
“I cannot forget the players who gave me the opportunity to win everything,” Di Maria said. “I told them and I say it again, thanks to them I will leave in this way, with this honour and this affection. I am also eternally grateful to the technical and medical staff.”
“Now I am a fan of the Argentina national team. I will be there with my family to support the players and the officials and we will continue on this path because they have a lot of motivation to continue on this path,” Di Maria concluded.
It is noteworthy that the match between Argentina and Chile ended with the host team winning 3/0 in the seventh round of the qualifiers, to continue to top the standings with 18 points, and to take another step closer to qualifying for the next edition of the tournament, which it won in 1978, 1986 and 2022.
