Lionel Messi finally ticked the last empty box in his glittering soccer career on Saturday night, leading Argentina past host Brazil, 1-0, in the final of the Copa América in Rio de Janeiro.The trophy was Messis first with Argentina after a string of painful, agonizing, infuriating failures, including possibly the most demoralizing defeat of his profession– against Germany in the World Cup final– inside the very same arena, Rios hulking Maracanã, in 2014. Messi– his relief palpable– dropped to his knees and was instantly surrounded by his colleagues when the whistle blew to end the last. Moments later, they were raising him above their shoulders and tossing him in the air.In more than a years at the top of his sport, Messi, 34, had actually won almost every soccer honor possible with his Spanish club group, Barcelona: every award, every award, every championship, trophy.and and cup year after unpleasant year, he had actually stopped working to win a thing with Argentina.Until Saturday.His good friend Ángel Di María delivered the reward at last, putting Argentina ahead in the 22nd minute after coolly collecting a long cross-field pass to the right wing from the deep-lying midfielder Rodrigo De Paul. Controlling the ball on the bounce with a single deft touch with his left foot after it skipped past the Brazil left back Renan Lodi, Di María then settled himself and– lifting the ball with the same foot growing off its next bounce– sent a shot over Brazils goalkeeper, Ederson, that landed softly in the back of Brazils net.As Messi and the rest of Argentinas team raced to celebrate with Di María, the Brazilians stood, stunned. The objective was only the 3rd they had permitted in the tournament.Messi had carried Argentina over the last month in Brazil as he chased the type of prize he had coveted for so long. He led the Copa América in scoring this summertime, with 4 goals and 5 assists, but he had done that before, too, and then fallen brief of supreme victory.The sting of duplicated failures– at the World Cup in 2014, and in the Copa América final in 2015 and again in 2016– had seen Messi retire from the national group a minimum of twice. Both times he had actually relented, and returned, to chase after that first senior title. This month, Argentinas players had actually made it their objective to provide it.”Messi is one action ahead of everyone,” De Paul had stated prior to the semifinals. “We are all on the same course. What matters is to win.”Saturdays video game was the spirited, fiery affair everyone had actually anticipated from the two biggest powers in South America; a six-inch piece of the Brazilian star Neymars shorts was torn away in the very first half, and Messi dived in with a rare scissoring sideline tackle at one point.Chasing the game, Brazil sent on a wave of enemies after halftime: Roberto Firmino came on at the break and was followed, later on, by Vinicius Júnior and Gabriel Barbosa as Brazil pressed for the connecting goal.Richarlison thought he had tied ball game in the 52nd minute when he operated on to a lead ball from Lucas Paquetá and slotted house a low shot. However replays showed that he had actually broken a split-second early, and the objective was disallowed for offside.Two minutes later on he remained in once again, onside this time, but his shot was stopped at close quarters and brushed aside by Argentinas goalkeeper, Emiliano Martínez.The opportunities kept coming, on both sides– even Messi stunningly blew an individually in the goal mouth late in the game– but as the minutes ticked away, and as the takes on got rougher and the dives and the pleas for nasty calls more emphatic, ball game did not change.Messi was, at last, a champion in Argentinas white and blue.