15 best soccer moments of 2016

7. Chile win Copa America, defeating Argentina in final again

In addition to Euro 2016 and the Olympics, this summer also gave us the Copa America Centenario, the 100th anniversary edition of the world’s oldest continental soccer tournament, hosted in the USA.

There was plenty of exciting soccer early on, and even some shocks. Brazil failed to progress to the knockout stages from a group that included Peru, Ecuador and Haiti. Uruguay also failed to advance from the group stages.

The USMNT fared better than their South American counterparts, making it all the way to the semifinals of the tournament. They were pulled apart by a ruthless Argentina side in a match where Lionel Messi became his country’s all-time leading scorer. That win took them to the final to face Chile, who beat them in the 2015 final.

Messi was left frustrated in a major final for the third consecutive year as Chile claimed the trophy in a penalty shootout. Argentina dominated for large periods of the game and should have led through Gonzalo Higuain but the Juventus striker failed to keep his cool in a one-on-one situation. In the penalty shootout, Messi blazed his spot-kick over the bar and he then had to watch his side lose 4-2 on penalties.

Soon after the match finished the Barcelona forward announced his retirement from international soccer, claiming the heartbreak of losing all these finals was just too much to take. Fortunately for Argentina fans, their talisman has since reversed this decision and is back scoring goals for his country.