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Lionel Messi and Argentina rejoice in their greatest national team of all time

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Lionel Messi and Argentina rejoice in their greatest national team of all time

Follow live coverage of Uruguay vs Colombia in the Copa America 2024 semifinal today

Lionel Messi was all smiles. Argentina had just seen off Canada to force passage into another major final, their team’s relentless form of the past five years maintained and conviction bolstered that they will retain the Copa America title won four years ago.

“This is so beautiful, and it’s something we should value,” Messi said. “I’ve been saying that to play in another final, to play in four straight finals… what this group of players is doing is something to be proud of. We should value it and recognize it.”

There is little doubt now that this group of players — led by Messi, their venerable captain — are the best Argentina team of all time.

The Copa’s defending champions have lost just twice in 61 matches, a sequence stretching back half a decade. In that time they have won the 2021 Copa America, the 2022 World Cup and the inaugural Finalissima against European champions Italy in 2023. Beating Canada 2-0 on Tuesday night at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, already confirmed as the venue for the 2026 World Cup final, leaves Argentina 90 minutes away from another major tournament trophy.

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MetLife Stadium witnesses Argentina’s greatest-ever team (Stephen Nadler/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

Messi has now led his national team to seven finals. But before lifting the Copa America trophy in 2021, he had only suffered crushing defeats on the grandest stages, which clouded his legacy with Argentina.

The 2014 team that lost to Germany in a World Cup final that went to extra time featured many of the same players who then lost the 2015 and 2016 Copa America finals. In recent years, Messi has made an effort to honor the teams and players deemed losers by Argentina’s fanatical footballing culture. Today, Argentina’s players are national heroes who have shown an unrelenting hunger to win. 

The stadiums in which they have played in the United States over the three weeks of this tournament so far have been filled to the brim with fans clad in blue and white. Back in Buenos Aires, the country is eager to celebrate another title. There is a belief that this team have fortune on their side, unlike those sides who faltered in their biggest moments before 2021. 

“We’ve done this before and it wasn’t valued, maybe because we weren’t lucky enough to win,” said Messi. “Those teams also played in Copa America and World Cup finals. But now we need to enjoy this moment. 


Messi was all smiles in New Jersey on Tuesday night (Elsa/Getty Images)

“The people (of Argentina) deserve to stick their chests out and enjoy this Argentina national team and all its accomplishments. We’re in another final and we’re still competing.”

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Messi scored Argentina’s second goal against Canada, taking his tally at international level to 109 — the second-most of all time behind Cristiano Ronaldo’s 130 for Portugal. It was actually his first goal of the tournament, a reflection that this has been a nondescript Copa America for Argentina’s talisman. 

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An adductor (groin) injury suffered in Argentina’s second game of the group stage forced him to miss one match. Argentina, though, carried on without him, easily winning their group. That is what makes this Argentina team special. They are deep in nearly every position.

A player such as Julian Alvarez can be swapped with Serie A’s leading goalscorer Lautaro Martinez if necessary. The back line is as stout as any group of defenders in the world, led by Tottenham’s Cristian Romero. They have full-backs with different profiles; Nahuel Molina and Marcos Acuna are sure-footed defenders, while Gonzalo Montiel and Nicolas Tagliafico are man-marking bulldogs.

Argentina’s midfield is the strength of the team. Rodrigo De Paul, in tears after the final whistle due to the physical sacrifice the Canada match required, plays alongside two Premier League No 8s in Alexis Mac Allister and Enzo Fernandez. Both players attack and defend persistently, which allows Messi and Angel Di Maria to pick their moments to press and focus on chance creation. 

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Di Maria will retire after this tournament (Pablo Morano/BSR Agency/Getty Images)

Since head coach Lionel Scaloni took over in 2019, Argentina has been defined by their depth and tactical flexibility, while maintaining an identity centered on dominating possession and controlling matches from beginning to end. Di Maria has said publicly that he will retire from international football after this Copa America. The 36-year-old will now have a unique opportunity to walk away after winning yet another trophy.

“I don’t think I’d be able to have dreamt this,” Di Maria said. “I’m so grateful to this generation of players, because it’s thanks to them I’ve been able to accomplish all of this. It’s thanks to them that my last game with the national team will be a final.

“There have been some bad times — sometimes you have to get walked over. But this is how it had to end. With me lifting the (World Cup) trophy and playing in another final with this shirt.”

Messi, who turned 37 last month, referred to this moment in his career, and that of Di Maria and veteran defender Nicolas Otamendi, also 36, as “our last battles”. On Tuesday, he stressed that the road to continued success has been difficult. Argentina is not a team that routs its opponents. Every match is filled with tension and anxiety, followed by a celebratory roar when Argentina’s goals find the opponents’ net. 

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At the other end of the field, Argentina has a goalkeeper who has become nearly impossible to beat. Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez gives the current world champions an edge that makes them easy to dislike. Villainy in sport is a sign of success. But as he grinned widely in the bowels of the MetLife Stadium post-match, Martinez seemed in awe of his team’s ascendancy. 

“I can’t believe it, I can’t believe this,” he said. “You have to believe but keep your feet on the ground, with the mentality that all of this is possible.” 

Asked if he felt Argentina was the tournament’s best team, Martinez shook his head humbly. “There are a lot of good teams,” said Martinez. “Look at Brazil (out in the quarterfinals). The pitches (being used for this Copa) are f***ed and any team can challenge you. Uruguay looks really good and Colombia hasn’t lost in almost 30 games. (Those two sides meet in the second semifinal on Wednesday night). It’s going to be tough.” 

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Scaloni himself has teetered on the edge of despair even as Argentina continued to win. He nearly walked away from the national team last November, after a historic World Cup qualifying win over Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. “I need to stop the ball and start thinking — I have a lot of things to think about during this time,” Scaloni said then. 

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After last night’s win over Canada, Scaloni looked like a coach who had regained his purpose. He was visibly elated. “We’re coming from a lot of success and that makes everything more difficult — it costs so much more,” he said. Scaloni deflected all questions about Argentina’s impressive run of three consecutive finals wins. “We’re focused on winning this final.”


Scaloni has been re-energised (Stephen Nadler/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

Scaloni told reporters that Messi’s future will be determined by the player. He and his staff will never close the door on the veteran. In fact, Scaloni stressed Messi can remain a part of the national team for as long as he wishes. “I’ll take him with me if I go somewhere else,” Scaloni said. “He’d be a great help to me, but it’ll be up to him.”

A few steps away, surrounded by hordes of reporters from around the world, Messi continued to enjoy the limelight.

It must be incredibly hard for him to consider walking away from this. He adores this group of players and they, in turn, idolize him. A win in the Copa America final on Sunday (early Monday UK time) in Miami, where he now plays his club football with Inter Miami of MLS, could be the catalyst that prolongs Messi’s international career through to the 2026 World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. Alternatively, a fourth straight trophy might prompt him to hang up his boots as a hero. 

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For now, Messi is as happy as he has ever been, and so is the country of Argentina.

“Argentines are crazy about this national team and crazy about football,” Messi added. “This group (of players) has been fostering that relationship for a long time now. We’ve won important things and these players continue to compete game after game. We don’t always play well, but our willingness to compete is spectacular.

“Let’s enjoy this moment, but also appreciate what began eight years ago.”

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Argentina 2-0 Canada takeaways: Messi scores, Argentina heads to Copa America final

(Top photo: Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

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Law firm fighting for women’s sports in SCOTUS battle comments on ruling possibly impacting SJSU trans lawsuit

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Law firm fighting for women’s sports in SCOTUS battle comments on ruling possibly impacting SJSU trans lawsuit

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A law firm leading the charge in the ongoing Supreme Court case over trans athletes in women’s sports has responded after a federal judge suggested the case’s ruling could impact a separate case involving a similar issue. 

Colorado District Judge Kato Crews deferred ruling in motions to dismiss former San Jose State volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser’s lawsuit against the California State University (CSU) system until after a ruling in the B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected to come in June. 

Slusser filed the lawsuit against representatives of her school and the Mountain West Conference in fall 2024 after she allegedly was made to share bedrooms and changing spaces with trans teammate Blaire Fleming for a whole season without being informed that Fleming is a biological male. 

 

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Meanwhile, the B.P.J. case went to the Supreme Court after a trans teen sued West Virginia to block the state’s law that prevents males from competing in girls’ high school sports. 

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is the primary law firm defending West Virginia in that case at the Supreme Court, and has now responded to news that Slusser’s lawsuit could be affected by the SCOTUS ruling. 

“We hope the ruling from the Supreme Court will affirm that Title IX was designed to guarantee equal opportunity for women, not to let male athletes displace women and girl in competition. It is crucial that sports be separated by sex for not only the equal opportunity of women but for safety and privacy. Title IX should protect women’s right to compete in their own sports. Allowing men to compete in the female category reverses 50 years of advancement for women,” ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategies Jonathan Scruggs said.

Slusser’s attorney, Bill Bock of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, expects a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the legal defense representing West Virginia, thus helping his case. 

(Left) Brooke Slusser (10) of the San Jose State Spartans serves the ball during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Oct. 19, 2024. (Right) Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans looks on during the third set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ( Andrew Wevers/Getty Images; Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)

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“We’re looking forward to the case going forward,” Bock told Fox News Digital. 

“I believe that the court is going to find that Title IX operates on the basis of biological sex, without regard to an assumed or professed gender, and so just like the congress and the members of congress that passed Title IX in 1972, allowed this specifically provided for in the regulations that there had to be separate men’s and women’s teams based on biological sex, I think the court is going to see that is the original meaning of the statute and apply it in that way, and I think it’s going to be a big win in women’s sports.”

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared prepared to rule in favor of West Virginia after oral arguments on Jan. 13. 

Slusser spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court on Jan. 13 while oral arguments took place inside, sharing her experience with a divided crowd of opposing protesters. 

With Fleming on its roster, SJSU reached the 2024 conference final by virtue of a forfeit by Boise State in the semifinal round. SJSU lost in the final to Colorado State.

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Slusser went on to develop an eating disorder due to the anxiety and trauma from the scandal and dropped out of her classes the following semester. The eating disorder became so severe, that Slusser said she lost her menstrual cycle for nine months. Her decision to drop her classes resulted in the loss of her scholarship, and her parents said they had to foot the bill out of pocket for an unfinished final semester of college. 

President Donald Trump’s Department of Education determined in January that SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of the situation involving Fleming, and has given the university an ultimatum to agree to a series of resolutions or face a referral to the Department of Justice. 

Among the department’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. ED claims that “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”

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SJSU trans player Blaire Fleming and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and had Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit over Fleming being transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)

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SJSU Athletic Director Jeff Konya told Fox News Digital in a July interview that he was satisfied with how the university handled the situation involving Fleming.

“I think everybody acted in the best possible way they could, given the circumstances,” Konya said. 

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Myles Garrett cited for speeding a ninth time, an elite pass rusher seemingly always in a rush

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Myles Garrett cited for speeding a ninth time, an elite pass rusher seemingly always in a rush

Myles Garrett is in a hurry to become the greatest pass rusher in NFL history. The Cleveland Browns All-Pro defensive end set the single-season sack record in 2025 and has cracked the top 20 career leaders after only nine seasons.

“I’m going to take that down, and I prefer I take it down in the next five years,” Garrett told Casino Guru News last month.

Off the field, however, his urgency to get from point A to B is a problem. He’s accumulating speeding tickets at an alarming rate.

On Feb. 21, Garrett was handed his ninth speeding ticket since his NFL career began in 2017. He was cited for driving 94 mph in a 70-mph zone on Interstate 71 between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.

The citation from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office says Garrett was driving his green 2024 Porsche at 1:35 a.m., returning home after attending a Miami of Ohio basketball game in Oxford.

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Body cam footage shows the officer telling Garrett that she kept the charge under 100 mph so that a court appearance wouldn’t be mandatory. Garrett reportedly still holds a Texas driver’s license — he attended Texas A&M — and told the officer that he did not have an Ohio license.

Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett wears a jacket displaying his girlfriend Chloe Kim before the women’s snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy.

(Lindsey Wasson / AP)

The officer wrote that the famously affable Garrett was “kind and cooperative,” and that drugs and alcohol were not a factor.

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Garrett’s need for speed flies in the face of his persona. He has written poetry since high school, peppers social media with inspirational sayings and donates time and money to several charities.

His girlfriend is two-time gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim, for whom he wrote a poem he shared on social media: “You enrapture fools to kings, and exist without a peer, put on this Earth for many things, but our love is why you’re here.”

Verse hasn’t slowed his roll. On Aug. 9 he was cited for ticket No. 8, clocked at 100 mph in a 60-mph zone in a Cleveland suburb a day after the Browns returned home from a preseason game at Carolina.

Garrett’s seventh ticket followed a frightening crash in 2022. He flipped his gray 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S off State Road in Sharon Township and he and a female passenger were injured. He was cited for failing to control his vehicle due to unsafe speeds on what had been a slick roadway.

A witness told a responding police officer that Garrett’s vehicle went airborne, took out a fire hydrant and rolled three times. Garrett sustained shoulder and biceps sprains and was sidelined for the Browns’ game that week against the Atlanta Falcons. His companion was not seriously injured.

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Cleveland television station WKYC reported that in September 2021 Garrett was stopped twice in a 24-hour period — for driving 120 and 105 mph. The infractions occurred on Interstate 71 in Medina County, where the speed limit is 70 mph, and he paid fines of $267 and $287.

A year earlier, Garrett was cited for driving 100 mph in a 65-mph zone of Interstate 77 — again while driving a Porsche — and paid a $308 fine. He accumulated his first batch of speeding tickets in 2017 and 2018, and the police reports recite similar circumstances: Garrett driving well over the speed limit, cited without incident, paid a nominal fine.

The piddly fines certainly aren’t a deterrent. Garrett, 30, and the Browns agreed to a four-year contract extension in March 2025 that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history at the time. The deal pays the seven-time All-Pro more than $40 million a season and includes more than $123 million in guaranteed money.

He set the NFL single-season sack record with 23.0 last season, surpassing the 22.5 accumulated by T.J. Watt and Michael Strahan. Garrett has 125.5 career sacks, averaging 14 a season, a pace that would enable him to break Bruce Smith’s career record of 200 in five years.

“That is definitely on my mind to go out there and get,” Garrett said. “That’s a goal I’ve had for years now since college.”

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Garrett has declined to discuss his driving habits.

“I’d honestly prefer to talk about football and this team than anything I’m doing off the field other than the back-to-school event that I did the other day,” he told reporters after ticket No. 8 in August, referring to a charity appearance.

“I try to keep my personal life personal. And I’d rather focus on this team when I can.”

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Keith Olbermann under fire for calling Lou Holtz a ‘scumbag’ after legendary coach’s death

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Keith Olbermann under fire for calling Lou Holtz a ‘scumbag’ after legendary coach’s death

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Former ESPN broadcaster Keith Olbermann once again incited backlash on social media Wednesday after he called late legendary college football coach Lou Holtz a “legendary scumbag” in an X post on the day Holtz was announced dead. 

“Legendary scumbag, yes,” Olbermann wrote in response to a clip of Holtz criticizing former President Joe Biden in 2020 for supporting abortion rights. 

Olbermann received scathing criticism in response to his post on X.

 

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“You’re a scumbag that needs mental help,” one X user wrote to Olbermann. 

One user echoed that sentiment, writing to Olbermann, “You’re the real scumbag here. Lou Holtz had more class, integrity, and genuine decency in his pinky finger than you’ll ever show in your lifetime.”

Another user wrote, “You’re a grumpy, lonely, Godless man. All the things Lou Holtz was not.”

Keith Olbermann speaks onstage during the Olbermann panel at the ESPN portion of the 2013 Summer Television Critics Association tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel July 24, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif.  (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Olbermann has made it a pattern of sharing politically charged far-left statements that are often combative and ridiculed on social media, typically resulting in immense backlash.

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After the U.S. men’s hockey team’s gold medal win, Olbermann heavily criticized the team for accepting an invitation from President Trump to the State of the Union address. Olbermann wrote on X that any members of the men’s team who attended the event were “declaring their indelible stupidity and misogyny,” while praising the women’s team for declining the invitation.

In January, Olbermann attacked former University of Kentucky women’s swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler for celebrating a women’s rights rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments for two cases focused on the legality of biological male trans athletes in women’s sports.

Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz listens before being presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec, 3, 2020.  (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“It’s still about you trying to find an excuse for a lifetime wasted trying to succeed in sports without talent,” Olbermann wrote in response to Wheeler’s post. 

In 2025, Olbermann faced significant backlash after posting (and later deleting) a message on X aimed at CNN contributor Scott Jennings, that said, “You’re next motherf—–,” shortly after the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. 

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Holtz was a stern supporter of President Donald Trump, even saying in February 2024 that Trump needed to “coach America back to greatness!”

Near the end of Trump’s first term, shortly after former President Joe Biden defeated him in the 2020 election, Trump awarded Holtz with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States. 

After Holtz’s death was announced Wednesday, several top GOP figures paid tribute to the coach on social media. 

Those GOP lawmakers included senators Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; Todd Young, R-Ind.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; representatives Greg Murphy, R-N.C.; David Rouzer, R-N.C.; Erin Houchin, R-Ind.; and Steve Womack, R-Ark.; and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; Indiana Gov. Mike Braun; U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon; and Rudy Giuliani.

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Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame football coach, addresses the America First Policy Institute’s America First Agenda Summit at the Marriott Marquis July 26, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)

At the time of publication, prominent Democrat leaders have appeared silent on Holtz’s passing, including prominent Democrats with a football background. 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who worked as an assistant high school football coach; Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who was a recruiting target for Holtz in 1986 as a college prospect; Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, who played in the NFL; and Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Ill., who played football for the University of Illinois, have not posted acknowledging Holtz’s death. 

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