Argentina's golden doomed to failure again

Lionel Messi and his team-mates lost a second major final in the space of a year as Jorge Sampaoli's side made history by winning on penalties in Santiago.The long wait is over for Chile. Ever since the first Copa America in 1916, La Rojahave been trying to win SouthAmerica's prestigious continental competition. Nowthey have and the celebrations have kicked off in earnest in Santiago. For Argentina's golden generation, though, this was another chance missed.Chile took the game to Argentina in this one and even though they played very much on the edge with some cynical fouls in the first half that left their three centre-backs booked before the interval, few could argue that the locals did not deserve thistriumph - both for their performance on the night andalso throughout this tournament.A sterile second half concluded as substitute Gonzalo Higuain hit wide at the far post, failing to find the net from an acute angle. The miss evoked memories ofhow he squandered a gloriouschance in last year's World Cup final and to make matters worse, the Napoli forward blasted his penalty over the crossbar in the subsequent shootout.The man he replaced on the pitch, Sergio Aguero, said before the Copa that if this golden generation of Argentine players fails to win a trophy, they will regret it for the rest of their lives. Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria and others all echoed those words later on - but it was beyond them again on Saturday.The Under-20 World Cup claimed by the Albiceleste in 2005 and the Olympic gold medal in 2008 were special for these players at the time, but they have been unable to replicate those successes withthe full national side - even though their generation of players has been described bymany as their greatest ever.