Angel Di Maria to retire from internationals: Decoding his stats
Argentina veteran footballer Angel Di Maria is in the twilight of his career as he has decided to retire from international duty after the 2024 Copa America. Di Maria has seen several ups and downs with La Albiceleste over 15 years in his career. However, he won several accolades with Argentina and most importantly the FIFA World Cup. Here are the stats.
Why does this story matter?
Di Maria made his Argentina debut in September 2008 against Paraguay and he hasn't looked back since then. He has featured in four FIFA World Cups, five Copa Americas and other competitions as well. Di Maria has been a pivotal figure in the dressing room over the last decade for Argentina. One hopes he signs off on a high in 2024.
Fourth-highest appearances for Argentina
Apart from injuries, Di Maria has always been there for La Albiceleste. He has featured in 136 games for Argentina, which is the fourth-highest for the country in terms of appearances. Only Lionel Messi (180), Javier Mascherano (147) and Javier Zanetti (145) are ahead of him. Di Maria has the opportunity to finish in the second spot.
Seventh-highest goal-scorer for Argentina
Di Maria always likes to remain involved in the game and he steps up when the occasion is big. He has netted 29 goals for the national team, besides also making 29 assists. Overall, he is the seventh-highest goal-scorer for Argentina. Last year was his best in terms of output as he scored six goals in 11 games for Argentina from six games.
Decoding Di Maria's goals for Argentina
Di Maria has clocked 12 goals in 42 international friendly matches. His first was a friendly goal in 2010. He has returned with eight goals in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, besides netting five goals in 23 Copa America matches while scoring thrice in 11 World Cup clashes. Di Maria scored once in the 2022 Finalissima against Italy as well.
Di Maria has this unique achievement for Argentina
Di Maria is the only player to score in the Olympics final, Copa America final, Finalissima, and also in the FIFA World Cup final. He scored in the 2008 Olympics final against Nigeria while also netting the winner against Brazil in the 2021 Copa America final. Di Maria scored in the Finalissima and 2022 World Cup final against Italy and France respectively.
A look at his international trophies
Di Maria won the U-20 FIFA World Cup in 2007 followed by the Olympic gold in 2008. With the senior team, he won the Copa America in 2021 followed by the Finalissima in 2022 But the biggest one was the FIFA World Cup last year. It was special for Di Maria as he scored in Argentina's win over France in the final on penalties.
Di Maria has scored in his last three World Cups
Di Maria has featured in four World Cups in total but he scored in his last three editions (2014, 2018, 2022). Interestingly, all three goals came in the knockout stages of the tournament. Out of his three World Cup goals, two have come against France.
Di Maria announced his retirement on Instagram
"The Copa America will be the last time I wear the Argentina shirt," he wrote on Instagram. "With all the pain in my soul and feeling a lump in my throat, I say goodbye to the most beautiful thing that happened to me in my career." "I can't express in words how much the cheering of the fans has filled my soul," he added.
