beIN SPORTS

By Nick Dorrington (@chewingthecoca)

The Copa America Centenario has been the tournament at which Ever Banega has finally established himself as regular part of the Argentina starting XI. He opened the competition with a goal and an assist in the 2-1 win over Chile and has continued to perform to a high standard throughout. Neither he nor Argentina were particularly stretched in overcoming the United States 4-0 in Tuesday's semi-final, but he is likely to play an important role in what will be a more testing final against Chile or Colombia on Sunday.

Banega came into the tournament on the back of a couple of impressive and successful seasons at Sevilla under the tutelage of his former Valencia coach Unai Emery. He has always been an extremely talented player, but his career had been drifting dangerously towards unfufillment before the Andalusian club picked him up for just €2.5 million two summers ago. Two Europa League titles later, he is now off to Internazionale in Italy.

His re-emergence has been a welcome one for Argentina. When he missed out on Alejandro Sabella's squad for the 2014 World Cup it would not have been outlandish to suggest that he had played his last match for the Albiceleste. But now, with the trust and confidence of Gerardo Martino and his staff, Banega looks set to be a key player not only this month in the United States but also in Argentina's quest to win the 2018 World Cup.

His importance derives primarily from his relationship with Lionel Messi. The myth that Messi doesn't perform well in the blue and white of his country has long since been dispelled. Argentina have now reached the final of three consecutive major international tournaments and if the first two ended in defeat, it was due to structural problems and tiredness rather than outright under-performance on the part of their number 10.

Banega is not a catch-all panacea but it would be fair to say that not since his early days in the national team alongside Juan Roman Riquelme has Messi been able to count on as reliable and skilled a midfield collaborator.

It is true that Javier Pastore linked promisingly with Messi in flashes during last year's Copa America, most notably in the semi-final thrashing of Paraguay. He is a wonderful player to watch and is capable of providing moments of incisive inspiration in the final third, but Banega provides more of what Messi needs in a co-conspirator whilst also fitting better into the overall structure of the team.

  Vamos Argentina 1⃣9⃣⚽️?? A photo posted by Ever Banega (@ever19banega) on Jun 6, 2016 at 9:55pm PDT

Banega is a master of small spaces and can be trusted to receive under pressure and manipulate an angle for an onward pass. In comparison to Pastore, he is more steady in his movements, providing a reliable link-point for Messi to manoeuvre around when he drifts infield. His positioning is also conservative enough to allow another midfielder (in this tournament, Augusto Fernandez) the freedom to make forward runs ahead of the ball.

The 27-year-old understands when to slow things down and take the sting out of the game. But above all, his ability to connect play through midfield allows Messi to conserve his energy for where he does most damage: in the final third.

It has taken some time to get to this point but Banega is now asserting the same influence over the senior national side that he had over the team who won the Under-20 World Cup in Canada back in 2007. Back on North-American soil, his presence may just be enough to tip the balance in Argentina's favour on Sunday as they go in search of their first major international trophy in 23 years.