The favorite (and most deserving team) to win Copa America Centenario

Argentina deserves to win the Copa America Centenario.

The Argentines have lost two major finals: the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and the 2015 Copa America in Chile. Falling short again this year in the United States would be a brutal blow to a country that has consistently put out the best team in South America – and arguably the world.

Argentina begins its tournament on Monday without the world's best player. Reports suggest that Lionel Messi will miss Argentina's opener against Chile in a rematch of the 2015 Copa America final. The Argentine captain took a knee to the back in a 1-0 friendly victory over Honduras last week, but the injury isn't expected to be serious enough to keep the 28-year-old out of the tournament.

After all, Messi travelled to Spain to testify in his tax trial after suffering the injury and returned to training, even if it was apart from the squad. Light training would not follow the lengthy flight times if he was to sit out the tournament. Messi likely will return for Friday's game against Panama at Soldier Field in Chicago, if not sooner.

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Messi has plenty of motivation to come back. A 2014 World Cup final loss to Germany in extra time was a bitter pill to swallow for Messi, who took home the Golden Ball trophy as the tournament's best player. In the 2015 Copa America final, Argentina lost on penalty kicks to Chile in the host nation's capital. Messi refused the best player trophy, and the tournament organizers took away the silverware and vacated the award.

Over the years, the comparison of Messi's performance for Argentina with his play for Barcelona has repeatedly surfaced – and without merit. The thought that Argentina's No. 10 is not the best player in any tournament he enters, regardless of the colors on his back, is preposterous. When Messi returns to the pitch, Argentina will undeniably improve in the Copa America Centenario.

Led by Messi in moving forward and Javier Mascherano moving backwards, Argentina is the best team on the planet. Based on the latest FIFA rankings, the Argentines are far and away the top-ranked team. In fact, the difference between Argentina and second-ranked Belgium (168 points) is comparable to the point difference between Belgium and No. 8 Portugal (180 points).

Despite losing two straight finals – both times after the regulation 90 minutes had expired – Argentina has been the best team on the planet for an extended period of time.

Before going too far down the rabbit hole of FIFA rankings, one should point out that Argentina also finished top of South America's 2014 World Cup qualification, a grueling two-year competition that began in October 2011 and concluded in October of 2013. Add the 2014 World Cup final and the 2015 Copa America final, and Argentina falling short in 2016 would pass as a Shakespearean tragedy.

Messi‘s absence will be felt, of course, but the Albiceleste enter the competition with the strongest and deepest squad. Angel Di Maria's injuries in each of the past two tournaments have been major factors in stunting the attack. At Brazil 2014, Argentina went scoreless after Di Maria went down with injury, and in the 2015 Copa America final, the Paris Saint-Germain winger went off within the first half hour.

Di Maria and Messi create the vast majority of Argentina's attacking movements, so keeping the Man of the Match of the 2014 Champions League final healthy is nearly as important as keeping Messi healthy. With both of them going forward, Argentina will continue to create meaningful chance after meaningful chance.

Manchester City forward Sergio Aguero, who missed out on retaining the Premier League golden boot award by a single goal in 2015-16, appears to be out of Argentina's first-choice starting eleven. That speaks to the talent on hand for the Albiceleste. Aguero, arguably the best striker in the Premier League, isn't guaranteed a start because of the incredible form of Gonzalo Higuain, whose 36 goals for Napoli set the all-time, single-season scoring record in Serie A.

Argentina is the clear favorite to win the Copa America Centenario.

William Hill in Las Vegas offers Argentina as +200 odds to win the tournament with Brazil second-favorite at +500. The United States is +650 and defending champion Chile is +800. Beyond the bookmakers, anything short of a victory in the June 26 final in East Rutherford, N.J., would be received as a massive failure from fans in South America and, generally, anyone who follows the sport.

After all, Brazil doesn't even have Neymar, the Selecao's regular captain who is widely considered their best player and normally wears the No. 10 shirt. Neymar is being saved for the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August. With Bayern Munich winger Douglas Costa also out due to injury, the Brazilians are not nearly as strong as Argentina.

Also, defending champion Chile is under new management. Jorge Sampaoli made the three-man shortlist for 2015 FIFA Coach of the Year, alongside former Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola and Barcelona manager Luis Enrique, but his resignation in January makes it tough to imagine Chile repeating. Even with Arturo Vidal and Alexis Sanchez starring in the squad, the Chileans, who flourished playing on home soil in the 2015 Copa America, face a tall order to retain their title.

Uruguay is the greatest threat to Argentina's 2016 championship hopes.

Due to a rather memorable bite during the 2014 World Cup, Uruguay forward Luis Suarez missed the 2015 Copa America through suspension, and the team crashed out in the quarterfinals due to a 1-0 loss to Chile. But Suarez's return should instantly propel the 15-time Copa America winners as Argentina's primary competition. He took home the Golden Ball at the 2011 Copa America as Uruguay beat Argentina in Argentina en route to the title.

Still, Argentina possesses the best overall talent, and that would still be the case if Messi did not return from his injury. But Messi is expected to join the Argentines. And when he does, Messi and Argentina figure to win a much-deserved 2016 Copa America Centenario.

Shahan Ahmed is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow Shahan on Twitter: @ShahanLA and @perfectpass