Argentina began its defense of the Copa America title with a 2-0 victory over Canada with two assists from Messi which kicked off his tournament start in which he also became the player with the most appearances in the history of the tournament.
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With the core team that won the World Cup, the ‘Scaloneta‘ jumped onto the field of the Mercedes Benz Stadium to defend the title they won at the Maracanã two years ago.
In less than ten minutes, Argentina found space and a couple of times came close to open the scoring, first with Di María who escaped to the edge of the area but could not close, and later Messi who did a cross-shot and passed very close to Crepeau’s post.
However, after half an hour, Canada found a gap thanks to Alphonso Davies and the first possible goal of the match ended up being invalidated because of an advanced position, but it was a warning for the Argentines.
And on the final stretch of the first half, ‘Dibu‘ Martínez had a lot of work, Eustaquio first, and then Alphonso Davies put the ball very close to Argentina’s goal despite dominating the beginning of the match ended up suffering.
Argentina woke up in the second half
Right at the beginning of the second half, Lionel Messi prepped a goal shot pass, Mac Allister left it to Julián Álvarez and the Manchester City striker scored it 1-0 for Argentina from that moment on, took control of the match
Messi played a good game, in addition to setting up the play for the 1-0, he set up the second goal that defined the match, with Lautaro Martinez’s shot before the goalkeeper’s exit.
In short, the match should have ended at least 5-0 but the Albiceleste team lacked clarity in front of the goal, even Messi was not sharp and in the last minutes he had a one-on-one and also set off the alarms with a blow to the knee.
Argentina’s next game in the tournament will be on Tuesday against Chile at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, home of the Jets and Giants in the NFL.
