Lionel Messi scored his first goal of the 2024 Copa America to help Argentina win 2-0 against Canada on July 10.

 

Messi and his teammates celebrate their ticket to the final. Photo: Reuters

Facing an opponent that was considered to be much weaker than Canada, Argentina, under the leadership of Lionel Messi, still entered the match quite cautiously. Even in the first minutes, Canada was the team that dominated the game, with several situations that caused trouble for goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez’s goal.

In the 8th minute, Canada  had a dangerous counterattack when striker Jacob Shaffelburg got down to receive a pass from his teammate and then fired a powerful but inaccurate shot.

It wasn’t until the 23rd minute that Argentina opened the scoring, 1-0. From a long pass from De Paul in the midfield, Alvarez sped past a Canadian defender and fired a shot past goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau, putting Argentina ahead.

With the lead, Argentina continued to play in a “sleep-inducing” style. In the 44th minute, Messi had space and turned the ball to eliminate a Canadian defender, but his subsequent shot was inaccurate. After that, Messi had a few more shots but they were all inaccurate.

But Messi’s efforts were finally rewarded in the 51st minute, After a beautiful attacking combination, Messi fired a close-range shot that beat goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau, raising the score to 2-0 for Argentina . This was also Messi’s first goal in this tournament.

10 minutes later, Argentina had another chance. From a quick counter-attack, Alvarez escaped to face goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau but his shot could not get past the goalkeeper’s hands.

In the final minutes of the match, Canada pushed up their formation to find an equalizer, but their shots were too weak or goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez was too good, so the score of 2-0 remained the same for the rest of the match. This victory helped Argentina qualify for the final match.