With an explosive Lionel Messi in the second half, three-time world champion Argentina started successfully defended the title and America Cup by beating Canada 2-0, in the opening of the continental tournament, this Thursday (20), in Atlanta, in the United States.
The strikers Julián Álvarez, at the beginning of the second half (49′), and Lautaro Martínez (88′), were the scorers of the goals at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, full of ‘albicelestes’ shirts with the massive presence of 70,564 spectators.
“We knew it was going to be like this. We knew what Canada was capable of. It was a game as we expected, very tough, very physical, especially in the first half, there were few spaces. Fortunately we found something quick in the second half and managed to play a little better” , said Messi after the victory.
With this victory in the opening of Group A, which is completed by Chile and Peru, Argentina extended its unbeaten run to 21 games since that surprise against Saudi Arabia in the 2022 World Cup, in Qatar.
The three-time world champion, who won the last edition of the Copa América in Brazil in 2021 by defeating the Brazilian team in the final at Maracanã, is looking for her sixteenth title to become the team with the most titles in the history of the competition, an honor she now shares with the Uruguay (15 trophies each).
The first round of Group A will conclude this Friday (21), when Chileans and Peruvians will face each other in Arlington (Texas).
“When we managed to execute our tactical plan, we made things very difficult for Argentina and we could have scored a goal and opened the scoring”, lamented Canadian coach Jesse Marsch at a press conference.
“We let this game slip away when we had certain things under control. Now we have to focus on Peru [terça-feira, dia 25, em Kansas City]another very difficult game, and we can’t take anything for granted”, added the Canucks coach.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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