The defending champions of Copa America and FIFA World Cup, Argentina, commenced the Copa America title defence with an important 2-0 win ag
The defending champions of Copa America and FIFA World Cup, Argentina, commenced the Copa America title defence with an important 2-0 win against Canada in a sold-out Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Lionel Scaloni fielded a much more consistent squad with Messi, Di Maria and Alvarez in the attack. The midfield trio of De Paul, Paredes and Mac Allister were predominantly used in the Qatar World Cup and started against Canada. Lisandro Martinez of Manchester United was the only new face at the back replacing Nico Otamendi.
Facing Canada in an opening game was always never going to be easy because the Canadians have up their game recently. Alphonso Davies is the star man in the Canadian team supported by Lille’s Jonathan David and Cyle Larin of Mallorca in Spain.
The game ended goalless in the first half with Alvarez opening the scoring with just four minutes into the second half. A simple square pass was played into the striker’s feet by Mac Allister in the box whose composure helped him fire the ball into the bottom right corner to give Argentina a deserved lead.
Julian Alvarez, Lionel Messi, and Nicolas Otamendi all missed great chances to finish off Canada but were a bit sloppy in front of the goal.
With two minutes to end the game, Lionel Messi played a neat pass to Lautaro Martinez who scored to round off an incredible night for the World Champions.
The results will deceive you because the Canadians were pretty good and scared the Argentines.
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