Christopher Benítez Cuartas

The 2024 Copa Amérca started off in style in Atlanta Thursday night as defending champions Argentina took on Canada , which was playing its first tournament ever. The South Americans had a rough 2–0 victory. Argentine Captain Lionel Messi played his 35th match in tournament, breaking a record established in 1953.

The match started relatively even, as Canada’s opening attacks started coming from the right with long shots from Stephen Eustáquio as forwards and midfielders switched occasionally. Argentine attacks were sparse and exclusive, but upfront as Messi shot the first two in the first ten minutes. The reigning champions would not stay behind, and in a matter of three minutes they set up long passes, a short and tight offense while remaining as accurate and frequent with passes. This created a defensive net that Cyle Larin and Ismaël Koné got caught up in easily at around minute 18.

On the Argentine right, Cristian “Cuti” Romero and Rodrigo De Paul worked together to forward the ball easily to Ángel di Maria. However, this system was briefly interrupted after De Paul got knocked out by Alphonso Davies’ free kick at minute ’21. The Argentines did flake a little halfway through the half as rushed play on both sides of the Argentine field caused an advancing ball to fall apart, with Marcos Acuña the last one to touch it.

Davies’ ensured Canadian possession through the left side, though Jonathan David ended up shooting incoherently at that point. Canada’s resistance seemed to split in two by the time halftime rolled around, with the blue-and-whites having 67 per cent of the possession, but Canadian strengths contrasted Argentine single-man attempts to rush the ball towards the goal. The clashes were the only thing that made up for Team Maple leaf spreading out too thin, solely depending on Eustaquio, David, and Koné, before passing it to Larin have it crossed several times. The half ended at a 0–0 draw, with realistic chances of a surprise.

The Argentines started the second half right with Julián Álvarez scoring after an assist from Alexis Mac Allister in minute 49, the latter rolling above the Canadian keeper Maxime Crépeau. This was Álvarez’s first ever Copa América goal, having been part of the championship-winning team in 2021. After the Argentine defense kept it cautious for some minutes afterwards with occasional long shots by Di Maria, the Canadians started intercepting them with Moïse Bombito leading the charge and bringing the ball back to the Canadian side for preparation. It was minute 59 that forward Tajon Buchanan substituted for Jacob Shaffelburg, who would go on to play a crucial role.

The rest of the game would be defined by Argentine physicality. De Paul would get a yellow card at minutes 60 for a handball blocking one of Davies’ long shots. It was around this time that Bombito and Acuña were wrestling near the Argentine gate. Later on did Lautaro Martínez scuffle constantly with Shaffelburg as the latter was taking up the forwarding Buchanan was unable to do due to Argentine pressure in the first half. The Canadian side would respond in kind. At minute 75, a particularly concerning clash took place between Cuti, Bombito, and Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez as the former attempted a tackle on the second right in front of the gate. Bombito would tackle and down Messi at minute 81, which caused significant concern at the moment. Koné was given a yellow card at minute 80.

By minute 65 and despite all Canadian efforts, Argentina had remained on top with possession at 68 per cent to 32 with 91 per cent pass accuracy. It would take a couple of substitutions before the reigning champions got it together again and returned with a more concrete offense. Among those sent on in the latter part of the second half were midfielder Giovanni Lo Celso and defender Nicolás Otamendi. Canada for its part continued focusing on defense as it ha throughout the half, especially at the end of the pitch with Crépeau overworking at times to defend the gate, including from Messi’s final free kick nearing the end. By the time Lautaro Martínez scored the second goal of the night assisted by Messi at minute 87, the Canadian side showed particular exhaustion from the Argentines who managed to keep the aforementioned net running until then.

Argentina’s next match takes place in New Jersey on Tuesday night (9 p.m. local time) against Chile for Group A’s second matchday. Canada will play their second matchday against Peru that same day at 5 p.m. in Kansas City, Kansas.