- During the opening match of CONMEBOL Copa América United States 2024™, Julián Álvarez scored his first-ever goal at the tournament.
- Julián already had goals at the World Cup (4) and in World Cup Qualifiers (1).
- Lionel Messi became the player with the most appearances in the history of CONMEBOL Copa América™ when he appeared in the match tonight
- The Argentine reached 35 matches across seven editions of the tournament.
The great city of Atlanta welcomed over 70,000 fans to the opening match of the 2024 Copa América tournament. Fans from all over the world tuned in on this historic night to watch defending World Cup champions Argentina take on Canada. Lautaro Martínez and Julián Álvarez scored for Argentina with the latter scoring his first-ever goal at the tournament. Lionel Messi made history by becoming the player with the most CONMEBOL Copa América appearances with 35. The pre-game performance by Colombian artist Feid had the crowd ready and excited for a night of football.
Argentina started off the game rusty as passes weren’t as crisp as they had been in the past. Canada came out to try and pressure them and had several chances off set pieces and counters. Goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau was a big reason why the match never got out of hand for Canada. Argentina was relentless with their defensive pressure while Canada was on the ball. The Canadians’ defensive tactic was to keep a high line, with Crépeau playing outside of the 18 as a sort of safety net. But as hard as they tried, they couldn’t find an answer to Argentina’s onslaught of long balls that tested Canada’s backline all match long.
La albiceleste finally broke through in the 48th minute after Julián Álvarez buried one from inside the 5-yard box with an assist from Alexis Mcallister. The second goal came from Lautaro Martinez by way of a beautiful through ball from captain Lionel Messi.
After the match, a few players were heard making comments about the low quality of the pitch. “The pitch wasn’t great,” said Argentina’s Emiliano Martínez. “It was very bumpy. We like smooth, fast movements.” You could tell the pitch wasn’t the best as grass went flying after every tackle and players were constantly slipping.
In the end, Argentina deserved the win but Canada should leave Atlanta with their heads held high. Jesse Marsch has only had a handful of opportunities to train with his squad before the tournament and they did well for most of the match. Costly errors in their defensive third and vulnerability on long balls ended up being their demise.
If this game is any indication of what’s to come, the tournament is setting up to be a special one.
-Esli Lara
Photos: Liragraphy
Editing: Jon Jones