The Copa Ameria is here, and what a game to start the tournament!

Argentina and Canada provide an entertaining match where both teams play brave and attacking football. The quality in the areas made the coin flip to Argentina’s side as they won 2-0 in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. 

Goalscorers: 

Argentina:  Julián Álvarez 49′, Lautaro Martínez 88′  

Canada: 

The margins in short tournaments are tricky; everything can change quickly. Canada’s debut surprised more than one person by finding such a well-prepared team to face the reigning America and World champions in the first half. Canada has a high line but not a high press, so they play in the thigh spaces, forcing Argentina to use long balls to find the strikers. Argentina actually managed to do it a few times, but a poor finish and a Maxime Crépeau at a great level kept the nil-nil score. Di María was the biggest threat, also missing a glamorous opportunity in the 7th minute when he stole the ball and ran to goal, but Crépeau came out of goal to save it in a 1v1 situation. Canada’s high line forced Crépeau to run far out of his goal a few times with mixed results. Nothing can take away the fact that he made huge saves in 1v1 situations against Messi, not once but twice. But sometimes his timing was terrible, and only one lousy finish made Argentina not punish those mistakes in which they left their goal completely open. That he came out of his goal is already worrying, but Canada’s defense managed to keep their coldness and minimize the threat. Davies, Cornelius, and Bombito were great at recovery and won many duels in defense. Neither Julian nor Di Maria can rely upon their speed or force to win against them, and Messi was battling between the defense, receiving the ball facing his half, so it was *relatively* easy to defend him. This game reminded me of that loss against Saudi Arabia, where it was a thing of centimeters for Argentina to score, and an inspired evening from the Saudis made Argentina lose that game. This time, neither team was very inspired as Argentina had some chances but failed to convert them, and Canada was close to opening the score but lacked the calmness to take advantage of it.

Canada attacked mostly both flanks, as Acuña and Molina were wide open. Alonso Davies, Eustaqui, and Millar found themselves and created most of Canada’s opportunities on the left side. With his speed, Davies was a headache for Argentina’s backline; he ran down the line and passed but found no one in a good position. Also, I think Shaffelburgwas really great when he came in. He was hardworking, reagin possession many times, and constantly tried to dribble past opponents. He was not very successful, but his energy brought something new to the team and created a threat on both sides, and Acuña was particularly bad in the second half. Once again, I think Canada failed to capitalize on that weakness.
Argentina was in the same line, but his quality is just on another level. Mac Allister is just class. He can dictate the game’s tempo and make surprise attacks in the penalty area. De Paul also has a great match; his passes always found someone. And, of course, Messi.
Messi is not the player he used to be; he shockingly wasted two 1v1 situations, but his vision is just at another level. The two goals came from his passes, the first one to find Mac Allister attacking at the space behind Canada’s backline, which ended with Crépeau coming out his goal, and in the rebound, Julian scored it. The second goal was a copy of the first one. The only difference is that Lautaro Martínez scored at first touch before Crépeau could do anything. Messi was relatively quiet by his standards, but this could be one of the top 10 best games of his career compared to any other player. In the second half, Argentina took control of the game by his midfield, and that is where they found Messi. And when a team finds Messi, winning the game was just a matter of time.

Everyone in Argentina had a great game, besides maybe a shaky Acuña and Julian; the latter was not involved much in the match and lost some duels, but their overall presentation in this tournament was fantastic. The same can be said about Canada. Despite the loss and the doubts in both areas, they show they have quality and a plan to follow.

It will be interesting to see how Group A develops.

What next for them?

Argentina looks to secure its qualification for the next round against Chile in New Jersey.

Meanwhile, Canada will battle with Peru as they need some faith in qualifications.