In Summary
- He became the player with the most appearances ever in the tournament’s history
- Lionel Messi made a record-breaking start to the Copa America.
- Messi reached this milestone during Argentina’s win against Canada
Argentina’s superstar Lionel Messi made a record-breaking start to the Copa America in their opening match against Canada.
He became the player with the most appearances ever in the tournament’s history. This was his 35th Copa America game!
The 36-year-old superstar shared the record before with a Chilean goalkeeper named Sergio Livingstone, who played in 34 Copa America games.
Messi reached this milestone during Argentina’s win against Canada on Thursday. He’s been playing in the Copa America since way back in 2007!
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Canada’s Coach On Argentina’s Delay
Things got a little heated after the game, though. Canada’s coach, Jesse Marsch, wasn’t happy with Argentina’s behavior. Apparently, the Argentinian team took a long time to come back onto the field after halftime, making the Canadians wait for several minutes.
The game was tied at 0-0 at halftime, and when the players were supposed to return for the second half, Canada’s team was ready to go, but Argentina was nowhere to be seen. It took a while for the Argentinian players to finally come out.
Canada’s coach thinks Argentina should be punished for this delay.
He believes they might have been using that extra time to watch videos and figure out how to play better against Canada in the second half. Argentina ended up scoring a goal just a few minutes after the re-start, and eventually won the game 2-0.
Marsch told reporters after the game that he thinks referees should take action in these situations. He said that if Canada’s team had been late coming back onto the field, they would have gotten fined. He wants to see if the same thing will happen to Argentina.
Even though Canada lost the game, their coach, Marsch, was still proud of his team’s performance. He said they played well and made it difficult for Argentina, a team ranked number one in the world. Canada is ranked much lower, at number 48, but they still gave Argentina a run for their money.
This was only the third game Canada played under Marsch’s coaching. He just became their coach last month. Even though they lost, Marsch thinks his team learned a lot from playing against such a strong opponent. He’s confident that Canada can improve and play well against other teams in the tournament.
Canada will play Peru and Chile in their next group stage matches. They’re hoping to win enough games to make it to the quarterfinals.
Even though they lost, Canada’s coach, Marsch is optimistic about his team’s future. He believes they’ll be stronger and more prepared for future challenges after playing against such strong teams.
Meanwhile, Messi has a chance to break even more records in this year’s Copa America. He only needs four more goals to tie the record for most goals scored in the tournament’s history. If Argentina wins the entire competition, Messi will also become the first captain to win the Copa America two years in a row!
