Lionel Messi was recorded as wasting two golden opportunities when Argentina beat Canada in the opening match of the 2024 Copa America.
Messi appeared entertaining and successfully led Argentina during their 2-0 win over Canada in the inaugural Group A match of the 2024 Copa America at the Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta, United States, Friday (21/6).
Argentina’s goals in this match were scored by Julian Alvarez in the 49th minute and Lautaro Martinez in the 89th minute.
Meanwhile, Messi successfully recorded an assist for Lautaro Martinez’s goal and provided the key pass for Julian Alvarez’s goal.
In this match, Messi was closely guarded by the Canadian players, which made La Pulga’s movements slightly locked.
But Messi can still get a golden opportunity in this match. Although unfortunately, Messi wasted two golden opportunities in the Argentina vs Canada match.
Meanwhile, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni was angry because of the poor quality of the grass.
However, in the press conference after the match, Scaloni expressed his anger because he was not satisfied with the quality of the grass in the stadium.
“We have to try hard in this match and try to control the game. That’s what happened,” said Scaloni.
“But sometimes you can’t play the game the way you want. As I always say, there are times when the opponent doesn’t give you a chance. In this case it was the opponent and the pitch. We had to play in a different way, but the important thing is that we won.” Scaloni added.
According to Scaloni, the synthetic grass used on the field is not suitable for big matches.
“Thank God we won, because otherwise it would be a cheap excuse to sit on the sidelines and say this is bad grass. But we knew we would be playing here seven months ago and they changed the grass surface two days ago,” said Scaloni.
“It’s not nice to look at. Sorry, that’s no excuse, but it’s not about the stadium either. This stadium is beautiful and with synthetic grass it should be spectacular, but with today’s grass it’s honestly not good. Not suitable for players like this,” said Scaloni added.
