Lionel Messi celebrates his goal with his Argentina teammates. (Reuters)
Argentina trumped Canada 2-0 in the Copa America 2024 semifinal at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Tuesday, reaching their second consecutive final.
The defending champions were powered by goals from Julian Alvarez and skipper Lionel Messi, who secured his first of this edition.
Argentina fended off early pressure as Alvarez darted past two defenders to open the scoring with a spotless finish in the 22nd minute.
Messi doubled the lead in the 51st minute when he stuck out a boot to divert Enzo Fernandez’s shot from the edge of the area past Canada goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau.
This is the third consecutive major final that Messi’s side has made. The Albiceleste won the 2021 Copa America beating Brazil 1-0 in the final. They proceeded to win the 2022 Qatar World Cup, beating France 4-2 in the penalties after the final was tied 3-3 in extra time.
Argentina will take on either Uruguay or Colombia, who meet on Wednesday, in the final in Miami Gardens, Florida on Sunday. It will be a record-extending 30th final appearance fo Argentina who have won Copa America titles, the joint-most alongside Uruguay.
Messi follows Ronaldo
Messi’s goal took his international goal tally past Ali Daei’s 108 for Iran, making him the second-highest goal-scorer of all time behind Cristiano Ronaldo (130). It was also Messi’s 14th goal in Copa America history.
Highest international goal scorers in history
1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal): 130 goals
2. Lionel Messi (Argentina): 109 goals
3. Ali Daei (Iran): 108 goals
4. Sunil Chhetri (India): 94 goals
5. Mokhtar Dahari (Malaysia): 89 goals
6. Ali Mabkhout (UAE); Romelu Lukaku (Belgium): 85 goals
7. Ferenc Puskas (Hungary): 84 goals
8. Robert Lewandowski (Poland): 83 goals
9. Godfrey Chitalu (Zambia); Neymar (Brazil): 79 goals
10. Hussein Saeed (Iraq): 78 goals
