In the 2024 Copa America, Lionel Messi urges Argentina to stick to their own style after securing victory against Canada in the opening match.

Lionel Messi has emphasized that Argentina will not compromise their identity after a dominant 2-0 victory over Canada in the opening match of the 2024 Copa America. The goal that gave the 2022 World Cup winners the lead was scored by Julian Alvarez, who was set up by Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister.

This match was significant for Messi as it marked his 35th appearance at the Copa America, making him the player with the most appearances in the competition’s history. To celebrate the occasion, the forward provided an assist for Lautaro Martinez to secure Argentina’s second goal with just two minutes remaining.

Messi expressed his belief that his team knows what they need to do in order to achieve their goals. “As always, as always. We know that we have to be a team and in the right way of achieving our goals,” he stated. “We know that the only path to do so is in our own way, so we will continue with the same humility and desire to win.”

He also acknowledged the importance of starting the tournament with a victory, stating, “Yeah, we’ve always known how tough the opening game is. The most important thing is to get off to a winning start. It’s not happened previously under [Lionel] Scaloni, so that calms things down because you suffer a lot when you start off losing. But we always play the same way.”

Argentina’s next challenge will be against Chile, a team that Messi recognizes as very good and competitive. He also mentioned the impact of Ricardo Gareca’s arrival on the Chilean team. Following the match against Chile, Argentina will face Peru in their final Group A game.

Controversy arose during the match against Canada when Argentina returned to the field for the second half later than originally planned. Canada manager Jesse Marsch believes that Argentina should be fined for this delay. “Now I wish again the referees would manage that. If we were five minutes late, we’d get a fine,” Marsch commented. “There’d be a big problem. Let’s see what happens with Argentina. I think they have to be fined. How late were they? Was it 20 minutes? 30? I don’t know, it was a long time, but they had that time to prepare how they wanted to play against us in the second half.”

Despite the delay, Marsch commended his players for adapting to Argentina’s new plan in the second half. He stated, “But in the end, I just made sure that the players knew that they were going to come out with a new plan, and they basically rotated a little bit more to three. But we still dealt with it really well, still dealt with it really well.”