By Ashley J. Williams 
Lionel Messi’s first goal in this America’s Cup draw and his 14th goal in the entire tournament secured Argentina a 2-0 semi-final victory over Canada in front of more than 80,000 fans in the hot and humid MetLife stadium on Tuesday night.
The Argentine captain turned away a shot from Enzo Fernandez at close range and sent the ball into the net at the very beginning of the second half, thus ensuring his team’s exit from Sunday’s final. Messi’s goal was added in the first half to Julián Alvarez’s goal, which stopped the fierce debut of Jesse Marsch’s team.
In the final, the Albiceleste will face Uruguay or Colombia at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The second semi-final will take place on Wednesday evening in Charlotte.
Argentina, the big favorites of the tournament, added significantly to the score after their victory in the quarterfinals against Ecuador, while Amy Martinez again needed to beat her team in a series of post-match penalty shootouts. However, Lionel Scaloni’s team will have to undergo a more severe test if the World Champions are to restore their dominance over the United States.
Brazil is qualifying for the quarter-finals for the fourth time since leaving the 2022 World Cup.
It was the Canadians who had the best starting match on an unusually sandy and uneven surface. A clear passing game, movement and superiority from a distance among the outsiders led to several promising strikes. Nashville forward Jacob Schaffelburg could have done better if he had distinguished himself twice in the first 10 minutes.
The Argentines, on the other hand, were less energetic and clumsy in possession of the ball. Messi repelled a strike from 18 yards, creating the only goal point for his team during the first breakthroughs.
After that, only in the 22nd minute, Argentina took the lead thanks to Alvarez. The Manchester City striker took advantage of a pass from Rodrigo de Paul to dodge a desperate shot from Moyse Bombito, then sent the ball into the feet of Maxime Crépeau, the hero of the Canadian penalty in the fourth period.
This goal overshadowed the confident and quick start of the Canadians. Their tense pressing let up a few minutes before the break on this sweltering night in New Jersey, but striker Jonathan David could regain parity in extra time of the first half after Martinez turned away a shot from long range.
The Argentines started the second half with confidence and were quickly rewarded when, in the 51st minute, Messi pushed a Fernandez strike past Crepo. It was his 14th goal in 38 Copa América games and his 109TH in 186 games for the national team. Messi looked brighter and in better shape than in the quarterfinals, when he inflicted only 32 touchdowns (the fewest number since 2011 in a full competitive match for the Argentine team, according to Opta), and also missed a series of shots on goal.
Surprisingly, he also played the full 90 minutes, which dispelled fears of an adductor muscle issue that caused him to rest before the group stage match in Miami against Peru. While Messi stayed, to the joy of the fans present, another Argentine grandmaster, Angel di Maria, ended his career knowing that his last match before leaving international football would be Sunday’s final.
Canada continued to follow the game with courage, even if the star player Alfonso Davis had to leave the field due to an apparent issue 20 minutes before the end. Tani Oluwaseyi could have scored two goals in two minutes after in the game, but he missed both chances: first, he hit too close to Martinez, then turned away a shot from an open goal
This defeat ends Canada’s impressive progress in the tournament, even if they will play for third place on Saturday night. When the two teams met in the opening match of the tournament (last month Argentina won a sure, but not entirely successful victory with a score of 2:0), few people imagined a rematch in the semifinals.
However, Canada proved that they fit the CONCACAF class by beating Chile and Peru in the group, then secured a place in the quarterfinals by beating Venezuela on penalties.
This is a testament to the rapid progress of American coach Marsh, who led Canada to the semifinals of a major tournament in his only seventh game under the leadership.
This week, Marsh recalled that he was involved in Italy’s semi-final victory at this same stadium during the 1994 World Cup, when he scored goals for Princeton University, located 50 miles from here.