Argentina 2-0 Canada: Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez lead World Cup winners into Copa America final

As dark clouds gathered over the New Jersey swamps, a few figures stood out in the crowd streaming into MetLife Stadium.

They were Jehovah’s Witnesses. They were dressed smartly, as always. And they hung around the gates hoping that maybe there would be some who would convert. There was just one problem: the tens of thousands of Argentine fans who flocked here have already chosen their God.

And for the next few hours, they sang his name and bowed in his direction. Even at 37, even after struggling with injury, even after missing a penalty in the quarterfinals, even after a few games without a goal, Lionel Messi continues to repay that dedication.

He was not always at his best here, but he did win the man of the match award and scored the decisive second goal as reigning champions Argentina defeated Canada to reach the Copa America final – and with it the door to immortality.

What a moment to score his first goal of the tournament. Messi is now the second-highest scorer in international football history – behind only Cristiano Ronaldo; Lionel Scaloni’s side are now one game away from winning a third consecutive major tournament. No South American team has ever completed a Copa America-World Cup-Copa America treble.

Julian Alvarez set them on their way to Miami – Messi’s adopted home – with a neatly finished goal midway through the first half. Shortly after the restart, the Argentine captain sealed the victory by turning in Enzo Fernandez’s shot from a few yards out.

That meant this semi-final ended with the same score as when these two teams met in the opening match of the tournament. What that obscures, however, is the remarkable progress Jesse Marsch and Canada made on their way to this point.

In the country’s first Copa America, just months after the American manager was appointed, Canada broke new ground. Two years after a home World Cup, this team seems to have turned a corner towards better times.

For a team ranked 48th in the world, this has been a brilliant run with breakout wins over Peru and Venezuela. Canada were the better team until the opening goal here. A penny for the thoughts of those at US Soccer HQ, then. Marsch was overlooked in favour of Gregg Berhalter. But after America crashed and burned, he has led Canada to new heights.

“We’ve had five, six fantastic weeks together and it’s gone much better than we could ever have expected,” Marsch said.

“We’ve laid a really good foundation… I started this job seven weeks ago and I never expected to get here.”

After just a few training sessions, Marsch feared his team would face a tough summer. “We’re a lot further along than I thought we could have been.”

This game always seemed like a bridge too far. Scaloni has built a winning machine that has already won this tournament in 2021 and the 2022 World Cup. Now only Uruguay or Colombia can stop Argentina from winning a record 16 Copa Americas. Not exactly the fool’s errand for those Jehovah’s Witnesses. But no mean feat.

“People think we are different from other Argentines, but we are not,” Scaloni said. “We all understand what it means to wear this shirt.”

On the possibility of making history, he added: ‘These are statistics, I’m not really interested in that… the important thing is to win, not what the statistics say: that we can win three finals in a row.’

A few hours before kickoff, fans were already passing soccer balls around in the parking lots outside Metlife Stadium. They were from different generations and wore different uniforms. But almost every fan had the same name. Together, they were stitching together the tapestry of Messi’s career. Argentina, Barcelona, ​​Inter Miami.

On Tuesday night, nearly a year after he arrived in America and almost two years before the World Cup final will be held in this stadium, Messi arrived at the cusp of even more history.

In the parking lots and in the stands there was an odd pocket of Canada red. But otherwise Jersey was a sea of ​​blue and white. Argentine fans were drinking and dancing. One was setting off fireworks. Those Jehovah’s Witnesses stood by and watched.

This tournament has provided some reminders of Messi’s frailty. Since these two teams met on opening night, the 37-year-old has been plagued by injuries and then, against Ecuador, he missed from the penalty spot.

Canada have also had a wild ride over the past two and a half weeks. That’s a fair share of Marsch’s reign and the manager insisted his team had grown considerably during this improbable run.

Canada held off the reigning champions for a while in Atlanta, and Marsh’s team got off to a nervous start. It didn’t matter that this was one of the biggest nights in the team’s history. It didn’t matter that Metlife was a powder keg. Fans turned up the volume—and bowed in unison—after Messi sent an early shot wide.

However, it was Canada who created the best chances on both sides. New hero Jacob Shaffelburg had a couple of shooting chances; Marsch’s team looked dangerous every time they stormed forward.

But the manager was already beginning to feel that this fairytale adventure was catching up with his players. And he was right. The rug was pulled out from under Canada in the blink of an eye.

Rodrigo de Paul was given too much time on halfway and the midfielder clipped a ball into the path of Alvarez. The Manchester City forward found a spot, rode onto Moise Bombito’s challenge and broke the deadlock – just as he had against Canada in the group stage.

It was a vindication for Scaloni, who chose Alvarez over the tournament’s top scorer, Lautaro Martinez. It was also a stark reminder that the world’s best teams don’t always fire warning shots.

Marsch was not happy – the Canada coach wanted a foul in the build-up to the goal. By half-time, however, he would have been relieved that the difference was just one. Canada held on for a while after the goal. Angel Di Maria and Nicolas Tagliafico both came close before Messi created some space in the box, but his shot went wide.

He made no mistake a few minutes later, when Fernandez fired a shot towards goal from the edge of the penalty area. Messi appeared to be offside when he fired the ball into the net. He wasn’t. And so the goal stood, and Canada fell to his sword.

Marsch’s team kept pushing and Canada created a couple of glorious late chances for substitute Tani Oluwaseyi, but by then many of the 80,000 crowd – including Brazilian great Ronaldo – had already started celebrating early.