Messi-Martinez??Lionel Messi sent a strong message to the opposing teams with the last preparation match before the Copa America. Unstoppable Messi scored a pair of goals against Guatemala in the eleventh match. Lautaro would have had a hat-trick if not for Martinez’s penalty shot.
The Inter Miami star also had an assist on Martinez’s other goal. All in all, Argentina won 4-1 in the final Copa America warm-up match in Washington. Along with Messi, Martinez also scored a pair of goals.
The news of Lionel Messi’s return to the eleven was received before the match. Coach Lionel Scaloni may have decided to play Messi from the first minute to see the coordination of the team before the Copa America. The Argentine coach also got the benefit of the big win.
Argentina made a bird’s eye attack by keeping possession from the start in Messi’s return to the first XI. Guatemala, on the other hand, tried to keep the defense strong and go on the counter-attack. They were successful in this goal from the beginning. The result of which they got in 4 minutes of the match. Guatemala’s first attempt from a free-kick was saved by Emiliano Martinez, but Lisandro Martinez got into his own net while clearing the return ball.
Falling behind, Argentina went on the attack in desperation. However, the world champions were failing to create chances despite keeping possession of the ball for close to 80 percent of the time. The defenders of Guatemala did not give any chance to Argentina by keeping the solid defense and narrowing the space. Besides, they were also creating immediate threats from counter-attacks.
However,
in the 12th minute, Guatemala allowed Argentina to return to the match due to their own mistakes. While passing the ball, the goalkeeper of the team gave the ball to Messi’s feet in the box. The Argentine superstar did not make a mistake in using this opportunity. He put Argentina back in the match with a great finish. Barring the mistake of conceding a goal, Guatemala kept Argentina pretty well at bay.
Instead, they came close to scoring several times from counter-attacks; Although the goal was not found in the end. Argentina found their best rhythm after 35 minutes. The Latin superpowers constantly cornered Guatemala with possession at their feet. The result also comes in 39 minutes.
Argentina gets a penalty when Valentin Carboni is fouled inside the box. However, without taking the penalty shot himself, Messi gave Lautaro Martinez a chance. Inter Milan striker gave Argentina a 2-1 lead by scoring goals. The current Copa America champions go into the break with this lead.
Argentina started the second half from where the first half ended. At this time, they established complete control over the match. Guatemala was struggling to get close to the ball due to Argentina’s poor football. A couple of occasional attempts to counter-attack were thwarted by Argentina’s excellent pressing.
On the other hand, even though Argentina dominated, they were not getting the desired goal. In the end, Argentina’s third goal came from the combination of Messi-Martinez. Martinez scored from the assist of Messi in the 68th minute of the match.
77 minutes again Messi-magic. In a great attack, Messi got the ball from Angel Di Maria and put the ball into the net with his trademark chip shot. Argentina finally ended the match with this gap of 4-1 goals.
Argentina will play their first match in the Copa America on June 21 against Canada.