It was 20 minutes into the second half. Argentina I beat him 1-0 Canada with Julián Álvarez’s goal in the opening match of the America Cup. The Americans had launched themselves in search of parity and the Scaloneta, with little finality, squandered situations to stretch the gap at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. It was then when Lionel Messi starred in one of those plays in which he strangely resolves poorly.
What happened? Emiliano Martínez, who had saved Argentina in a couple of distractions, picked up a ball and, with quick reflexes, looked up. And he saw only Messi. El Dibu took off with his left foot with the precision of a surgeon and left La Pulga alone, who stung and stung, with the mark of Derek Cornelius, until he reached Maxime Crépeau’s area.
He chose to finish low, but the Portland Timbers goalkeeper guessed his intention. The funny thing is that he got the rebound and Leo shook it off with a feint. However, number 10 tried to score by hitting the ball and was unlucky that he hit Cornelius on the back. It was a great goal. But not.
It was clearly not Messi’s night, beyond his great intervention in Julián Álvarez’s goal. A while later, he had another clear situation again, diving from behind midfield after a defensive clearance. This time he was able to score the ball, but the finish went just wide. They were two very clear ones that the Flea does not usually fail.
