East Rutherford (US), July 10: With goals from Julian Alvarez and Lionel Messi, Argentina defeated Canada 2-0 Wednesday (IST) in the Copa America 2024 semifinal at the MetLife Stadium to make back-to-back finals in the competition.

This is Argentina's fourth final in the last five editions of the tournament. The will play the final of the tournament July 14 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami against the winner of the Colombia-Uruguay match.

Canada will play July 13 at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte against the loser of the aforementioned match.

Canada and Argentina delivered a first half that began chaotically and was equally entertaining: without a midfield, and without the tension that defining matches usually have.

The first blow finally came in the 23rd minute with a goal from Alvarez, who received a good through ball from Rodrigo De Paul, shook off the marking and scored to break the tie.

Argentina neutralised the Canadian attacks and created good scoring opportunities. At the end of the first half, Messi made a move in the area, and his shot went just past the goalkeeper's post.

The last chance of the first half was for Jonathan David, with Canada's first shot on goal in the match. At halftime, Argentina were ahead 1-0.

At the start of the second half, Messi cut in from the right as he used to do in his early days. Inside the box, he passed to Rodrigo de Paul, and after a rebound, Enzo Fernandez shot at the goal. Messi himself deflected it, and after a VAR review, it was confirmed as 2-0 for Argentina, marking Messi's first goal in this edition and his 14th in his Copa America career.

With this goaL, Messi broke a tie with Iran great Ali Daei to become the second all-time top scorer in men's international football. The Argentine's 51st minute goal was his 109th for La Albiceleste. However, Messi is still 21 goals behind Cristiano Ronaldo's 130 for Portugal.

With that comfortable lead, Argentina slowed the game down and made substitutions to refresh the team. Di Maria also came off, in one of his last matches for the national team.

With two minutes remaining, Canada pressed Argentina's defense well and had their best chance, but Emilano Martinez managed to stop Tani Oluwaseyi's shot and Argentina secured a 2-0 win, secured their fifth consecutive podium finish in the world's oldest national team tournament: 2015 (final), 2016 (final), 2019 (third place), 2021 (champions).

(IANS)

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