Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martínez saved Argentina, the defending champions, from a goalless draw against Chile by leading them to a 1-0 victory, securing the first spot in the quarterfinals of the Copa América on Tuesday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in front of 82,000 spectators, concluding the second round of matches in Group A. Martínez scored the only goal of the match in the 88th minute, just fifteen minutes after coming on for Manchester City forward Julián Álvarez. This was Martínez’s second goal of the tournament, following his first against Canada in the opening round, where he also scored in the 88th minute after Álvarez had opened the scoring in the 49th minute. This marked Argentina's second consecutive win after their 2-0 victory over Canada in the first round, solidifying their lead in the group with six points, three ahead of Canada, which revived its hopes by defeating Peru 1-0 thanks to Lille striker Jonathan David. On the other hand, Chile suffered its first loss after a goalless draw with Peru in the opening round and dropped to last place with just one point. In the third round, Argentina will face Peru, while Chile will take on Canada.
Argentina, which shares the record for the most titles in the tournament (15 each with Uruguay), dominated possession from the start and attempted to create scoring opportunities, but faced a solid defensive formation from the Chilean players, champions in 2015 and 2016. Chile's veteran captain, goalkeeper Claudio Bravo (41 years old), excelled in denying numerous chances, and both Lionel Messi and Fiorentina forward Nicolás González were denied by the left post and crossbar on two occasions, before Martínez finally broke the deadlock at the last moment.
“I was in the right place and managed to score,” Martínez told Argentine channel TyC. He added, “These matches are always like this; we need to keep playing the same way and approach the games like this, because they will all be complicated.”
The first and most dangerous opportunity in the match occurred in the 22nd minute when González cut into the box and passed the ball to an unmarked Álvarez, who weakly directed it with his left foot into Bravo's hands. Messi, celebrating his 37th birthday on Monday, almost found the net with a powerful left-footed shot from 27 meters that hit the bottom of the left post and went out (36). Argentina continued their dominance in the second half and came close to scoring two minutes after resuming when Messi delivered a perfect pass to Nahuel Molina inside the box, who shot strongly with his left foot, but Bravo deflected it for a corner that came to nothing. Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister squandered a clear opportunity when he failed to score from two meters out after a clever float from Messi following a free kick (57). Bravo and the crossbar denied González another chance to open the scoring with a powerful shot from inside the box (61). Messi received a pass behind the defense and attempted a delicate finish over the bar (68).
Chile nearly struck back with their first major opportunity in the match when Huracán striker Rodrigo Echeverría fired a powerful shot from outside the box that Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez fended off before the defense cleared it (72). Martínez continued to shine, blocking a close-range shot from Echeverría in two attempts (76). Messi almost scored directly from a corner, but Bravo managed to clear it to another corner, which Messi took again, causing a scramble in front of the goal before defender Igor Lichnovsky cleared the ball, only for it to land in front of Martínez, who dispatched it into the net with power (88). Martínez missed a chance to seal the match with a second personal goal when he received a perfect assist from Di María following a quick counterattack, but Bravo intervened and deflected it to a corner (90+5).
In the same group, Jonathan David led Canada to a 1-0 victory over a weakened Peru in extreme heat in Kansas City, reviving their hopes of reaching the quarterfinals. David, who has been linked to English clubs Manchester United and Chelsea, scored the only goal in the 74th minute, which was Canada’s first goal in their Copa América debut. Canada climbed to second place with three points, two ahead of Chile and Peru. The match was played under scorching afternoon sun, with temperatures on the pitch reaching around 38 degrees Celsius, and one of the assistant referees collapsed from exhaustion before the end of the first half. Peru, led by their Italian-born striker Gianluca Lapadula, was more dangerous in the first half, but Canada turned the match around in the second half, taking advantage of a red card shown to defender Miguel Araujo for a harsh tackle on substitute Jacob Schaffluburg, which ignited a scuffle between players from both teams.
Guatemalan referee Mario Escobar initially issued a yellow card to Araujo but reversed it to a red after reviewing the VAR. The expulsion tilted the match in Canada's favor, allowing them to attack more vigorously and successfully scored David's goal on a counterattack (74).
