Lautaro Martinez scored off a rebound in the 88th minute, securing a 1-0 victory for defending champions Argentina against Chile.
This win, highlighted by Lionel Messi’s performance, guaranteed Argentina a spot in the Copa America quarterfinals.
The match-winning goal came after a corner kick from Messi led to a blocked shot by goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.
Martinez capitalized on the opportunity, netting his second goal of the tournament from Argentina’s 21st shot of the match.
“These matches are always like this, we have to continue in the same way, treating the matches in this way, as they are all going to be complicated,” Martinez told TyC Sports. “Everything was tight, they set up lines of five at times. But we are happy that at the end of the day we ended up taking the three points, which is what we wanted to start with.”
The goal, Martinez’s 26th for the national team, was confirmed after a three-minute video review, during which the players stood and waited.
With this win, Argentina leads Group A with six points, tied with Canada, while Chile and Peru each have one point.
Argentina will conclude the first round against Peru in Miami Gardens, Florida, while Canada faces Chile in Orlando, Florida.
Messi, playing a day after his 37th birthday, frequently showcased his skills, weaving through defenders in front of a sold-out crowd of 81,106 at MetLife Stadium, which will host the 2026 World Cup final.
Argentina dominated the match with 21 shots to Chile’s 3 and 11 corner kicks to Chile’s 0. Chile did not attempt its first shot until the 72nd minute.
Messi came close to scoring before Martinez, with a 30-yard shot that glanced off the post in the 36th minute.
Earlier, he had received treatment for a thigh injury after a challenge by Gabriel Suazo.
In the 62nd minute, Nicolas Gonzalez’s shot from a Messi pass was deflected off the crossbar by Bravo.
Argentina had outshot Chile 17-0 before Rodrigo Echeverría’s 72nd-minute attempt, which was saved by Emiliano Martínez.
The Argentine goalkeeper made another crucial save against Echeverría in the 76th minute.
On the anniversary of Argentina’s first World Cup title, the teams played at the same stadium where Chile defeated Argentina on penalties in the 2016 Copa America final, a defeat that led Messi to briefly retire from international football.
The crowd was overwhelmingly pro-Argentina, with at least 90% of the fans wearing Argentina jerseys, most bearing Messi’s name and number.
Bravo, the oldest player in Copa America history at 41, made eight saves in his 150th international appearance.
He and Messi, former Barcelona teammates, chatted while leading their teams onto the field for the national anthems.
The match was played on a grass field laid over the stadium’s usual artificial turf, with a few small brown patches behind one goal. The field was narrower than usual, but construction is planned to allow for a wider field for the World Cup.
