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Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi inspired Argentina to the Copa America final with a 2-0 win over Canada.<\/strong><\/p>\n The 37-year-old scored six minutes into the second half to double Argentina\u2019s lead when he deflected an effort from Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez past Canada goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau.<\/p>\n Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez had given the World Cup holders the lead when he latched on to a pass from Atletico Madrid\u2019s Rodrigo de Paul and converted from close range.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the sixth time in the last eight editions that Argentina, the 15-time Copa America winners, have reached the final.<\/p>\n The final, against either Uruguay or Colombia, will be Angel di Maria\u2019s final appearance for Argentina before his international retirement and there are also doubts over Messi\u2019s long-term future.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s enjoy what we are experiencing as a national team, as a group. It is not easy to be in a final again, to compete again to be champions,\u201d Messi told TyC Sports.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m living it as I have been living everything lately \u2013 enjoying it very much and being aware, as it happens to Fideo (Di Maria) and Ota (Nicolas Otamendi), that these are the last battles.\u201d<\/p>\n Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni says he will work to \u201cconvince\u201d Di Maria and Messi to continue with international duty.<\/p>\n \u201cFor Leo (Messi), it\u2019s similar to Angel,\u201d said Scaloni.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to let him be and we will never be the ones to close the door. He can be with our team for as long as he wants to be. And if he wants to retire but still come and hang around, it would be great.\u201d<\/p>\n Jacob Shaffelburg, a winger for MLS club Nashville, squandered Canada\u2019s best chances in the early stages against Argentina.<\/p>\n Canada, ranked 48th in the world, were knocked off their stride by Alvarez\u2019s goal and Argentina took a firmer grip on the game.<\/p>\n Lille striker Jonathan David had Canada\u2019s best chance in first-half stoppage time when he latched on to a long throw but his effort was fired straight at Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.<\/p>\n Despite the defeat, Canada surpassed expectations in their inaugural appearance at the Copa America.<\/p>\n Jesse Marsch\u2019s side, the co-hosts of the 2026 World Cup alongside Mexico and the USA, will face the losers from the other semi-final in a third-place play-off on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I said to the team afterwards is I know that they\u2019re very disappointed, but I\u2019m very proud of them,\u201d said Marsch.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve put together some incredible performances, just starting our process.\u201d<\/p>\n Marsch added it was important that Canada found a way to \u201cexpand\u201d their \u201cplayer pool\u201d in the coming years.<\/p>\n The semi-final between Uruguay and Colombia and takes place on Thursday, 11 July and Copa America final is on Monday, 15 July.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The post Messi leads Argentina into Copa America final<\/a> first appeared on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi inspired Argentina to the Copa America final with a 2-0 win over Canada. The 37-year-old scored six minutes into the second half to double Argentina\u2019s lead when he deflected an effort from Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez past Canada goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau. Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez had given the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63781\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}