Lionel Messi's passing brilliance has got Argentina off to a winning start in the defence of their Copa America title, overcoming Canada and a poor playing surface at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Messi's through ball led to Julián Álvarez's 49th-minute goal and the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner assisted on Lautaro Martínez's 88th-minute score in a 2-0 victory on Thursday night.
"It's been a long time since we've done this," Messi said. "But we had patience to retain possession of the ball and it was hard to find the good open spaces."
Argentina are seeking a third straight major title after winning the 2021 Copa America and the 2022 World Cup. Held scoreless in the first half, Argentina outshot Canada 12-3 in the second.
They started eight players who began the 2022 World Cup final victory over France, inserting central defender Lisandro Martínez, left back Marcos Acuña and Leandro Paredes for Nicolás Otamendi, Nicolás Tagliafico and Enzo Fernández.
Their coach Lionel Scaloni and goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez both criticised the grass surface installed at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, one of the sites for the 2026 World Cup.
"The field was a disaster," Martínez said. "It seems like a springboard with the ball jumping. They need to improve this. If not, Copa America will always be at lower level than the Euro."
Grass was installed after a Major League Soccer game Saturday played on the usual artificial turf.
"Thank goodness we won. Otherwise it would have been a cheap excuse," Scaloni said. "They knew seven months ago that we will be playing here and they changed the surface a few days ago. It's not an excuse, but this wasn't a good field. Sincerely, the field is not apt for these players."
A crowd of 70,564 attended the opener of the 32-game tournament.
Messi set a Copa America record with his 35th match, one more than Chile's Sergio Livingstone from 1941-53.
The superstar, who turns 37 on Monday, created the first goal when following a throw-in, he headed a pass through the defence for Alexis Mac Allister. The midfielder side-footed a pass to Álvarez while crashing into onrushing goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau.
Álvarez had a virtually empty net and kicked the ball in over a sliding defender.
Messi extended his Copa America assist record when he ran through the centre of the midfield and rolled a perfectly weighted pass to Martínez, who had entered in the 76th minute and slotted it past Crépeau.
Messi failed to convert on a pair of excellent chances. Crépeau made a diving stop in the 65th minute and Messi's attempt off the rebound was blocked by the head of defender Derek Cornelius. Messi put a chip wide after he came in alone on Crépeau in the 79th.
Argentina play Chile on Tuesday at East Rutherford, New Jersey, then close the first round against Peru on June 29 at Miami Gardens, Florida.
Canada faces Peru on Tuesday at Kansas City, Kansas, and finishes the group stage against Chile on June 29 at Orlando, Florida.
