‘He’s so good’ – How Lionel Messi ruined Canada’s Copa America game plan as Jesse Marsch reacts to magical moments from Argentina’s GOAT

Canada always knew that they were going to be up against it when facing the defending champions in a tournament opener on U.S. soil. Marsch has faced Messi before – when leading RB Leipzig into Champions League competition against Paris Saint-Germain – and thought that he had a tactical blueprint to contain the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner.

Messi has, however, made a career out of picking holes in opposition defences, and was able to do that again when helping Argentina to a comfortable victory at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. He was involved in both goals for the Albiceleste, with Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez finding the target.

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Marsch said afterwards of being unable to keep Argentina’s GOAT quiet: “We talked a lot about our compactness and then identifying the spaces that Messi likes to show up. We talked about not diving in because it's hard to win tackles from him and what happens is if you eliminate yourself or if you start diving in for tackles, he's really good slipping and moving and getting back again and making little final plays.

“This is what I say about Messi. I've coached against him several times and I feel like we've had a good match plan and we've executed a lot of good things. He's so good, he's that good that he still makes plays. The two balls he makes on the two goals I think are world class. Amazing, it's awful. It's amazing.”

Canada will not be too disappointed at coming unstuck against the reigning world champions, with there plenty of positives for them to take forward. They will be back in action on Tuesday when facing Peru.