Messi and Argentina overcome Canada and poor surface, start Copa America title defense with 2-0 win

ATLANTA (AP) — Lionel Messi’s passing brilliance got Argentina off to a winning start in the defense of its Copa America title, overcoming Canada and a poor playing surface at 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 through a translator, “but we had patience to retain possession of the ball and it was hard to find the good open spaces.”

Argentina is seeking its 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.

Albiceleste coach Lionel Scaloni and goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez both criticized 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.”

Canadian defender Kamal Miller also was critical.

“It felt like walking on a stage, as if it was hollow,” he said.

A crowd of 70,564 attended the opener of the 32-game tournament. The United States plays Panama at the stadium on June 27.

With South America’s championship moved to the U.S. for the second time, Messi set a Copa America record with his 35th match, one more than Chile’s Sergio Livingstone from 1941-53. Messi extended his own record with his 18th assist.

Messi, who turns 37 on Monday, created the first goal when following a throw-in, he headed a pass through the defense for Alexis Mac Allister. The midfielder side-footed a pass to Álvarez while crashing into an onrushing