Early Friday, the competitions of the Copa America tournament kicked off at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, US.
The opening ceremony was led by the Colombian artist Feid, who performed in black and his distinctive glasses. He was surrounded by a group of dancers and musicians. Some of them hit drums, and danced in the green-lit stadium. He also performed one of his recent hits "Luna."
At the end of the show, the flags of the teams were displayed. And, Sergio “El Kun” Agüero entered carrying the Conmebol Copa América cup.
The title holders of Copa America, and FIFA World Cup, Argentina, opened the games of the tournament by stunning Canada 2-0.
Lionel Messi’s assists led the title holders to open their title defence campaign as he led the ball to Julián Álvarez’s to score the opening goal of the 2024 edition and to Lautaro Martínez’s to score a late second goal.
After the game, Messi said: “It’s been a long time since we’ve done this,” adding: “but we had patience to retain possession of the ball and it was hard to find the good open spaces.”
Messi set new records for his career after his appearance in the game like: Most Copa América games by any player, and First Argentine player to play in seven Copa Américas.
However, both teams criticized the surface of Mercedes-Benz Stadium which is one of the stadiums hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Grass was installed after only on Saturday.
Argentina's coach Scaloni said: “Thank goodness we won. Otherwise it would have been a cheap excuse."
He added: “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 said about the surface: “It felt like walking on a stage, as if it was hollow.”
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