Copa America: Lionel Messi, Argentina drub U.S. to reach final

Lionel Messi was too much for the United States to contain.

The five-time world player of the year set up Ezequiel Lavezzi's opening goal in the third minute, then scored on a free kick to break Argentina's career-scoring record and assisted on the final goal in a 4-0 rout of the U.S. on Tuesday.  

With the victory, Argentina has secured a spot in the Copa America final.

"We had far too much respect," U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. "Our players could just feel in every position on the field they were better than we are."

After Messi doubled the lead in the 32nd minute with his 55th international goal, his tournament-leading fifth, Gonzalo Higuain quickly ended U.S. comeback hopes when he put the rebound of his initial shot past goalkeeper Brad Guzan in the 50th. Higuain scored off a Messi pass in the 86th.

"We got outplayed badly by a very good team," said Sunil Gulati, president of the U.S. Soccer Federation. "Today is a good day to judge where we are in program overall. We're obviously a long way off."

Argentina will seek its first major title since the 1993 Copa tournament — and its first since Messi's debut in 2005 — when it plays Chile or Colombia on Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J. The squad might be without Lavezzi, who fell backward over an advertising sign board and appeared to land hard on his left arm before leaving the game on a cart.

Top-ranked Argentina outclassed the U.S. from the opening whistle and stunned the sellout crowd of 70,858 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.

"We deserve it for all the good work we've been doing all these years," Messi said.

The 29-year-old has helped Barcelona win eight titles in Spain's La Liga and four in the Champions League, but his Argentina trophies have been limited to the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship for players under 20 and the gold medal in the 2008 Olympics, mostly for players under 23. Argentina lost to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final and to Chile in last year's Copa final.

The U.S. and coach Klinsmann were trying to rebound after getting eliminated by Jamaica in the semifinals of last year's CONCACAF Gold Cup, losing to Mexico in a playoff for a 2017 Confederations Cup berth and struggling in the semifinal round of 2018 World Cup qualifying. The Americans close the tournament Saturday in the third-place match in Glendale, Ariz.

Curving kick

Argentina went ahead when Lavezzi played a short corner kick to Ever Banega, who passed back to Lavezzi sprinting from the corner diagonally. Lavezzi beat Fabian Johnson to the ball and poked it to Messi about 25 yards out, in the centre of the field. As the U.S. defence started to come out, Messi one-timed a flick with his left foot over the back line to Lavezzi, who got to the ball ahead of Kyle Beckerman about 7 yards from the goal. He headed the ball over Guzan, who had started to come off his line.

Messi doubled the lead after Kyle Beckerman slipped and Chris Wondolowski took down Messi, earning a yellow card. Klinsmann screamed at Paraguayan referee Eduardo Cardozo as Messi placed the ball about 26 yards out, a few yards closer to the goal than the foul. After the U.S. set up its wall, Messi bent a beautiful curving drive that went just over Guzan's outstretched left palm and into the upper corner.

Higuain scored when he burst past John Brooks for Lavezzi's pass and one-timed a shot that Guzan stopped with a diving save, then poked the rebound into an open net. Messi nearly added a goal in the 83rd with a 20-yard shot that Guzan palmed to safety. 

Messi moved one ahead Gabriel Batistuta's career total to become Argentina's leading scorer, according to the Argentine Football Association. However, FIFA records Batistuta's total as 56, including two goals in an exhibition against Slovakia in June 1995. 

"It's some of his angles and his spurts and just going from a walk to an absolute sprint," Beckerman said of Messi. "You try to do what you can to stop him, but once he gets going, it's hard."