Lionel Messi, the five-time world player of the year, helped top-ranked Argentina overwhelm the U.S. 4-0 in a Copa America semifinal match in Houston. Argentina will face Chile or Colombia in Sunday’s final in East Rutherford, N.J.
HOUSTON – 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 set Argentina’s career scoring record and assisted on the final goal in a 4-0 rout of the U.S. team Tuesday night that put La Albiceleste into the Copa America final.
After Messi doubled the lead in the 32nd minute with his 55th international goal, his fifth of the tournament, Gonzalo Higuain quickly ended U.S. comeback hopes when he put the rebound of his initial shot past goalkeeper Brad Guzan in the 50th minute. Higuain scored off a Messi pass in the 86th.
Argentina is ranked No. 1 in the world and the U.S. team is 31st.
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“We got outplayed badly by a very good team,” U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati said. “Today is a good day to judge where we are in program overall. We’re obviously a long way off.”
The United States dropped to 2-9-1 in matches against top-ranked opponents.
Argentina had 67 percent possession and outshot the U.S. team 9-0.
“Once we were 1-nil down, we had far too much respect,” U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. “After that early goal, I think that our players could just feel that they (Argentina) are just probably in every position on the field just better than we are.”
While saying he valued Klinsmann’s opinion, team captain Michael Bradley also said, “Please don’t make it out to be anything like that.”
U.S. players seemed shocked after their largest margin of defeat in a competitive match since a 5-0 loss to Mexico in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup final.
Argentina will seek its first major title since the 1993 Copa — and its first since Messi’s debut in 2005 — when it plays Chile or Colombia on Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J.
“That’s what we hope and what we want, to finally achieve that,” Messi said. “We deserve it, for all the good work we’ve been doing all these years.”
Argentina will be missing Lavezzi, who broke his left elbow when he fell backward over an advertising sign board in the 63rd minute while trying to chest a pass.
Hosting a special, expanded, 16-nation edition of South America’s championship to celebrate Copa America’s 100th anniversary, the United States won a difficult group that included third-ranked Colombia and then beat No. 13 Ecuador 2-1 in the quarterfinals at CenturyLink Field.
Argentina outclassed the United States before a crowd of 70,858 at NRG Stadium.
The U.S. team was trying to rebound at Copa 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 United States will play Saturday in the third-place match in Glendale, Ariz.
Euro 2016
• Spain’s 12-year unbeaten run at the European Championship ended when Croatia rallied for a stunning 2-1 victory in Bordeaux, France, sending the two-time champions into an intense, high-profile knockout match against Italy on Monday in the round of 16 in Paris.
The Spain-Italy match is a repeat of the 2012 final Spain won 4-0.
Ivan Perisic’s 87th-minute winner for Croatia ended Spain’s unbeaten run at the tournament that dated to 2004 and also relegated the defending champions into second place in Group D.
• In another Group D match, the Czech Republic beat Turkey 2-0.
• Meanwhile, in Group C, Poland beat Ukraine 1-0 and Germany defeated Northern Ireland by the same score.
Germany and Poland advanced to the round of 16.