Argentina have reached the final of the Copa America after routing the hosts team USA 4-nil, thanks to a brace by Gonzalo Higauin and a fantastic performance by captain Messi.
The home team fans were hoping for some jubilation on Wednesday before a dominant Argentina side showed them the reality very soon when Lavezzi headed home a chipped pass by Lionel Messi in the 3rd minute.
Then, it was time for the Barca superstar himself to score. Chris Wondolowski brought Messi down with a foul outside the box which proved to be a costly mistake.
Messi himself took the resulting free-kick and amazingly sent it into the top corner of the net for Argentina’s second and his own international record-breaking 55th goal.
Argentina took the momentum into the second half. Gonzalo Higauin was on target in the 50th minute. The USA goalkeeper saved the Napoli striker’s first effort before he turned the rebound into his side’s third goal of the night.
As the match was approaching its end, the USA defense gave the ball away to Messi outside their own box and the superstar turned provider for a second time in the night, this time to Higuain who made it 4-0 with a clinical finish in the 86th minute.
Argentina will be hoping to end a 23 year wait for an international trophy when they meet either Colombia or Chile in Sunday’s final.