Lionel Messi and company kick off Copa America with shaky 2-0 win

Lionel Messi and Argentina opened Copa America in Atlanta on the right foot with a 2-0 victory over Canada. Julian Alvarez got the goal to see Argentina through and Lautaro Martinez added the insurance as the defending champions kicked off the tournament. Messi also made his record 35th Copa America appearance passing Chilean goalkeeper Sergino Livingstone. Messi had quite a match with five shots putting three on target but lacked a goal due to an impressive stop from Maxime Crepeau in the second half followed by a block from Derek Cornelius to deny him.

Canada may have lost the match but the chances that they created will give Jesse Marsch confidence for the remainder of games in Group A. After playing France to a draw in a friendly and now holding Argentina to only one goal, the Canucks are on the rise. Messi did suffer a scare going down from a challenge at the end of the match but he did continue to play.

Will Messi be available for Chile?

One thing to watch will be the status of Messi following a knee-to-knee challenge with a Canadian defender. The Argentine number 10 did continue in the match providing an assist to Martinez but when he'll celebrate his 37th birthday in only four days, could Lionel Scaloni need to rest Messi during the group stage? Knocks are always tough as they can grow worse over the following days after a match. On the bright side, Argentina won't play another match until June 25 against Chile so their star will have time to rest before he is needed again.

A good showing for Canada

March's fingerprints are showing on the Canadian national team as they looked to replicate what Saudi Arabia did to upset Argentina at the World Cup. The Canucks made mistakes that Argentina didn't take advantage of but they also created plenty of their own chances taking 10 shots and putting two on target. More is needed from Jonathan David moving forward but Marsch has played the Netherlands, France and Argentina in his first three matches in charge of the national team and the improvement is showing. The defense and especially Crepeau are well drilled and as Copa America goes on, Ismael Kone will have a breakout moment but Canada will take important lessons from this.

Who starts at striker?

It's an embarrassment of riches for Scaloni in his setup that this is even a question but while Alvarez opened the scoring, things looked more fluid once Martinez came onto the pitch. There's a big difference in roles as Messi was central with Alvarez on the wing to start the match while Martinez was in a central position but the team was more fluid with the Inter man in the XI. Considering the finishing for Argentina was poor, it wouldn't be a surprise if changes were made ahead of Chile and one of them could be putting Martinez into the XI. Both will be heavily involved in whatever Argentina do this tournament but this well-oiled machine may need a few tweaks.