Crepeau stands tall, but Argentina blanks gritty Canadians in Copa America debut

Canada held top-ranked Argentina scoreless in the first half but conceded a Julian Alvarez goal early in the second, eventually falling 2-0 to the star-studded South Americans in the opening match of Copa America on Thursday.

The 48th-ranked Canadians did not look out of place in the high-profile game. They had chances in an entertaining contest but seemed to rush their moments and could not convert.

World Cup champion Argentina just had too much class across the lineup.

"It's a disappointing result," said Canada captain Alphonso Davies. "We need to look at what we did wrong throughout the game and fix it as soon as possible."

"We went after the game. We had our chances," said Canada vice-captain Stephen Eustaquio.

WATCH | Canada set to make Copa America debut vs. Argentina:

The Copa curtain-raiser drew a large, vocal crowd to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, with the vast majority cheering Lionel Messi and Argentina. They saw goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau, who kept Canada in the game with a string of impressive saves, stop Messi three times.

Messi got the last laugh with a perfect pass that found substitute Lautaro Martinez behind the defence and the Inter Milan forward deftly slid the ball under an onrushing Crepeau for an insurance goal in the 88th minute.

Canada bent but didn't break in a scoreless first half and kept Messi under control, although every touch from the Inter Miami star seemed dangerous. Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez had to make an acrobatic save to block a Eustaquio header off a Cyle Larin cross just before halftime.

Argentina went ahead in the 49th minute with Messi threading a dangerous ball into the Canada penalty box. Argentina's Alexis Mac Allister got to it first but could not corral it and the ball squibbed to Alvarez, who had an open goal in front of him.

The Manchester City forward came close to scoring again a minute later but was denied by Crepeau.

Messi almost made it 2-0 in the 65th, sent in alone by a fine clearance from Emiliano Martinez. But Crepeau blocked his shot and Messi's second attempt deflected off a defender.

Jonathan David almost had the equalizer for Canada soon after, but his header went over the bar.

Venezuelan referee Jesus Valenzuela, after consultation with the video assistant referee, opted not to award Canada a penalty in the 70th minute when substitute Jacob Shaffelburg went down.