Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez dubs pitch a ‘disaster’ after winning 2-0 against Canada in Copa America opener | Football News
Argentina shot stopper Emiliano Martinez hit out at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium pitch, labelling it a disaster after the La Albiceleste defeated Canada in their opening match at the Copa America.
“Coming here against a strong Canada, with good forwards and on a field that is a disaster made it a little difficult for us. We have to improve in that aspect. Otherwise, the Copa America will always be at a lower level than the European Championship,” the 2022 World Cup Golden Gloves winner said.
Coach Lionel Scaloni had also blasted the pitch, saying, ” The start looked like the match with Saudi Arabia [at the 2022 World Cup], with the difference that we played on a more decent pitch that time.”
“With all due respect, thank goodness we won. Otherwise, it would have been a cheap excuse. We have known for seven months that we are going to play here and they changed the turf two days ago. It is not good for the show. It is not an excuse, the stadium is beautiful and with synthetic turf it must be spectacular, but with today’s turf it is not suitable for this kind of players,” he added.
In the match, Argentina who are the defending champions, edged past Canada with the help of second half goals from Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez.
Canada timed their pressing to perfection to fashion a few chances in the first half, though it was Argentina who went closest to scoring through Angel di Maria but he squandered a golden opportunity after a driving run from his own half.
Scaloni’s side made the breakthrough four minutes after the restart as Lionel Messi played a sublime pass to Alexis Mac Aller, who poked it away from advancing Canada goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau and into the path of Alvarez for a simple finish.
Canada pushed hard after going behind but the introduction of veteran centre-back Nicolas Otamendi gave Argentina some much-needed stability at the back, before substitute Martinez slotted in from a Messi pass in the 88th minute to wrap up the win.
