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On Tuesday, June 25, Lautaro Martinez scored a late winner for Argentina against Chile in the COPA America 2024 Group A clash at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. With this 1-0 win, the defending champions Argentina secured a spot in the quarterfinals of the tournament, while ensuring a top spot for themselves in Group A as well.
In the 88th minute of the pulsating contest, Chile were unable to clear the corner from Lionel Messi, who had quite an eventful night in front of goal. Lautaro Martinez was at the right place at the right time at the back post, lashing the ball inside the net, to put Argentina in a 1-0 lead, which they managed to keep till the end.
After securing the top spot in Group A, Argentina will be facing the team finishing in second place in Group B. Their quarterfinal opponents will be either Venezuela, Mexico, Ecuador, and Jamaica, who will be in action on Wednesday, June 26, in their second group stage matches.
Lautaro Martinez spoke to TyC Sports in the post-match address and said, “These matches are always like this, we have to continue in the same way, treating the matches in this way, as they are all going to be complicated. Everything was tight, they set up lines of five at times but we are happy we ended up taking the three points, which is what we wanted.”
Argentina are slated to play their final Group A match of the COPA America 2024 against Peru on Sunday, June 30, at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
Here is the clip of Lautaro Martinez scoring for Argentina against Chile in COPA America 2024:
