• Argentina collected all three points from Chile tonight at MetLife Stadium
  • Chile held Argentina scoreless until the 88th minute
  • The reigning champions qualified for the Copa America 2024 Knockout Stage

Argentina booked their ticket to the Copa America 2024 quarter-finals thanks to late game heroics from Lautaro Martinez that propelled his side past Chile.

After cruising past Canada in their first match of the tournament, Argentina faced off with the side that beat them in back-to-back Copa America finals in 2015 and 2016. Lionel Scaloni made three changes to his starting XI tonight, inserting Nicolas Tagliafico, Enzo Fernandez, and Nico Gonzalez into the mix against Chile at MetLife Stadium.

As expected, Argentina had Chile pinned back essentially from kickoff and never spent more than a few minutes without the ball at their feet. Despite their dominance in possession, though, the reigning Copa America champions only had half-chances in the first 30 minutes of the match. Hard tackles from Chile, multiple injury stoppages for both sides, and plenty of whistles made for a disjointed first half.

Argentina's first great look at goal came from none other than Lionel Messi in the 36th minute. The Inter Miami man released a pinpoint strike from 25 yards out that kissed the right post before going wide. Claudio Bravo was out of position, and had Messi's shot been a few inches to the left, Argentina would have went into halftime up 1-0. Instead, both sides were goalless at the half, and Chile did not record a single shot.

Chile started the second half with much more intensity than they showed in the first. La Roja had several decent spells of possession, but they relied too heavily on long balls that were often inaccurate. Argentina, meanwhile, never looked like they were on the back foot. In fact, they were denied by the woodwork again as Gonzalez unleashed a left-footed rocket just inside the box that hit the crossbar in the 61st minute.

La Roja finally found themselves pushing forward in the final 25 minutes of the match, forcing save after save from Martinez, including a volley from Echeverria in the 75th minute. Chile's hard work was to no avail, though, because Lautaro Martinez scored in the 88th minute to seal the game for Argentina. Messi delivered a dangerous ball from the corner that pinballed around the box before falling to the striker for an easy finish.