The 2024 Copa America USA is a few weeks away, and many are excited to see what the World Champions, Argentina and Lionel Messi will do in the tournament. This could also be the last international tournament in Messi’s career, which means there are more eyes on what he will do since he would like to win another Copa America trophy since he won the last one in 2021. While Messi and Argentina are focused on winning the Copa America again, the Argentine star from Inter Miami could be close to breaking two records this summer, which Diego Armando Maradona or Pele didn’t achieve. With only their first match of the tournament against Canada, Messi will become the player with the most appearances in the Copa America. While he looks set to break that record, the one he would like to break is the top goalscorer of Copa America’s history. He is four goals away from equalizing the top goalscorers of Copa America and five from becoming the highest goal scorer in the history of Copa America.
🐐 RECORD: Lionel Messi on 44 trophies:
— Roy Nemer (@RoyNemer) August 20, 2023
🇦🇷 Argentina:
1 World Cup
1 Copa America
1 Finalissima
1 U20 World Cup
1 Olympic Gold
🇪🇸 Barcelona:
10 La Liga
7 Copa del Rey
8 Supercopa
4 UEFA Champions League
3 Club World Cups
3 UEFA Super Cups
🇫🇷 PSG:
2 Ligue 1
1 Trophé des… pic.twitter.com/2qJK8Qg16a
The historical top scorers of Copa America are Norberto Mendez from Argentina and Zizinho from Brazil, who both have scored 17 goals. Messi is tied with 13 goals with players like Gabriel Batistuta, Ademir, and Hector Scarone and is below active players like Peru’s Paolo Guerrero and Chile’s Eduardo Vargas. Messi is tied in first with matches played with a total of 34 appearances with Chile’s Sergio Livingstone.
Messi and Argentina will make their Copa America 2024 debut against Canada at the Mercedes Benz Stadium on June 20th. Their second group stage game will be against Chile at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on June 25th, and the final group game will be against Peru on June 29th at the Hard Rock Stadium. If Argentina makes it out of the group, their opponents in the quarterfinals could be a team from Group B, which includes Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Jamaica.
Lionel Messi’s final games with Inter Miami before the Copa America 2024
Argentina will begin preparations for the Copa America 2024 at the start of June as they have two friendlies before the start of the tournament. Argentina will play Ecuador on June 9th at Soldier Field and then will play Guatemala on June 14th at FedEx Field. Inter Miami has three games left, which are likely the last few games for Messi in the MLS before the Copa America. Inter Miami will travel to Canada to play against the Vancouver Whitecaps this weekend. After the game in Canada, Inter Miami has two MLS matches in the same week at home at the Chase Stadium. Next Wednesday, Inter Miami will host Atlanta United. On June 1st, it is unknown whether Messi will play or not; Inter Miami will play against St. Louis City.
Inter Miami will definitely miss Messi for the June 15th match against Philadelphia, and depending on how Argentina does in the tournament, the Argentine star could miss six MLS matches. Messi is likely to be back for Inter Miami in the 2024 Leagues Cup tournament, and the first match back for him would be against LIGA MX team Club Puebla.
