International Soccer

ATLANTA — Canada coach Jesse Marsch said Argentina should be fined after the defending champions emerged late from the dressing room for the second half in their Copa América opener on Thursday.

After the first half ended goalless, Argentina opened the scoring four minutes after the restart through Julian Alvarez while Lautaro Martinez scored a late goal in a 2-0 win.

Argentina emerged for the second period around five minutes after Canada.

Jesse Marsch Argentina complaint

Argentina’s 2-0 victory vs. Canada on Thursday in Copa América wasn’t smooth sailing. It literally wasn’t smooth because the Mercedes-Benz Stadium grass put in place caused issues for both teams.

Members of Argentina and Canada said that the grass put in place wasn’t up to par. Atlanta United and the NFL’s Falcons play on turf inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, however the artificial turf was replaced with grass on Sunday.

Copa América grass issue

The replacement grass was basically placed over concrete creating a uniquely bad surface to play on.

Racism is still the biggest plague of the “Beautiful Game”, and it reared its ugly head on Thursday as Argentina and Lionel Messi fans racially abused Canada’s Moïse Bombito on social media.

Fans weren’t happy about the tackle on Messi from the Colorado Rapids star during the Copa América opener between Canada and Argentina. During the second half Messi went down and received treatment following this tackle from the Canada defender.

A long-range Denmark goal vs England is the new candidate for goal of Euro 2024 as the Danes earned a 1-1 draw against a disappointing Three Lions side on Thursday.

Morten Hjulmand put his name up in lights after a careless giveaway from Harry Kane led to the 24-year-old defensive midfielder ripping a shot from distance. What a goal.

Denmark goal vs England

DENMARK EQUALIZES!!!

The Euros are amazing.

The second matchday of Euro 2024 has been nothing short of dramatic, with the match between Slovenia and Serbia ending in yet another crazy finish.

Watch: Luka Jović scores late-equalizer against Slovenia

Serbia were able to rescue a dramatic 1-1 draw against Slovenia on Thursday after scoring an equalizer in the last play of the match. 

The Xherdan Shaqiri goal vs Scotland during the 1-1 draw with Switzerland made history as the first goal at the Euros scored by a player who plays in Major League Soccer.

The Chicago Fire man has a habit of scoring ridiculous goals when he has a Switzerland shirt on, and he kept that tradition alive with a screamer into the upper 90 to bring his side level.

Goals don’t get much better than this.

Shaqiri goal vs Scotland

SHAQIRI SHAQIRI

STUTTGART — Goals from Jamal Musiala and Ilkay Gundogan gave Germany a comfortable 2-0 win over Hungary in Group A on Wednesday that made the host nation the first side to qualify for the knockout stage at Euro 2024.

With two wins out of two, the Germans are guaranteed to be at least among the four best third-placed teams. They will finish in the top two of the group if Scotland fail to beat Switzerland later on Wednesday.

That scenario would also prevent Hungary from finishing in the top two.

Germany vs Hungary highlights

These Euro 2024 games have been absolute cinema and provided fans with another classic on Wednesday as Croatia and Albania drew 2-2. 

Albanian substitute Klaus Gjasula had the wildest game as he scored an own goal and his side’s massive equalizer in the final minutes.

In the 72nd minute Albania led 1-0 and Gjasula was brought on to add some more security to his side’s one-goal lead. Two minutes later Croatia would equalize to make it 1-1.

GOAAAALL CROATIA!!!

Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal survived a massive scare from Czechia with a 2-1 victory in their Euro 2024 opener. With all the star power on the field for Portugal, their winning goal came from the unlikeliest of sources as Francisco Conceicao scored his first international goal.

Fans believed that Portugal securing three points from their opener was a given and a look at the stats would back that theory. The Euro favorites had 19 shots to Czechia’s five, 13 corners to Czechia’s zero and 74 PERCENT POSSESSION.

A world class Arda Güler goal vs Georgia proved to be the difference in Group F’s wildly entertaining first game as Turkey secured an enthralling 3-1 victory.

Georgia entered the tournament as the lowest ranked team in Euro 2024 ranked 75th in the world. They showed no signs of being the underdog as they pushed Turkey to the limit with a Güler worldie separating the two teams.