2 days Ago
Still boasting a 100% success rate at the 2024 Copa America , reigning champions Argentina continue the defence of their crown on Thursday, clashing with Ecuador in the quarter-finals in Houston, Texas. The current World Cup holders earned nine points from nine in group clashes against Canada, Chile and Peru, scoring five goals while conceding none, four of which were netted by Lautaro Martinez . However, Lionel Messi ended the group stage with no goals to his name - being benched for the final encounter with Peru - and there are still some concerns over his fitness for the Houston showdown.
There is still every chance that the 37-year-old will overcome that thigh complaint, though, and here, Sports Mole takes a closer look at his record in previous matches against Ecuador. © Imago Played: 10 Won: 6 Drawn: 3 Lost: 1 Goals: 7 Assists: 3 From 10 previous matches against Ecuador across all tournaments, Messi coincidentally has the same number of goal contributions to boast against La Tri, whom he has scored seven times against while laying on three assists. However, Argentina only have a modest 60% success rate in matches with Ecuador that Messi has played in, prevailing in six such affairs while being held to three draws and suffering one defeat.
Messi's first taste of action against Ecuador in a 2010 World Cup qualifier was one of those stalemates - he played the full 90 in that 1-1 draw in June 2008 - almost exactly 12 months before his sole loss, 1-0 in the same section in .
