The “Argentine home ground” at MetLife Stadium—Messi once scored a hat-trick on this pitch

Brothers, the match is being held at MetLife Stadium in New York. This stadium holds special meaning for Argentina.

Argentina knows this stadium inside out. In the 2012 international friendly between Argentina and Brazil, Messi scored a hat-trick here as Argentina beat Brazil 4-3. The one-man run after getting past Marcelo and then finishing with a goal earned him the Puskás Award. In 2016’s centenary Copa América, Argentina narrowly lost here to Chile. In the 2024 Copa América group stage, Argentina beat Chile 1-0 at MetLife Stadium, and in the semifinals they again defeated Canada here.

Spain had never previously come to play at MetLife. The stadium’s turf is often criticized—Scaloni at the 2024 Copa América reflected this, with the ball inexplicably bouncing up off the pitch. At this World Cup, both Brazil and France complained that the grass is too hard. Hard turf makes it harder for Spain, whose game is built on playing grounded passes and keeping possession.

With 80,663 spectators on site, most of them will be dressed in blue and white. With the advantage of location and momentum, Argentina has everything going their way.

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