Argentina secured a 1-0 victory over Ecuador in a Copa America warmup match, with Angel Di Maria scoring the lone goal as Lionel Messi made his return to the international stage after a six-month absence. Messi, who had been sidelined due to a right hamstring injury, entered the match in the 56th minute, replacing Di Maria. The goal came in the 40th minute when Di Maria capitalized on a reverse pass from Christian Romero to find the back of the net.
Di Maria's goal marked his second consecutive international goal, having also scored against Costa Rica in March. With this goal, the 36-year-old midfielder now has 31 goals for Argentina, tying him with Gonzalo Higuain for the fifth-most goals in the country's history. He is just four goals behind the legendary Diego Maradona, who occupies the fourth spot on the all-time leaderboard.
Argentina, the reigning World Cup and Copa America champion, extended its unbeaten streak against Ecuador to seven matches, dating back to 2019. The team will conclude its pre-Copa America preparations with a friendly match against Guatemala in Washington D.C. on Friday before kicking off its tournament campaign against Canada on June 20.
On the other hand, Ecuador will face Bolivia in an international friendly on Wednesday and Honduras on June 16 before beginning their Copa America journey against Venezuela on June 22. The stage is set for an exciting tournament as both teams fine-tune their strategies and lineups ahead of the highly anticipated competition.
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