Iceland's Alfred Finnbogason, left,a and Emil Hallfredsson, front right, react after the Euro 2016 Group F soccer match between Iceland and Hungary at the Velodrome stadium in Marseille, France, Saturday, June 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)
Iceland's Alfred Finnbogason, left,a and Emil Hallfredsson, front right, react after the Euro 2016 Group F soccer match between Iceland and Hungary at the Velodrome stadium in Marseille, France, Saturday, June 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Claude Paris) Credit: Claude Paris

Foxborough, Mass. — Lionel Messi scored and added two assists in his first Copa America start this year to lead Argentina over Venezuela, 4-1, on Saturday night and into a semifinal against the host United States.

Messi’s goal in the 60th minute gave Argentina a 3-0 lead and was his 54th in international play, tying the national record set by Gabriel Batistuta, according to Argentina’s governing body. The Barcelona star also took over the Copa America scoring lead with his fourth goal of the tournament.

Argentina now has two days to rest before playing the U.S. in Houston on Tuesday night. The Americans have been off since beating Ecuador on Thursday.

With many in the Gillette Stadium wearing No. 10 from Messi’s national team and La Liga jerseys, the five-time FIFA Player of the Year started the game after playing a total of just 74 minutes in the three group stage matches. Just eight minutes in, he connected with Gonzalo Higuain on a long entry pass to make it 1-0.

Messi gathered it in from the sideline and lofted a long pass to Higuain, who split two defenders took the ball on a short hop and booted it in. Higuain scored again in the 28th. Messi made it 3-0 when he took a pass from Nicolas Gaitan just outside the 6-yard box.

Euro 2016 Portugal Flails Again

Paris — Cristiano Ronaldo missed a late penalty as Portugal stumbled to a 0-0 draw with Austria, while Belgium swept to a 3-0 win over Ireland on a day of contrasts at the European Championship on Saturday.

There were mixed fortunes too for Iceland, which looked set to cause another shock by following up its draw against Portugal with a victory over Hungary — only for the tiny Scandinavian nation’s team to concede a late own-goal and finish 1-1 again.

If the Icelanders can at least console themselves with having scored, nothing went right for Ronaldo in a game where he set the Portugal appearance record with his 128th cap.

MLSRevolution 2, Whitecaps 1

Vancouver, British Columbia — Kelyn Rowe took advantage of a defensive lapse to break a tie in the 55th minute in the New England Revolution’s 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday.

Teal Bunbury took the ball into the corner, then sent a pass to the top of the box where Rowe was waiting unmarked. He banged a low, hard shot past goalkeeper David Ousted for his third goal of the season.

London Woodberry also scored to help New England (4-4-7) improve to 1-3-3 on the road.

Nicolas Mezquida scored for Vancouver (6-7-3).