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 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 Gillette Stadium wearing No. 10 from Messi’s national team and Barcelona jerseys, the five-time FIFA Player of the Year started 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 to make it 2-0, picking up an errant backpass by Venezuela midfielder Arquimedes Figuera and sidestepping goalkeeper Dani Hernandez before left-footing it in.

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

BELGIUM 3, IRELAND 0: After a poor start to the tournament, Belgium began living up to its promise with a resounding victory against Ireland.

Romelu Lukaku scored two second-half goals as Belgium’s much-vaunted offense finally sprang to life after a disappointing display in the opening 2-0 loss to Italy.

“I’m very happy for the team, you know,” Lukaku said. “I think it was very important for us to win today, to deliver a good performance after the game against Italy, which was a setback.”

HUNGARY 1, ICELAND 1: Birkir Saevarsson scored a late own goal to hand Hungary a draw at Marseille, France, in another match affected by crowd trouble.

Saevarsson turned a cross from Nemanja Nikolic into his own net as Iceland was headed for its first victory at a major tournament.

As the players celebrated the 88th-minute equalizer, Hungarian fans threw flares onto the field and into a group of police officers, delaying the restart.

PORTUGAL 0, AUSTRIA 0: Cristiano Ronaldo experienced a night to forget on his record 128th Portugal appearance, missing a late penalty in a 0-0 draw at Paris that left his team winless after two matches.

As goalkeeper Robert Almer dived to his left, Ronaldo struck the spot kick in the opposite direction, but it crashed against the post in the 79th minute.

Ronaldo then thought he had scored his 59th Portugal goal about five minutes later, but it was ruled out for offside.

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER

REVOLUTION 2, WHITECAPS 1: Kelyn Rowe took advantage of a defensive lapse to break a tie in the 55th minute for New England at Vancouver, British Columbia.

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 for New England.