Copa América | Canada loses semi-final to Argentina

Canada fell short of a feat Tuesday night against Argentina. Their fine run in the Copa América – their first ever – was cut short in the semifinals, with a 2-0 loss to Lionel Messi’s team. They will still have the chance to go for third place in the third-place play-off, played Saturday.

Canada has nothing to be ashamed of after another honourable performance against the world champions. They haven’t shown their best side in recent games, of course, but we’ll admit that it’s hard to bring out your best game when you’re thinking about defending against the Albiceleste’s ferocious offensive machine.

It is not for nothing that Jesse Marsch, in a pre-match press conference, noted that Argentina had “no” weaknesses.

It’s hard to contradict him, before and even after the fact. Because from the moment Julián Alvarez made it 1-0, in the 22nd^ethe outcome of the match was almost no longer in doubt.

Good start

True to its good habits in this tournament, Canada was enterprising at the start of the match. Despite all-Argentine possession, it found a way, during the first 20 minutes, to lead interesting counterattacks, notably with an energetic Jacob Shaffelburg on the left flank.

But the Argentines only needed one opportunity to extinguish this beautiful will. In the 23rd^eRodrigo De Paul sent a long lobbed ball from midfield to Julián Alvarez, in the axis. The Manchester City striker suavely passed the ball under the legs of Crépeau for 1-0. The Canadian defense was porous on the action.

With that lead, it seemed as if Argentina began to challenge Canada. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and his two central defenders began to pass the ball around calmly, and the Canadians didn’t want to get too high up the field, risking deconstructing their tactical and defensive scheme. As a result, threats were few and far between on either side.

Canada’s best chance came in stoppage time, when Alistair Johnston passed the ball to Jonathan David, right in the penalty area. A sequence, ultimately blocked by Martinez, was reminiscent of the one that led to Shaffelburg’s goal against Venezuela in the quarter-finals.

After the break, with everything still to play for, the ramparts of the maple leaf once again succumbed to the attacks of the crowd’s favorites… who obviously only had their hearts set on the scorer, Lionel Messi. In fact, Messi was almost lucky to be credited with the goal that made it 2-0 in the 51st minute.^ehe who put his foot in the right place to deflect the ball in front of a Crépeau stretched out at full length.

Jesse Marsch’s changes provided some spark, with Ali Ahmed and Liam Millar coming on for Shaffelburg and Richie Laryea around the hour mark. An injury to Alphonso Davies forced Canada’s coach to reshuffle his cards, giving Mathieu Choiniere his first minutes of the tournament in the 72nd minute.^e.

But in the meantime, Argentina displayed their mastery of the dark arts of time-wasting, as well as their high-level ball control, to deny the Reds any hope.

To say that you are disappointed, twice rather than once, by defeats against Argentina, is that this team is growing at great speed.