Courtesy of The Athletic
The Canadian men's national team competed in Copa América for the first time in its history and defied all expectations. Les Rouges finished fourth overall in the tournament which featured countries like Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, and the USA.
Head coach Jesse Marsch, who was given the job on May 13, had his first two matches in charge against 7th ranked in the world, Netherlands, and 2nd ranked in the world, France. One of Marsch’s first acts as manager was appointing a new captain after Atibia Hutchinson retired. He named Alphonso Davies as the new captain of the Canadian men's national team.
Courtesy of CBS Sports
Canada opened its Copa América tournament against Lionel Messi and Argentina, losing 2-0 in a hard fought game. The pressure was on Canada coming up against the current World Cup champions, but they held their own, going into halftime tied at 0-0.
Their next game in the group stage came against Peru where they recorded a 1-0 win thanks to a goal by Jonathan David. Due to the win against Peru, all Canada needed was a point in their last group game against Chile to make it out of the group and play in the quarter finals. Drawing 0-0 meant Canada would move on to play Venezuela.
Courtesy of Matteo Ciambelli
Canada became one of a small number of teams to make it out of the group stage of a tournament scoring only one goal. Unfortunately during training, days before their next game, Tajon Buchanan suffered a serious leg injury and would miss the rest of the tournament, which was a big blow for Canada.
Early into the quarter final match against Venezuela, Jacob Shaffelburg scored to give Canada the lead. In the 64th minute Venezuela tied it up. The game ended tied and in Copa América there is no extra time in the knockout stage. Penalties were up next and Canada took it 4-3, with Ismaël Koné scoring the winning penalty. This win sent them to the semi-finals, which was another match up against Argentina.
This was another tough matchup where Canada fell short. This time however, the pressure was on Argentina, who may have underestimated Canada in the first game. A 2-0 loss put Canada in the 3rd place match, where they would play Uruguay.
A new lineup of players who hadn’t had much playing time during the tournament faced off against Darwin Núñez and Uruguay. Rodrigo Bentancur scored in the 8th minute but Koné tied it up with a wonder goal in the 22nd minute. Jonathan David was subbed on and scored in the 80th minute. Luis Suárez tied the game in the 92nd minute which took the game to penalties, again. Canada lost 4-3 on penalties, finishing in 4th place in the tournament.
Courtesy of Ron Jenkins
Players Canadian fans and soccer fans around the globe should keep an eye on include Koné, Shaffelburg, Moïse Bombito, and goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau, who had a phenomenal tournament playing against world-class strikers.
Overall, Marsch’s side conceded seven goals (not including penalties), scored four goals, and kept two clean sheets. These are not bad stats and are something to build off of for the World Cup in 2026, where they will be hosting alongside Mexico and the USA.
Edited by Giana Robertaccio
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