🇨🇦 Whoa, Canada! The Reds move into the final four of the Copa América
One Concacaf team gets into the semifinals. Will another join?
Reporting from Arlington, Texas
You’ll have to forgive Jacob Shaffelburg. It’s all a bit of a blur.
The goal? He remembers it, but he had to review the clip a few times to get the details right. A visit from Nova Scotian royalty Sidney Crosby in the locker room? He was soaking it all in rather than remembering a specific word of encouragement.
“I wasn’t expecting that to happen - just because I’m not very good with my right foot,” he said. “It was a crazy moment. I had to watch it in the locker room a few times after because I didn’t really remember it. Unbelievable.”
That it was. Canada was the better team against Venezuela and after a 1-1 draw in regulation it won a penalty shootout. In its debut appearance in the Copa América, Canada - unbelievably - is in the semifinals of the tournament and faces Argentina on Tuesday for the right to play in the final.
What’s totally believable is that the “Maritime Messi” entered a fugue state as he blocked out the 50,000 plus Venezuela fans at AT&T Stadium and focused on creating chaos for the 11 Venezuelans on the field.
He had a penalty shout early, and then the goal in the 13th minute, crashing into the box and getting a touch on a ball played in by Jonathan David.
Shortly after, there were more chances for Canada: Shaffelburg at the top of the box with a low, long-range effort, Shaffelburg getting free and playing a ball for David to fire from 18 yards out only for him to miss, Cyle Larin missing a chance to nudge in Richie Laryea’s knuckleball across the box.
All of it was created by Canada’s desire to get vertical, to change gears quickly and to thrive on the chaos it created.
Not that Venezuela couldn’t take advantage of some chaotic moments of its own.
Salomon Rondon’s stunner from distance showed that Venezuela could do the same, taking advantage of mistakes made and using their individual and collective talent to punish Canada.
But even after that goal, a moment that could’ve been back-breaking, Canada returned to its style and responded well, closing out the match looking as likely to find the winner as Venezuela.
“In front of the team, I took the responsibility for the goal we gave Venezuela because I’m challenging Max to be aggressive off his line,” Canada manager Jesse Marsch said after. “I thought our team responded at 1-1. We got better. We got stronger. We pushed the game. We were a little unlucky not to go up 2-1 and then stayed strong for the penalty shootout.
“It would’ve been easy for a young team to fold at that moment, but we didn’t. We got better.”
This is a Canada team that had been labeled as nothing but a physical team in the group stage, branded as bruisers. Clearly, after Friday night, they’re much more than that.
“I’ve heard a lot about these physical comments. They’ve confused us a little bit. We’re physical in terms of owning the duels, but we’re not a dirty team by any stretch of the imagination,” defender Alistair Johnston told me, before asking me to repeat my question about shaking off those stereotypes on a night when Canada showed its soccer has far more in common with Cruyff than Crosby.
“I think that’s exactly why the manager fit our player pool,” Johnston said. “When you look at our team, we’re young, we’re powerful, we’re quick all over the pitch and his style of play suits us.
“His system has fit us to a T, and now we’re starting to reap the rewards. It’s not easy. It takes a big physical toll, but you can see how effective we are in transition, getting that first ball forward, getting guys running vertical and how dangerous we can be.”
The fit of Marsch punching up by using aggression, verticality and transition moments is why it looks like Canada’s MLS teams’ investment to bring the manager in already looks to be paying off with an uptick in form for Canada that should be followed by a huge amount of interest growing in the nation ahead of Canada’s role as a host nation in the 2026 World Cup.
“We’ve played in six away matches since I’ve been the coach. I’m eager to get back in Canada and play some matches in front of our home fans. I’m hopeful that in New York we’ll have a bigger presence and there’s an energy building back home,” Marsch said. “We’re also playing Argentina and Messi, and I think every football fan in the world probably has their own team and the second team is Argentina and Messi.
“Look, we’re going to keep trying to make our country proud and capture the moment in the best ways and use it to springboard ourselves into what we want to be in 2026.”
If Canada can keep evolving within Marsch’s playing style, keep integrating young players into the group and keep believing it’s built for more than what it achieved in the past, it will keep creating memorable moments into that showcase tournament - moments Shaffelburg and his entire country will have glued in the mind.
Panama is the underdog against Colombia … does it matter?
We make our projections based on what we see from the past, so when a team comes in on a 25-match unbeaten run as Colombia does ahead of its quarterfinal tonight against Panama, very few will be picking the team that hasn’t had as much recent success.
But Panama manager Thomas Christiansen sees no reason why his team can’t be the one to surprise everyone and move into the final by snapping Colombia’s streak (or getting a draw and winning the penalty shootout). That’s always been the goal.
“We came here to compete and get as far as possible. We’re not going to take anything for granted. If you want to underestimate us, that’s on you, but we’re going to take this match very seriously,” Christiansen said.
When a team isn’t the favorite, there are notions of breezy preparation and a lack of the pressure that the highly regarded squad is coping with, especially in a knockout format where one slip-up can end a team’s tournament.
Still, that doubt from the press and other outsiders hasn’t been a motivating factor for a team that has been together for many years and is used to being in this position of going into a match as the team expected to fall short.
“The fact we’re the underdog, honestly, it doesn’t give you any real advantage. We’ve got to do what we did in the last matches: Be ourselves, try to play the match at the rhythm that we like,” the manager said.
The players aren’t adapting a mentality of “us against the world” either, at least not in public.
“It’s not fundamental. They’re 11 players like we are,” said center back Edgardo Fariña, who has been one of the breakout stars of the competition for an injury-depleted Panama back line. “You’ve got to work the same way.”
It will require an immense amount of work to short-circuit the electric Colombia attack, with James Rodriguez pulling the strings and setting up a rotating cast of forwards and wide attackers. Without the suspended Adalberto Carasquilla and a number of injured key players, it will require a huge effort from Panama and for more breakout stars to emerge.
That *other* quarterfinal
I’m going to plant my flag that of the two Euro quarterfinals and the two Copa América quarterfinals today, Uruguay vs. Brazil will be the most entertaining.
It’s Brazil, still trying to find the samba and swagger of the past, against an Uruguay team that intimately understands the intense system Marcelo Bielsa has put into place.
That Vinicius Jr. will not feature because of a yellow-card suspension only makes the game less exciting. Get rid of this rule. Keep red card suspensions to deter violent conduct or moments like Dani Carvajal’s overly tactical foul in the Spain-Germany match, but find a way to keep the best
At the end of the day, this is entertainment. We watch soccer to have fun. Let us watch the most fun players.
Last night’s score
Canada 1-1 Venezuela (Canada wins penalty shootout 4-3 to advance)
Tonight’s matches
Colombia v. Panama - 6p ET
Uruguay v. Brazil - 9p ET