Kormish: More history to be made for Canadian men at COPA America

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The Canadian men’s national team is looking to make more history.

The soccer squad has advanced to the knockout stage of COPA America, an unexpected development as they entered the tournament bottom ranked in their group.

It’s their first time in the South American championship. With USA as host nation, six teams from our region — CONCACAF — were invited. Canada qualified by defeat of Trinidad & Tobago back in March.

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Now, they are into the final eight. They did so by a 2-0 loss to Argentina, 1-0 win over Peru, and a 0-0 draw with Chile. While many say it’s been unimpressive, scoring only the one time, they did what the group stage purpose is: advance. That’s something their North American counterparts USA and Mexico failed to do.

It was a respectable match played against the world champions, in a stadium where nearly all of the 70,564 in attendance supported Lionel Messi and the Argentines. The 500-plus travelling Canadians were placed in the upper back corner in nosebleed seats.

In the second game, it was a 5 p.m. start in the sweltering heat of the Kansas City summer. With no breeze, not a cloud in the sky, and temperatures feeling like 39C, the Canadians defeated a gritty and physical Peru side.

The heat was so bad, hundreds of fans left prime seats for shaded areas. There were cooling breaks and still an assistant referee from Guatemala fainted to the ground just before halftime and had to be replaced.

If that wasn’t enough, the Canadian contingent was heavily outnumbered once again. Peruvians love their football and made up most the 11,970 in attendance.

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In Orlando, the Chilean fans created a hostile environment that made it feel like a home game in Santiago. Their South American style of play made things difficult for the Canadians, yet they survived.  At the final whistle, their relief and joy was all too evident.

Next up is Venezuela. Historically considered minnows of CONMEBOL, their current form disputes that. This so called ‘Golden Generation’ is playing good football, and on pace to qualify for its first ever World Cup in 2026.

Coach Fernando Batista has a group of players that reached elite heights at the youth level, including the under-21 World Cup Final of 2017. They have only allowed one goal in three games, with clean sheets against Mexico and Jamaica.

The Canadians are still adapting to a new way of life under head coach Jesse Marsch. Joining the team only a month ago, he is just five games into his tenure. While keeping the ball out of their own goal has been adequate, getting the ball into their opponents has been problematic.

This is the most talented group in the history of Canadian men’s soccer that is fully capable of producing. We’ve seen it at club level and throughout their World Cup qualification campaign, yet have just one under Marsch. He needs to figure it out.

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Is left back, left attacking mid, the best place to utilize one of the most dynamic players on earth: Alphonso Davies?  Why never striker? The guy has a knack for scoring.

If Canada wins against Venezuela, they will play against Argentina in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 9.

Not only that, but there is some real prize money to be won. Canada earned $2 million just by being here and then another $2 million by getting to the knockout round. They’ll double that with a win over Venezuela.

The message from the team is that they’ll be playing for their fallen comrade Tajon Buchanan, who broke his tibia in training this week. It’s a terrible injury to one of Canada’s most lethal attackers.

With over 100,000 Venezuelans living in Texas, it will feel like yet another home game for our opponents.

Lee Kormish is a freelance writer that can be reached at leekormish@sasktel.net you can follow Lee’s World Cup Channel on youtube

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