Key events
90 min +4: Only four minutes of stoppage time, which means I may have spoken too soon about the excellent job the referee was doing. The substitutions alone were close to three minutes, and Davies was down for a long while getting treatment, as was Di Maria. I’ll loan him my watch with the nifty timer on it.
Credit to Canada for making this interesting in the final minutes.
89 min: CHANCE FOR CANADA, and maybe I spoke too soon. That’s a terrible giveaway leading to a strong shot from Oluwaseyi, and Martinez makes a save that’s about 25% positioning and 75% luck.
And ANOTHER CHANCE, with a great cross to Oluwaseyi, whose glancing header glances a bit too much.
So close to 2-1 and an intriguing finish.
88 min: Well done by the referee here, playing advantage after Molina’s harsh foul on Osorio but coming back to show a yellow card when the ball goes out of play. That’s the first yellow for Argentina.
85 min: Foul count – Canada 13, Argentina 4. Unfortunately, that’s probably accurate. Argentina would argue the count should be two or three higher.
In Canada’s defense – this Argentinian team may not have the most dazzling attack in this Copa, but the defense is impeccable. At least, ever since the first 15 minutes, when Shaffelburg was running Montiel ragged. The center backs aren’t putting a foot wrong.
84 min: Joe Pearson answers Drewery Dyke: “I don’t think Canada can beat Uruguay or Colombia, so…”
Hey, Uruguay barely beat the USA, and we’re all being told Canada is better than the USA. They might not say it so loudly after this. Sure, losing 2-0 to Argentina is no shame, but the way they’ve gone about it has been uninspiring. Some dreadful lapses, inaccurate passes in the attacking half, desperate fouls every time Argentina gets the ball and starts to counter, and some unfortunate petulance.
80 min: Kone commits a frustration foul. With De Paul on the ground and the ball right behind him, Kone kicks the ball into the Argentina midfielder’s back. It’s a light touch, but it’s a textbook yellow card, and everyone’s hopping mad.
Then the referee deals with something I have not dealt with as a youth soccer referee – the ball hits the skycam. It’s a dropped ball to the team last in possession.
(By the way – I saw a reference to an “uncontested dropped ball” recently. They’ve all been uncontested for years.)
78 min: Argentina had only made two subs to this point (Otamendi and Molina replacing Tagliafico and Molina), but they make three in one window here. Surprisingly, they’ve left Messi on the field. Surely they would rest him at this point.
The subs: four-goal scorer Lautaro Martinez, Nicolas Gonzalez and Exequiel Palacios replace Alvarez, Mac Allister and Di Maria, all of whom were superb tonight.
76 min: Let’s see if we can figure out the Canadian lineup now …
Jonathan Osorio replaced Davies, and they may have gone to three backs – Cornelius, Bombito and Johnston.
Choinière has replaced Eustaquio to run alongside Kone in midfield.
Millar and Ahmed replaced Shaffelburg and Laryea, though Ahmed just popped up on the left and committed a foul in the Argentine penalty area.
Tani Oluwaseyi replaced David.
73 min: Larin falls at the edge of the box, perhaps a bit optimistically. The defender made contact, but that would seem harsh. The most recent Canadian sub, Mathieu Choinière, stops the Argentine counter by dumping De Paul to the ground.
70 min: Checking the mailbag while they take an eternity making subs …
Jason Justice: “Fox nonstop commentators have said that the pitch has not been watered, somebody applied sand instead for some reason, to the grass quilt. But having said that, the latest replay of the injured player indeed seem to show a lot of water.”
Travis Giblin: “Can you or others explain to me why 2 teams from the same group are playing in the semifinal rather than the final? Why are they on the same side of the draw? The only reason I can think of is so the final is a “new” game.”
Hmmmm. Good question.
W.M. Akers has the game on mute with Love Island in the background. SNL did a terrific parody of that show.
68 min: Davies gingerly trots back on the field … and immediately sits back down.
This game is absolutely not worth risking further injury. It’s not happening tonight.
Along those lines, Drewery Dyke has an intriguing thought about the substitutes: “Do you think Canada is now thinking about heading into the match for third place with a decent squad?”
65 min: Argentina go direct to Messi in the center circle, but Crepeau’s tendency to race out to cover ground pays off this time.
Alphonso Davies trips over Montiel. Clean tackle, but Davies being down is always going to be alarming for Canada. (And it may complicate talks between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.)
62 min: CHANCE for Canada and it continues for quite a while. After a non-call that surprises Argentina, Canada work the ball to Kone, whose shot from the top of the penalty area clangs into a defender. They maintain possession for a bit, but Di Maria wins it back and is off to the races. Eustáquio commits the tactical foul – or does he? Replay shows he barely touched Di Maria, if at all. But Di Maria stays down for a quite a while, anyway.
Both teams bring in subs, and Canada have taken off Jonathan David. Their two best attackers are now off the field.
61 min: Alvarez brings down a pass from Di Maria, who has more than justified his start tonight, and gets away from two defenders. He blasts a high-powered shot on target but straight at Crepeau.
60 min: Michael Meagher offers a clarification: ““Replay shows a defender inexplicably back toward the goal line.” He had been chasing after DePaul who ran off the back of the field.”
Clever bunch, those Argentinians.
56 min: The last email I couldn’t get to at halftime was from Georges Lebreton, who mentioned that Messi had never scored against Canada. He has since written back to add “so far.”
Kind of a subtle reference to the Simpsons movie.
Ahmed’s first touch lets him down and lets Argentina’s defense off the hook.
55 min: Ali Ahmed and Liam Millar replace Shaffelburg and Laryea. I have little reason to believe they will change the situation.
Goooooaallll! Argentina 2-0 Canada (Messi 51)
Replay shows Cornelius inexplicably back toward the goal line, keeping the best player of his generation not in an offside position at the edge of the 6-yard box to clean up after Kone can’t clear the ball and Fernandez shoots through traffic.
Ironically, it was a bit like a hockey goal, with the scorer standing close to the net and getting a slight touch to redirect the shot. The difference is that, in soccer, a player standing that close to the goal is usually offside.
Gooooaaaaaallll! Maybe. Argentina 2-0 Canada, perhaps
Terrible defending from Canada, but an offside call should bail them out. Argentina aren’t celebrating too much.
49 min: Promising stuff from Canada until Laryea has a mediocre first touch and Eustáquio underhits a pass.
Argentina go the other way – for a team not known for athleticism, they certainly go from defending to earning a corner kick or getting a shot in mere seconds.
48 min: Jim Denvir writes: “I’m fortunate enough to be at the MetLife stadium for this, and I can assure Justin Kavanaugh (30th minute) that there is nothing halfway approaching ice anywhere here.”
Coincidentally, I went to the first volunteer session of the summer at my curling club over the weekend. It was rather warm.
47 min: Jesse Marsch is yelling about the ball being called out of play when it might not have been. Bane of a referee’s existence – people losing their composure over one of the most trivial decisions the officials can make.
46 min: We resume with a foul that leaves Julian Alvarez wondering what he did to deserve that. Free kick Messi, nearly 40 yards out.
Sam MB answers my question: “No dog in this particular fight, but were this US v Canada, I’d think USA (of which I’m a benighted citizen) would get right smacked down, maple-dipped, and hung out to dry while looking increasingly frustrated. I blame Berhalter: dishonor on him, dishonor on his cow!”
Sounds like an ad for a chicken restaurant I won’t name.
Rodney MacDonald has sent one of my favorite emails ever: “Following from Peaches, a queer sports bar in the west end of Toronto. Thanks for filling in the gaps. We Canadians are not sure why the players are not just punching each other in the face to gain possession of the sphere?”
I’d say they need to drop the gloves, but it’s far too warm for gloves.
Your halftime question, taken from something mentioned in the pregame show:
If Canada were playing the United States, not Argentina, who would be winning right now?
Halftime: Argentina 1-0 Canada
Our last image of the first half is Canadian coach Jesse Marsch, who has made some in his home country of the United States gaze wistfully while wondering why he didn’t get the US job, yelling at someone. It really shouldn’t be the referee, who has done nothing wrong to Canada in this game and even declined to give Messi a call he emphatically sought out.
Canada had a bright start for 10-15 minutes, and Argentina’s defense looked vulnerable. But as if hypnotized by the side-to-side motion of the ball, Canada’s midfield and defense have been lulled to complacency more than once, and they’ve paid dearly for it.
45 min +2: CHANCE for Canada … yes, really! The ball floats into the area, and David races to meet it a couple of feet away from the near post. But Martinez meets the challenge, and Canada’s corner kick is wasteful.
45 min +1: You can’t try to chip Crepeau every time. Crepeau was on his line, and that ball went high. Not the best attacking idea from Argentina that time.
45 min: We can’t have more than a minute of stoppage time here. OK, two, apparently. That’s fine.
44 min: CHANCE for Argentina, specifically for Messi. Di Maria centers the ball, and Alvarez dummies it for the greatest player of his generation. Messi quickly loses Johnston with his first touch, then lashes a shot just wide of the post.
