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Canada, meanwhile, look towards a third-place game on Saturday.
“There’s a level of comfort that they have in big games… and we’re getting there,” former CF Montréal and Nashville SC defender Alistair Johnston said post-match. “They’re battle-tested with World Cups, Copa Américas, they’ve lifted it all, so they’re not fazed by anything.
“I was proud of our group that we walked out there. We held our heads high, and I don’t think we looked like the moment was too big for us.”
Canada had reserved expectations at the Copa América. Starting the tournament mere weeks after appointing Jesse Marsch as head coach and coming off a turbulent 2023, a long run seemed unlikely.
Maybe get a point or a win. Few expected a semifinal berth.
“I took this job seven weeks ago and I couldn’t have imagined that I’d be right here right now,” Marsch said. “I know the team is very disappointed, but I’m very proud of them. We’ve put together some incredible performances, and we’re just starting our process.”
While the Argentines dispatched Canada, the last month has undoubtedly proven a critical kickstart to the journey towards 2026.
Despite admitting that several players were lagging from exhaustion in the semifinal, being at the tail end of a difficult camp with challenging environments, Marsch has quickly instilled a new mentality within the group while bringing the team up to speed on how he wants them to play.
“He wants us to be a bit more arrogant. He thinks we’re too Canadian sometimes, where we can be almost too nice, and I think we started to show that,” Johnston said. “That comes from him and his style of play and how he leads us with the energy on the bench, and we feel that on the pitch as well.”
While they won’t compete for the Copa América title Sunday night at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, the group has strong hope and a clear idea of what personnel fit the system at the moment and those who could come through in the future.
“After two days of training, I looked at the staff and I said we could be in for a tough month. I thought maybe we could go 0-5, given the opponents that we played against. We didn’t, which was good,” Marsch said. “We performed well, and we’re way ahead of where I would have thought we could possibly be.”
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