Canada coach Jesse Marsch expressed his frustration with Argentina’s delayed return to the field after halftime in their Copa America opener on Thursday. After a goalless first half, Argentina emerged for the second period around five minutes after Canada, ultimately securing a 2-0 victory with goals from Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez.
Marsch argued that Argentina’s extended break gave them an unfair advantage, allowing them extra time to strategize and prepare for the second half. He questioned the lack of consequences for Argentina’s delay, highlighting that Canada would face a fine for a similar infraction.
“When they were waiting, I knew that they were looking at video and they were analyzing how they wanted to play against us,” Marsch stated. “If we were five minutes late, we’d get a fine. There would be a big problem. Let’s see what happens with Argentina, I think they have to be fined. How late were they? 20 minutes? 30?”
“It was a long time,” he continued. “But they had that time to prepare how they wanted to play against us in the second half, which if we would have known ahead of time that we could have an extra 10 minutes then we could have prepared some things more.”
Canada will next face Peru on Tuesday before concluding their group stage against Chile on June 29th.
