By Canadian Press

Canada coach believes Copa America chaos won’t be repeated at 2026 World Cup

Jul 15, 2024 | 9:24 AM

TORONTO — Canada coach Jesse Marsch got an inkling of how Copa America might go off the field after meeting with CONMEBOL organizers before the U.S.-based tournament.

“They were telling me about weather patterns in different cities and they were telling me about facilities,” Marsch said in an interview Monday. “At one point I said ‘You guys don’t know what you’re talking about.’

“They didn’t even know I was American … They made the mistake of thinking that they were just going to bring all their people from South America and be able to run a tournament in a new country and they were going to be able to do it seamlessly. And they made a massive mistake in that. They didn’t incorporate enough people on the ground who actually knew what the environment and spaces that they were working in were actually like and how to get things done.”

Sunday’s Argentina-Colombia final in Miami Gardens, Fla., was delayed for 80-plus minutes by pre-match chaos at the gates of Hard Rock Stadium. After the final whistle of last Wednesday’s semifinal in Charlotte, star striker Darwin Nunez and Uruguay teammates, fearing for the safety of their families, went into the stands at Bank of America Stadium as fans brawled.

Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa, prior to the Canada semifinal, lambasted organizers for not doing enough to protect the families of his players seated behind the Uruguay bench, among other criticisms.

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Marsch, speaking after Bielsa, also decried the tournament’s organization.

“For me, his tournament has not been professional,” he told the pre-game news conference, adding Canada had been treated “like second-class citizens.”

Copa America, run by the South American confederation CONMEBOL, was supposed to be a dress rehearsal of sorts for the 2026 World Cup, which Canada is co-hosting with Mexico and the U.S.

Hard Rock Stadium, for example, is slated to host four World Cup group-stage matches, a round-of-32 game, a quarterfinal and the third-place game.

Marsch believes the World Cup organization under FIFA will be “very different.”

“Their overall experience for running tournaments, I think, is at a much different level,” he said. “I think, especially here in Canada, that this will be run very professionally, very cleanly. And it will be great.”

Canada is hosting 13 of the 104 games at the ’26 World Cup, with seven in Vancouver and six in Toronto. Mexico is also staging 13 games with the U.S. hosting the remaining 78 games at the expanded 48-team soccer showcase.

“I just want to show up to a stadium where we have a home fan base … That will be a good feeling,” said Marsch, whose first eight games at the helm have been in Europe or the U.S.

Next up for 48th-ranked Canada are away friendlies against the 11th-ranked U.S. and No. 15 Mexico in the September FIFA window. Canada faces the U.S. on Sept. 7 at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City and Mexico on Sept. 10 at AT&T Stadium, in Arlington, Texas.

The matches are preparation for the 2024-25 CONCACAF Nations League, which Canada, Mexico, the U.S. and Panama — as the four top-ranked League A teams — will join at the quarterfinal stage in November.

Canada will play the best first-place team from Group A or B, which would be No. 52 Costa Rica or No. 53 Jamaica if the FIFA rankings hold true.

Since taking the Canada job May 13, Marsch has hardly stood still with games in the Netherlands, France, Atlanta, Kansas City, Orlando, Arlington, East Rutherford, N.J., and Charlotte.

After Saturdays’ penalty shootout loss to Uruguay in the third-place game in Charlotte, he flew north to take in Forge FC’s CPL game Sunday against visiting Pacific FC. Monday was a day of media obligations, with more to come Tuesday in Montreal.

Then he plans to return to his home in Italy, to plan what’s next.

He will leave with a smile from his first stint in charge of the Canadian men, knowing that the time he took to ponder his next move after being let go by England’s Leeds United in February 2023 — was well spent.

“I took my time because I can take my time,” he said. “And I don’t need to work. I love to work.

“And I wanted to make sure that whatever I did next, I was going to be able to represent the things that I believe in and that I was going to work with people that have similar kinds of passions and thoughts about what this experience should be. I couldn’t be happier that I found that place.”

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 15, 2024

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press