By Sergio Silva
Jun 21, 2024, 3:33 PM EDT
For the Canadian coach, Jesse Marsch, the Argentine National Team should have been left with something more than the victory in the premiere of the Copa América United States 2024since he considered that the current champions should have been imposed nothing more and nothing less than a fine.
The opinion of the technical director of the North American team, which fell to the Albiceleste (2-0) This Thursday in the match that opened the curtain of the contest, it is due to a couple of decisions by the refereeing body headed by the Venezuelan Jesús Valenzuela that favored the Argentines.
First, Jesse Marsch recalled the time the team led by Lionel Scaloni took to leave the locker room after halftime. Let us remember that the first goal of the game, scored by Julián Álvarez, came at the start of the second half.
“I knew they were watching videos and analyzing how to play against us. Referees should handle that better. If we arrived late we would be fined, so Argentina should be fined, did they write it?”Marsch said in the press conference after the game in Atlanta.
But that was not the only criticism that the Canadian coach had against those in charge of enforcing the law in the duel that opened the Copa América 2024. The strategist recalled a particular play that caused controversy and that he considered was not decided favoring to the Argentines.
The play in question occurred in the 70th minute when South American defender Lisandro Martínez knocked down Jacob Shaffelburg on the edge of the area. The Canadians asked for a penalty but instead Valenzuela ruled that it was a foul outside the area after the VAR review.
“It was a foul, that’s clear. Whether it was inside or outside the area is debatable, but it was a foul. “The referee did not charge it because he feared it would be a penalty.”questioned Jesse Marsch, who also acknowledged that his team had some mistakes that gave the Argentine National Team an extra chance to win.
“We had a great performance, we created several chances but we also made silly mistakes in defense”said the Canadian strategist who highlighted the good play they played to try to stop Lionel Messi, the top figure of the southern team.
“We came up with a good plan against him and executed a lot of things well, but he’s so good that he keeps making brilliant plays. The two passes he gave in the goals were world class”pointed out what the performance of the Albiceleste captain was.
The Canadian National Team will now have to face Peru in its second match of the Copa América 2024 next Wednesday while Argentina will face the Chilean National Team on Tuesday.
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