Canada’s head coach Jesse Marsch condemns the treatment of North American teams at Copa America, citing unfair yellow card rates and biased treatment by officials.
Bollywood Fever: Canada’s head coach, Jesse Marsch, has voiced strong criticisms regarding the treatment North American teams have received at Copa America, alleging that his team has been treated as “second-class citizens.” The comments came ahead of Canada’s third-place play-off match against Uruguay on Saturday, following their 2-0 semi-final loss to Argentina.
Canada, debutants in the tournament, have received 14 yellow cards, including one issued to Marsch himself during the semi-final match against Argentina. Marsch pointed out the disparity in officiating, stating, “The yellow card per foul rate is way higher for every CONCACAF team,” during a press conference in North Carolina on Friday.
Tensions were also high in the Uruguay camp after their 1-0 loss to Colombia in the semi-finals, where several Uruguay players clashed with opposition fans. Uruguay reported that players’ family members had been assaulted by Colombians in the stands. Uruguay’s head coach, Marcelo Bielsa, expressed outrage after CONMEBOL, the South American soccer governing body, opened an investigation into Uruguay and accused the team of failing to protect their families.
Marsch empathized with Uruguay, saying, “Certainly we wouldn’t want any player’s families to be put in harm’s way. But I know if our team responded like this, that there would be heavy sanctions.” He further highlighted the challenges his team has faced, stating, “We’ve had our players head-butted, we’ve had racial slurs thrown at our players live and through social media… We’ve been treated like second-class citizens.”
Despite these adversities, Marsch praised his players for maintaining their professionalism and focus throughout the tournament. “They’ve never berated referees, never rolled around on the ground like children looking for calls and yellows from referees,” he said. “We’re going to go out again in another tough match against a really good opponent and know that there’s going to be many things going against us.”
As Canada prepares to face Uruguay in the third-place play-off, Marsch’s comments underscore the broader issues of officiating and treatment of North American teams in international tournaments, raising questions about fairness and bias within the sport.
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