Canada advances in the Copa America tournament

Canada has qualified for the quarterfinals at the Copa America soccer tournament. A nil, nil draw against Chile last night ensured their progress through to the knockout rounds. Meanwhile, in the Euro Cup, the first two knockout games have already happened. Joining us now to break it all down is Brendan Dunlop, Co founder of Canadian Soccer Daily. Brendan, let's start with the Copa America Canada through to the next round. We'll find out later today who they face in the quarterfinals. How successful has this tournament been for our country so far? Hey, Magdalena, It's an exciting time to be a Canadian soccer fan. And for the first time in our lifetime, the Canadian men's national team is right at the center of all of that. To participate in the Copa America for the first time, to get the gauntlet of teams that they got to go toe to toe with Argentina, Lionel Messi and the World Cup champions and two time winners, Chile. To get out of that group is is historic. Canada have done something that very few people thought they could have done. And you know, even a couple of years ago when they qualified for the World Cup, I don't think they would have shown this well at South America's premier competition. You know, for a lot of South American countries, this is their World Cup. There's quite a few nations, including Chile who have missed the last two World Cups who don't get there to that big stage. So to compete against their the domestic rivals and, and continental rivals, it means so much. And, and Canada have gone toe to toe in some very, very difficult conditions, hot sweltering weather. They've really, really played well. It's not just the star names that everyone knows, Alfonso Davies and Jonathan David. There's been a lot of great pieces including Toronto FCS Jonathan Rosario and and Richie Lorella who've shown really, really well. So I'm excited to see the draw and whether it be Venezuela or Ecuador or Mexico in the quarterfinals, just to say that Canada are in the quarterfinals of Copa America. That's something I didn't think I'd say a couple of years ago. Yes, we're very proud. And you mentioned the World Cup in 2022. It was a great achievement to qualify. However, Canada lost every game. Now at the Copa America. How much progress have we seen with this new manager? Well, tremendous progress under new manager Jesse Marsh. I think a lot of Canadians might have been uncomfortable with the idea of an American being the head coach of the Canadian National team. But Jesse Marsh has worked wonders with this squad and John Herman took them to the World Cup. He really took this program forward, but you know, it seemed as though maybe they'd they'd hit a ceiling or he'd take them as far as as he could go. Jesse Marsh is showing that just in five games he's able to take them to another level. Before this Copa America tournament, they played the Netherlands, they lost 4, nothing. Then they played France, who are the World Cup runners up, who lost to Argentina in Qatar and that ended in a scoreless draw. And just in that game alone, which was three days difference, you can see a tremendous difference on the pitch from the team. And that's been the case at Copa America. Every time Canada have gone out, they've addressed things that didn't work and they've they've made fewer and fewer mistakes. So the goals have been hard to come by. That's one thing everyone will notice. But they got four points out of this tournament, a very, very difficult group. So to get out of that group with just one goal. But that's definitely something that they need to address. They know that going forward, you're going to have to find a way to score to win in the quarter final, which is exactly what they they hope that they can do. But to see what's happened with some of the other players, and I mentioned Richie Larrea, Ishmael Kone, Liam Miller, there's quite a few Canadian players that are putting themselves on the map under Jesse Martian. How far this team can go under him, the Sky's the limit. OK, Well, we have the World Cup coming again in two years in Canada for the very first time. Tad, given that we're a hockey country, how far is this sport progressed here? I think it's progressed tremendously. I mean, the fact that the Canadian women have flown the flag for so long to be Olympic bronze medalist twice and then Olympic champions and now Canada, the men's program is finally on the stage where you expect them to be at World Cups. I mean the exciting thing is that Canada will never not qualify for a World Cup again. It's expanding to a 48 team tournament and there will be 8 spots for our part of the world and Concacafir Canada will always be there. Now they've risen to that point. So that's the really exciting part because prior to Qatar, you know Canada, the men's team hadn't been in the World Cup in my lifetime. So now that the my 15 month old will only know Canada in the World Cup in his lifetime, for me that's pretty exciting and the country should get on board because not only is this a fun team to watch, they're a great Canadian story. You know, it's a team that reflects what this country looks like. It's a team that covers it is from the entire country. It really covers, you know, coast to coast and represents Canadians. It's a, it's a real exciting group that the play for this country, you know that, that, that put everything out there and, and play all over the world. So it's only going to get better. I'm very excited to see the team sheet in two years and, and where some of those players are playing because they have players that Bayern Munich and, and Lyon and, and Leon and some of the, the biggest clubs in Europe right now is a, it's a very exciting time for Canadian men's soccer. It is very exciting. And now to another tournament. We've seen a lot of ups and downs this year in the Euro Cup. How would you compare it to what we've seen at the Copa America? Yeah, I mean, it's been a little wild, the Euros, to be honest. Obviously Italy, the reigning champions are out, which will upset a lot of Canadians. I know it might make streets quieter across the country, too, that Italy have bowed out in the last 16. But you look at one side of the bracket and it's very, very favorite heavy with Spain, with Portugal, with Germany, the hosts who have progressed with France, who will take on Belgium later in the week. It's exciting. It's it's, you know, star-studded. I think there's a lot of Canadians that wonder if this will be the last time we see Cristiano Ronaldo or if he'll actually play at the World Cup in two years in in Canada. As a half Portuguese Canadian, I'm very much looking forward to Cristiano Ronaldo sticking around and playing at the World Cup. But I'll take another EUR That would be pretty good. I think Portugal have a very tough, tough road ahead of them. But Portugal, I think our our really favorites that that's not my bias speaking. There's a couple other teams. England look good as well. But I really like what what Portugal has right now that they're balanced for the first time in a long time. And as we've seen from Canada, balance is what takes you far in tournaments. Yeah, maybe you're just a little biased, maybe just a little bit. Thank you so much for this, Brendan. That was the Co founder of Canadian soccer daily, Brendan Dunlop. And he's also calling Canada's Copa America matches on the radio this month. Thank you.