Jesse Marsch Criticism Of Lack Of Professionalism In The 2024 Copa America

Canadian national team coach Jesse Marsch feels Canada has been "treated like a second-class citizen". (photo: x @jessemarsch)

JAKARTA - Canadian national team coach Jesse Marsch feels Canada has been "treated like second-class citizens" and accuses Copa America officials of "this tournament is unprofessional."

Canada will close their debut campaign against Uruguay in the race for third place on Saturday. Uruguayan players engaged in a post-match fight with Colombia supporters after their semifinal defeat, after violence broke out near where family members were.

After CONMEBOL announced that it had opened an investigation into the incident, Uruguay's head coach, Marcelo Bielsa, insisted that his players should accept an apology rather than be sanctioned.

Marsch believes the incident highlighted serious issues in the tournament, after a Canadian player became a victim of racial abuse online after their Group A defeat by Argentina. although the Canadian head coach sympathized with his Uruguay colleagues, he felt that heavier penalties would be imposed if it involved his team.

"For me, this tournament is unprofessional," Marsch told reporters at a press conference before the match. "There are too many flaws in the way. I saw what happened after the game, and of course I don't know all the details, but of course we don't want anyone's family or any player's family to be in danger.

"But I know if our team responds like this, there will definitely be severe sanctions because of the treatment we received in this tournament. We are treated like second-class citizens."

Marsch also criticized the referee after Alphonso Davies had to be withdrawn due to injury in their semifinal defeat by Argentina following a tough foul by Gonzalo Montiel, with the referee not giving any offenses at all. "You gave me another chance to talk about how bad the referee was to tackle Alphonso," he added.

"If you turn the situation around and put it on the biggest player of any other team, especially from South America in this tournament, the behavior and treatment to tackle like that in such situations would be very different," he said.

"So, we're lucky that we avoided a major injury to Alphonso, but we're not entirely sure if he's going to be available tomorrow. And one of the main tasks of a referee in any game is to protect the safety of the players, and that's not doing his job," said Marsch.