Jesse Marsch believes Canada can mount "something special" as they aim to build towards the 2026 World Cup, starting with the Copa America.
Marsch's team somewhat surprisingly made it through Group A behind Argentina, at the expense of Chile, who won back-to-back Copa America titles as recently as 2015 and 2016.
In their maiden Copa America, Canada will now go up against Group B winners Venezuela for a place in the last four.
And looking ahead to the next World Cup, which Canada will co-host along with the United States and Mexico, Marsch thinks the sky is the limit.
"I was thinking, 'Why did I take this job with those three opponents [coming] up?'" Marsch joked in an interview with FOX Soccer NOW, with his team having played pre-tournament friendlies against the Netherlands and France.
"I knew when I took the job that that the schedule was going to be very difficult, and by the way – put Peru and Chile in there as well – the first five opponents I knew were going to be very difficult.
"But I thought that it would give us a chance to create really high standards for how we wanted to play and that these games would show the players that we need to uphold ourselves to very high standards. I felt that if we could execute, then we could have some success.
"There's real excitement in Canada about the team and the way we've played. That comes with, I think, a real hunger to keep this thing moving forward."
Canada have fared better than their 2026 World Cup co-hosts USA, who crashed out in the group stage.
"I would love to say I'm just focused on what we’re doing here in Canada, but obviously, I’m paying attention, as always, to the U.S. men's national team and, like you, I’m sad," Marsch added.
"I'm disappointed by the performances, by the lack of discipline. There’s a lot of things that I think we've tried to be about, about the game in the U.S., and we’ve always believed in this group of players.
"I’ll tell you: I'm glad, I'm here, man. Because the people that I work with and the players that I work with, the things that we know that we can achieve together, the support that we have from inside the country, the support system for this entire national team is so positive, so I think it gives us a real chance to develop something and build something and be ready for a big tournament come 2026."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Venezuela - Salomon Rondon
Rondon has scored two goals at this tournament for Venezuela.
Only three players can better Rondon's 1.98 xG across the tournament so far, while the 34-year-old has had 13 shots, which matches the total of the tournament's leading scorer Lautaro Martinez.
Canada - Jonathan David
Canada might have made it through, though they did only score one goal across their three Group A games. They are the fourth team to advance from the group stage in the Copa America despite scoring only one goal, following Mexico in 2001, Uruguay in 2007, and Colombia in 2015.
That came from Jonathan David, who is Canada's key attacker, and if they are to reach the last four, he is likely to be crucial.
MATCH PREDICTION: VENEZUELA WIN
Marsch's confidence is not shared by Opta's model, which fancies Venezuela to win in Arlington.
Venezuela have lost only two of their last 10 matches played in the United States, including friendlies, winning six of those games (D2). Additionally, La Vinotinto kept a clean sheet on seven of those occasions (W5 D2), with Colombia, Italy, and Ecuador being the only teams to score against them.
One more goal will match Venezuela's highest scoring tally in a single edition of the tournament, having scored seven goals in the 1967 and 2011 tournaments.
Venezuela are also unbeaten in their last four matches against teams from CONCACAF in this tournament (W3 D1).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Venezuela - 48.7%
Canada - 26.9%
Draw - 24.4%
Motta bemoans profligate Juve showing after Cagliari snatch draw
Thiago Motta was left frustrated with Juventus' inability to make their dominance count after Razvan Marin's late equaliser snatched a 1-1 draw for Serie A strugglers Cagliari.
Dusan Vlahovic's early penalty gave Juve the lead but Marin's 88th-minute spot-kick cost the hosts two important points that would have moved them to within one of leaders Napoli.
Marin's late salvaging act was the first goal Juventus have conceded this season in the league, though their inability to build on the early strike was what head coach Motta bemoaned after Sunday's draw.
"Already in the first half, after the goal, we were content to control the game. It's no good," Motta told DAZN.
"We have to keep attacking. In the second half, we created chances but we didn't exploit them. There was always the feeling that Cagliari could come back into the game.
"In Serie A, all games are complicated, regardless of who we face and whether we play at home or away. Today we left room for Cagliari to get back into the game."
Vlahovic may have converted the penalty but was also guilty of missing an excellent chance to extend Juve's lead when he fired wide on the rebound from close range.
Motta's side accumulated a tally of 2.57 expected goals (xG) overall, compared to Cagliari's 1.12, suggesting three points should have ended in the hands of the profligate Juve.
The Italian head coach refused to point the finger at Vlahovic, though insisted improvements are needed.
"You can't say anything, it's a match situation. It happens and will happen," Motta said. "But there are other things that we can certainly do better in order to compete, to be able to continue to grow."
Francisco Conceicao made his first start of the season against Cagliari, but the Portugal winger was sent off late in the game when he received a second booking for simulation in the penalty area.
"I haven't seen the images, if it's simulation, it's the correct decision. It's something we've been talking about for a long time, simulations are not good for the game," Motta added in his press conference.
"I trust the referee, but now a precedent opens up and it must always be like this. It must always be done, not every now and then."
Girona 2-1 Athletic Bilbao: Gazzaniga penalty saves set the stage for late Stuani winner
Cristhian Stuani scored a 99th-minute penalty to snatch a 2-1 victory for Girona against Athletic Bilbao after Paulo Gazzaniga had saved multiple spot-kicks at the other end.
Alex Berenguer won the first penalty in the 26th minute after being fouled by Arnau Martinez, but the goalkeeper denied him when he stepped up.
Athletic were punished shortly after as Yaser Asprilla sent a dangerous left-footed cross past Alex Padilla into the bottom-left corner.
Oihan Sancet scored the equaliser just two minutes later, but the visitors' poor luck from 12 yards continued after the break.
Inaki Williams' effort was also stopped but had to be retaken as Gazzaniga's feet were off the line. However, the goalkeeper kept his nerve, as he denied Ander Herrera, who stepped up to take the second attempt.
Deep in stoppage time, Aitor Paredes brought down Ladislav Krejci in the box and received two bookings in less than a minute, one for the foul and the second for dissent.
Stuani duly converted the resulting spot-kick to seal all three points for Girona and end a four-match winless run in LaLiga.
Data Debrief: Athletic pay the penalty for spot-kick woe
Athletic will be scratching their heads as to how they came away from this game with nothing, given the attacking threat they showed throughout.
They accumulated 2.59 expected goals (xG) from their 13 shots, albeit those two spot-kicks played a huge part in that total, but come away with an unwanted record as they missed two penalties in a single LaLiga game for the first time this century.
That was largely down to Gazzaniga's heroics, though, as he showed his prowess with three saves, even if one of those will not officially count.
Stuani proved the hero in the end though, scoring his sixth goal against Athletic in LaLiga to get Michel's side up and running again before the international break.
Carvajal signs new deal with Madrid after season-ending injury
Dani Carvajal has signed a contract extension with Real Madrid until June 2026.
The full-back could miss the rest of the 2024-25 season after sustaining a cruciate ligament injury in Saturday's 2-0 win over Villarreal.
Carvajal's contract was due to expire at the end of the campaign, but Madrid responded almost immediately by extending his stay with the club for at least a further year.
The 32-year-old, who has been with Los Blancos since the age of 10, has won six Champions League titles and four LaLiga crowns during his time at Santiago Bernabeu, while amassing 427 appearances.
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