Copa America 2024: Marsch says Argentina should be fined for second-half delay

After the first half ended goalless, Argentina opened the scoring four minutes after the restart through Julian Alvarez while Lautaro Martinez scored a late goal in a 2-0 win.

Argentina forward Lionel Messi chases the ball under pressure from Canada defender Derek Cornelius during the Copa America match. | Photo Credit: AP

Canada coach Jesse Marsch said Argentina should be fined after the defending champion emerged late from the dressing room for the second half in their Copa America opener on Thursday.

After the first half ended goalless, Argentina opened the scoring four minutes after the restart through Julian Alvarez while Lautaro Martinez scored a late goal in a 2-0 win.

Argentina emerged for the second period around five minutes after Canada.

“When they were waiting, I knew that they were looking at video and they were analyzing how they wanted to play against us. Now, I wish again the referees would manage that,” Marsch said.

“If we were five minutes late, we’d get a fine. There would be a big problem. Let’s see what happens with Argentina, I think they have to be fined. How late were they? 20 minutes? 30?”

“It was a long time. But they had that time to prepare how they wanted to play against us in the second half, which if we would have known ahead of time that we could have an extra 10 minutes then we could have prepared some things more.”

Canada next plays Peru on Tuesday while its final group game is against Chile on June 29.