Story:Story: Canada has reached the semifinals of the Copa America for the first time, despite scoring only one goal in the group stage. The Canadians beat Venezuela 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the quarterfinals. Ismaël Koné scored the winning penalty for Canada in the sixth round of the shootout, immediately after a third save from Maxime Crépeau. Jacob Shaffelburg scored for Canada in the 13th minute, before Salomón Rondón equalized for Venezuela in the 64th minute. Canada will now face Argentina in the semifinals on Tuesday night at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Argentina defeated Canada 2-0 in a group-match opener. Venezuela failed to reach the Copa America semi-finals for the first time since 2011.
Arlington, Texas, Jul 6 (AP) Canada has not scored much on its way to the semifinals of its first Copa America. Don’t expect any excuses from American-born coach Jesse Marsch.
Ismaël Koné scored in the sixth round of the shootout, immediately after a third save from Maxime Crépeau, and Canada beat Venezuela on Friday night.
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The Canadians won 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the quarter-finals, meaning Venezuela failed to qualify for the Copa America semi-finals for the first time since 2011.
Canada is only the fourth team to exit the group stage with just one goal, advancing after a 0-0 draw with Chile to the elimination round.
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“People will talk about whether we need to score more goals or whatever,” Marsch said. “We should score more goals. But those are two pretty strong performances against very good opponents. You can see this team growing.”
Jacob Shaffelburg scored for Canada in the 13th minute, before Salomón Rondón equalized for Venezuela in the 64th minute.
The victory earned Canada, ranked 48th, a rematch with Lionel Messi and Argentina, the world No. 1 and reigning Copa America champions, on Tuesday night at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Argentina defeated Canada 2-0 in a group-match opener.
Each team scored three times in the five rounds of the shootout, forcing overtime.
After Crépeau silenced the 51,080-strong Venezuelan crowd at the Dallas Cowboys’ home stadium by stopping Jhonder Cádiz, Koné fired a simple move past Rafael Romo to win the game.
“I heard a few guys say afterwards that I should have let him go earlier because he has ice in his veins,” Marsch said of the 22-year-old.
“They were right. They probably should have let him go earlier. But when we needed him, he stepped up.”
With Venezuela, in 54th place, trailing 1-0, Jon Aramburu played a long pass from his penalty area, leaving only Rondón and Moïse Bombito battling for the loose ball in midfield.
Just as Rondón got the ball, Crépeau realized he was too far away and sprinted for his net. It was too late. Rondón’s high shot over the struggling Crépeau bounced two meters in front of the net and into it.
Shaffelburg scored on an assist from Jonathan David after David had scored Canada’s previous goal in the 1-0 win over Peru. Shaffelburg passed the ball with his right foot to a pass from David between the right post and Romo.
After his goal, Schaffelburg held Tajon Buchanan’s number 17 shirt above his head. Buchanan broke his tibia at the bottom of his left leg during training three days before the match against Venezuela.
Rondón had two chances in the early stages with headers, but they were not used. Shortly after his goal, Shaffelburg took another dangerous shot from just inside the penalty area, but Romo could not connect with the ball.
Before Rondón equalized, Eduard Bello sent a corner kick over the net, but the ball ended up on the net after Crépeau jumped and deflected the ball.
Venezuela is in position to qualify for the 2026 World Cup for the first time, to be held in the US, Canada and Mexico. A nine-match World Cup highlight will take place at AT&T Stadium.
But La Vinotinto failed to reach the last four of the Copa America for the second time, with Venezuela finishing fourth 13 years ago.
“I think we have to keep working and set ourselves a goal,” Venezuelan coach Fernando Batista said through an interpreter.
“This is a long process. We have a big dream that we are going for. All Venezuelans want to qualify for the World Cup, and the Copa America gave us the opportunity to strengthen our selection.”
Not long after Rondón’s goal, Liam Millar got a shot past Romo, but it went wide to the right. Millar had Canada’s first miss of the shootout, firing a shot well over the bar just after Yangel Herrera went wide to the left for Venezuela.
In the fourth round of the shootout, the teams again traded misses before two goals sent the game into overtime.
“We were the better team,” Marsch said. “We deserved to win that game. The penalties, it’s a coin toss. But we were the better team on the day.” (AP)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the syndicated newsfeed. It is possible that LatestLY staff has not altered or edited the content.)
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