(Reuters) – Canada coach Jesse Marsch has spoken of his disappointment at the United States’ poor performance at the Copa America as his side prepare to take on Venezuela in the quarter-finals at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Friday.
The 50-year-old American coach led Canada to the last eight with a 1-0 win over Peru to finish second in Group A behind holders Argentina, while the U.S. failed to progress from the group stage after a 1-0 defeat by Uruguay.
“I’d like to say that I’m only focused on what we’re doing here in Canada, but obviously I’m paying attention to the U.S. men’s national team as I always do, and like you, I’m sad,” the coach told a press conference on Thursday.
“I’m disappointed with the performances, the lack of discipline. There are a lot of things that I think we’ve tried to embody about the game in the U.S., and we’ve always believed in this group of players.”
The former Leeds United boss added that Gregg Berhalter’s side need to find solutions to their problems.
“I’m not there every day, so I don’t have my finger on the pulse of what’s going on, but it’s certainly not what we expected coming into this tournament,” Marsch said.
Canada will be hoping to advance to the semi-finals with a victory over Venezuela, who finished top of Group B after winning all three of their matches.
(Reporting by Angelica Medina in Mexico City; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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