EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The U.S. men’s national soccer team had been eliminated for more than a week by the time Argentina took the field against an upstart Canadian squad in Tuesday night’s Copa América semifinal at MetLife Stadium. Yet the match featured a native son trying to solve the Lionel Messi-led World Cup champions all the same.
For Canada Coach Jesse Marsch, the onetime U.S. midfielder who played college soccer at Princeton an hour down the New Jersey Turnpike and coached the New York Red Bulls from 2015 to 2018, the 2-0 loss capped a run that can be interpreted as both a telling bellwether and an undeniable boon.