(Atlanta) “This guard is going crazy! », says this American journalist, sitting next to us in the press box, somewhere in the second half. This goalkeeper was Maxime Crépeau. And what he was doing was brilliantly protecting Canada’s cage in front of Argentina, in the curtain-raiser of the Copa América, in Atlanta.

He could do nothing on the two strikes which led to the 2-0 victory for the Albiceleste, coming from the feet of Julian Álvarez (49th) and Lautaro Martínez (88th). But otherwise, the Quebec goalkeeper stood out six times, including on escapes from legends Lionel Messi and Ángel Di Maria, making the vast majority of the 70,564 supporters at Mercedes-Benz Stadium shout in exasperation.

“Max is always there for the big moments,” said assistant coach Mauro Biello, hanging after the match in the crowded mixed zone. He’s a great goalkeeper. He did what he had to do tonight. »

The truth is that Crépeau’s prowess allowed Canada to believe in it for a good part of this meeting. Because the maple leaf played without complexes offensively, offering itself very good opportunities, both in the first period and in the second. A little more efficient or confident attackers might have made them happen.

Otherwise, Jesse Marsch’s men were generally organized defensively. Except when they weren’t.

“Because we make too many easy mistakes at the back, mistakes that we should never make, like long balls that we don’t handle well, we give them escapes,” Marsch analyzed in the conference of press. We put Max in situations where he had to make a multitude of stops that he shouldn’t have to make. »

In a tournament like this, good performance equals interest in the mixed zone. We catch the goalkeeper as soon as he arrives in front of our microphones, after the Messi madness a few minutes earlier. We will come back to this.

We allow ourselves a little flashback, reminding him of how far he has come since breaking his leg in the MLS Cup final in 2022. His eyes cloud over, his voice begins to tremble.

“I spoke with Cristina, my wife, before the match,” he said. We [remembered] all the work… I was a little emotional, with the national anthem. There was so much work. We have come back from so, so, so far. It really wasn’t easy, both physically and mentally, to come back from this injury. Missing the World Cup hurt me very, very badly. Now it’s a matter of expressing myself on the pitch when I get the chance. »

He took this chance by storm. This is a “second great performance” in a row for Crépeau, underlined Marsch. And this one, despite the result, had a special flavor. It’s not every day that we manage to stop Lionel Messi, on a breakaway, in a competitive match of a major tournament for Argentina.

“I was disappointed not to score,” Messi said in front of dozens of microphones, in the mixed zone. It’s important to score in the first match. »

This is the essence of what we were able to understand from his speech to us. He didn’t speak loudly, in Spanish, and the commotion around the Pulga prevented us from getting our recorder close enough to the player. No, dear credentialed member of the media wearing an Argentina jersey, now is not the right time to take a selfie.

Even though Crépeau made his presence known, it was still an almost disappointing defeat for Canada. This shows how the last few weeks are changing the paradigm for this team, despite three games without a win against the powers that are the Netherlands, France, and Argentina, all in the world top 10 — Canada is 49th.

From the start of the match, it was obvious that the Canadians wanted to show that they were not going to let themselves be walked on. But their offensive desire was quickly supplanted by the great talent of the Argentines. We think we know these players well that we see on TV every week, but they manage to do the surprising action, the exciting play which, each time, is enhanced by the clamor of the crowd.

You had to hear the roar emanating from the stands during the counter-attack led by Ángel Di Maria, in the 9th minute… then brilliantly blocked by Crépeau, in the area. It repeated, like that, for the next 80 minutes, with some great Canadian breakthroughs in between, which scared the Argentinians. Alphonso Davies stood out on a few occasions, passing inaccurately to colleagues in the area. Like this opportunity from the head taken by Stephen Eustáquio, in the 43rd, blocked at point blank range by the ace jailer Emiliano Martinez. Remember that the score was 0-0 at this time.

“We know we go into these matches as big underdogs,” conceded Alistair Johnston. They are the reigning world champions! If you win this, it’s probably the greatest victory in Canadian history. We must therefore take this result with a grain of salt, because we were so close. »

But if the defender is happy to see that his team is “playing on equal terms” with these nations, he believes that it is the “next level” that is difficult to reach. One that involves winning this kind of match.

“This step is the hardest to take, obviously. »