Copa America underway, Toronto FC stumbling, Muskoka United FC and Huntsville updates

The first week at Euro 2024 has been a lot of fun to enjoy with one pre-tournament favourite is looking a touch better than the rest.

Spain has been the best team at the tournament so far, with Germany a close second.

Though many could argue that Italia was poor in their 1-0 defeat on Thursday to Spain (and they were), the truth is Spain look good, like really good. Championship good even.

Some could point to the fact that Spain’s lone goal was an own goal by an Italian defender. They would be right. But, that score against Italia would have been 5-0 or 6-0 if not for the stellar play of keeper Gianliugi Donnarumma.

And that’s on the back of a thorough 3-0 win over Croatia in their tournament opener. Having clinched first place in Group B, Spain can rest their best players on Monday. They also get to face one of the four best third place finishers instead of a side who topped their group or finished second.

Their only stumbling block could be that they would face the host Germans in the quarterfinals – and they’ve looked decent as well. A 5-1 thrashing of Scotland in the tournament opener, and a less impressive 2-0 win over Hungary on Wednesday means they need just to avoid defeat against Switzerland to top Group A.

Two pre-tournament favourites haven’t looked that impressive . . . yet. England is at one unnecessarily tough win and a draw (though Denmark were the better team). They still need a win over Slovenia to secure first place in Group C, though a draw could work if Denmark fail to beat Serbia.

Meanwhile France were lucky to get a 0-0 draw against Netherlands on Friday, after getting lucky to win 1-0 over Austria in a match where superstar Kylian Mbappe went down with a broken nose (he didn’t play against the Dutch). France now face Poland needing at least a draw to get through to the knockout rounds. Poland is all but eliminated and heading home (even with a win against Les Bleus), but that could make them dangerous as they have no pressure.

The Netherlands are on top of Group D due to goal differential, but now take on a tough Austrian side looking to get at least a point to finish as a top third place team.

Most of the other two groups, including Portugal in Group F, still have their second matches of the tournament coming up today (Saturday, June 22).

All Euro matches are available through TSN.

copa america

The tournament kicked off with defending Copa and World Cup Champion Argentina full value for their 2-0 win over Canada on Thursday night.

As my good buddy Andrew Fearman noted, if all the big scoring opportunities went in, it would have been 5-2 Argentina and they definitely were the better side throughout the match.

The 0-0 halftime score had many in this beautiful nation excited and allowing them thoughts of glorious results. Those quickly went away early in the second half as the World Champions found a goal and then added another late in the match.

Canada should take solace in the fact the score was only 2-0, and that they created some quality chances against the number-one ranked nation in the world.

Ahead of the match, I was telling anyone who would listen that realistically if they could keep Argentina from scoring four goals, it could be counted as a successful endeavour.

Did you miss our Copa preview? Check it out at: Breakdown.

The tournament continued last night (Friday) with Peru and Chile playing to a feisty 0-0 draw.

Today (Saturday) it’s Ecuador against Venezuela at 6 p.m. followed by Mexico vs. Jamaica at 9 p.m. Sunday the host US team gets going against Bolivia at 6 p.m. with Uruguay and Panama playing at 9 p.m.

All matches can be seen through TSN.

Toronto FC

Things are getting worrisome on the TFC side of things. That match on Wednesday may have been their best match in terms of possession and chances created, but a bunch of missed opportunities by several players (including striker Prince Owusu – who missed two sitters) opened the door for a 2-1 loss to Nashville.

I was there and it was the most annoying thing to see Nashville sit back, defend and hope for a couple chances. They literally had three chances (well, two and a half) and scored on two of them. The winning goal so very late in the match was so frustrating as it was a blown coverage and a poor defensive recovery that led to it.

That was a match TFC deserved to win, but lost. It happens. Had they not been embarrassed at home by Chicago only a few nights earlier, then it would have been not so bad.

Instead, visions of last year’s horrifically, historically awful campaign are starting to creep into everyone’s minds again.

Not making matters better, they’re on the road to face a very good New York Red Bulls side who sits in third place in the Eastern Conference on Saturday night (kick off is 7:30 p.m. on MLS Season Pass).

TFC needs to rally and get a result, any positive result (win or draw), to get the good vibes back on track for the rest of the season.

Here’s hoping they can pop an early one and get their confidence going again.

Muskoka United FC

The U18 Boys kept their undefeated start to the year going with a 4-1 win in Barrie this week. Rowan Simpson scored twice, including a stunning goal from a kick-off at half, with Noah Graham and Andrew Dussault adding the other Muskoka tallies.

The U16 Boys won 2-1 against the Barrie U15B on Thursday night at Gostick Park. Oscar Juszczak and Aidan Smith scored for MUFC.

That game came on the tail of a great effort at the Peterborough City Challenge Cup Tournament last weekend, where the U16 Boys came in second.

Also at that same tournament, the U14B were full value, making it to the semi-finals before being edged out 1-0 by the eventual tournament champions from Dixie.

The U16 Girls tied North Bay U15 1-1 on Monday night. The MUFC goal was scored by Olivia Chapman.

The U14 Girls travelled to Collingwood on Wednesday, falling 2-1, but putting up a great effort in the defeat. Also on Wednesday, the U13 Girls beat Bradford 5-2.

The U10 girls took a tough loss 1-0 on Thursday night. They received a great performance in net from Anna Innis. 

The U11 Boys travelled to Sudbury last Saturday and represented Muskoka well, playing hard and though the lost both games they played to the hosts (4-1 and 4-2), they didn’t make it easy on them.

Huntsville Women’s League

In Week 5 action, Muskoka Marshmallo Company fought to a tough 3-3 tied against On The Docks Pub, while Muskoka Tea Company won 5-1 over SportLab in a game where the score didn’t tell the full story as it was closer than the final outcome.

Player of the Match awards, courtesy of the four team sponsors, were given to deserving winners Rita Gonneau, Ang Hollingshead, Mia Pitts and Grace Gaughan.

The lucky winner of the draw for Annie’s Lasagna from That Little Place By the Lights was Alina Leffler.

That’s it for this week. Stay tuned next week for what’s up at the Euros, Copa America, Toronto FC, Muskoka, Huntsville and more. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to subscribe below.

Ciao for Now!