Match 1 - ARG : CAN - VALENZUELA (VEN)

right - his aggressive "hands on" style doesn't seem to be going over well with the Canadians. He grabbed a player to pull them back and that player slapped his hands down

 

That tackle by Lo Celso was 100% retaliation for the fouls earlier. Just nasty.

 

I wonder how Elfath's buddy-buddy seeming management style works with the South Americans

 

Which is unfortunate. At a tournament like this, it should be a great opportunity to expose referees to teams and countries and footballing styles/cultures that they don’t often see. Instead Elfath gets Mexico and Jamaica. Again. Yawn.

On another note, Elfath has reffed South American teams before, obviously - Cameroon vs Brazil comes to mind of course, but also Flamengo vs Al Hilal at the 2019 CWC, where he was excellent. In spite of the fact that the biggest memory from those games is the quintessentially “buddy-buddy” 2CT to Cameroon for removing the shirt in celebration, in both games he excelled when he had to be harsher with some players. He adapts his approach well.

 

Are you talking about Bombito’s challenge on Messi? Most Canadian fans think that was a clean tackle.

 

https://apnews.com/article/scaloni-argentina-suspended-copa-2e8ae86fef76906d74d1c7a44ffd91ca

Placed it here but not sure if there's a better thread

Argentina head coach suspended for one match as Argentina took the field late (second half) in two consecutive matches.