Celtic’s Alistair Johnston still has one match left to play at Copa America

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Celtic’s Alistair Johnston has enjoyed a historic time away with Canada at Copa America while his teammates prepare for the new campaign at Lennoxtown.

Many saw Jesse Marsch as a surprise appointment for Les Rouges; nevertheless, Johnston has become a central part of his mission, featuring in every game on their run to the final four. Following a courageous run to the semi-final, Canada were defeated 2-0 by Argentina yesterday, which teed up a final for Lionel Messi and company against Colombia.

Speaking post-match, the Celtic right-back was frustrated that his national side didn’t progress to the last two, something that would’ve been unthinkable a couple of years ago.

He stated: “We can’t be too frustrated with the gap. It’s the best team in the world. It’s been producing players that have gone down in the pantheon of greatest of all time for a century now.

“So you can’t say that you’re surprised by the gap. It is frustrating because now we’re at that level where we can compete with these teams.”

Nevertheless, he still has one more match to play at Copa America, signalling that his time in the United States isn’t over yet.

Alistair Johnston and Canada prepare for third-place playoff

Canada will take on Uruguay in a third-place playoff match in the early hours of Sunday, 14th July, with kick-off commencing from 01.00 GMT.

Premier Sports holds rights to the match, and anyone at a loose end over the weekend can tune in to catch Johnston fight it out for bronze live on Premier Sports 1.

Making major strides this tournament, the Canadian squad have been a credit to their nation and could bow out with a placement that will go down in history if they can see off Uruguay, who were on the end of a 1-0 defeat to Colombia overnight.

In a bad-tempered affair, several of their team entered the stands post-match and were involved in a brawl with supporters, which supposedly kicked off due to safety concerns [TSN].

There could be a knock-on impact regarding the team Marcelo Bielsa is able to field, potentially handing Canada an advantage heading into the tie.

Either way, hopefully, Johnston and company can rally one more time to secure victory before he takes some time off to relax ahead of returning to Celtic.