With Euro 2024 interest for the Celtic fans pretty much ended by Scotland’s elimination from the competition, there is still international football going on across the pond that will intrigue the support.
The Copa America is currently underway in the USA and Celtic have Cameron Carter-Vickers and Alistair Johnston both representing the US and Canada respectively.
Carter-Vickers was an unused sub in USA’s 2-0 opening game win over Bolivia whilst Alistair Johnston has appeared twice in the competition for the Canadians.
Canada wiped away the memory of their opening 2-0 loss to Argentina with a 1-0 win over Peru last night.
The victory helped create history as Jesse Marsch’s side won their first-ever Copa America game and Johnston was key in that win.
Johnston’s ‘battle’ with Peru
The Celtic defender was delighted with his country’s first win in the Copa America but admitted that the game against the Peruvians was tougher than he imagined it would be.
Johnston said [TSN], “It was harder than I thought it would be. Again, it was a battle of attrition. I think that’s the best way to describe it.
“It wasn’t really football again. It was a mental battle, a physical battle and I’m just proud of the group.
“We stuck with it, we kept our discipline. There was a lot of talk in the media that it was going to be a bit of a street fight and it ended up turning into one.
“But we kept our cool, they got the red card and again we kept our cool. There were moments there when we could have been silly, but we stuck to the game plan.
“Got the goal and yeah, it wasn’t pretty but again, I think for us, and we took a really big step there and given ourselves a really good chance going into the final group game.”
Johnston was at the heart of some controversy in the game after being headbutted by Peru’s Marcos Lopez for which he inexplicably escaped any punishment from VAR.
Canada faces Chile next where if Johnston can avoid defeat, he and his country will create further history should they progress to the next round of the prestigious tournament.
