Saskatoon soccer super fan attends Copa America 2024 semi-final

Saskatoon’s Lee Kormish wasn’t going to miss tonight’s Copa America semi-final between Canada and Argentina in East Rutherford, NJ for the world.

“I booked the flight less than 24 hours ago. I was fighting a cold and when we beat Venezuela and we were onto the semi-final, my body was like, ‘No Lee, you can’t go.’ But I mustered up the energy and I’m here now and I’m a 30-minute cab ride from running into 500 Canadians,” he explained.

Kormish is a Canadian soccer super fan and said initially he and his wife had plans to go to Germany to watch the Euros this summer but decided to travel to the United States instead to watch Canada play their group stage matches of Copa America in Atlanta, Kansas City and Orlando.

Canada internationally was ranked the lowest in their group, but Canada somehow found a way to get out of it after they defeated Peru and drew Chile.

Kormish admitted he didn’t think he’d be booking a last-minute trip to see Canada play in the semi-final of Copa America.

“I never booked anything for the quarterfinal because I had thought there was no way we were getting through the group stage,” he said. “I mean, I just didn’t think we’d be able to finish ahead of two South American teams. I figured we’d go zero wins, two losses and a tie and we ended up getting through the group.”

Kormish is hopeful Canada will be able to pull off the unthinkable and beat Argentina in front of 82,000 fans in New Jersey, but he knows it will be a tough task.

“I’m telling you the Copa America – CONMEBOL – no one wants Canada to be in that final (on Sunday). To have Lionel Messi playing in your final in Miami on the big stage – that’s big money for the confederation and you’ve got 70,000 people wearing Messi jerseys going to that final paying big bucks. If Canada is there, that takes down their bottom line quite a bit.”

“We (Canada) had a tough time against those officials in that quarterfinal against Venezuela – I’ve never seen officiating quite that bad if you break down that game. I think we’re up against everything tonight including the fact we’re playing the World Cup champions,” Kormish added.

Kormish wouldn’t give a direct prediction but used the ‘You’re telling me there’s a chance’ quote from Dumb and Dumber as a precursor for tonight’s game.

If Canada can pull off the upset, Kormish said the result would make headlines around the world.

“I don’t even think people in Canada would realize how big that would be or appreciate how big that would be,” he said. “I’m telling you the small towns in Africa and Asia would be talking about this game. The game is huge on this planet.”

Canada’s men’s soccer team’s biggest result in a major tournament was when they won the Gold Cup in 2000.

Besides that, Canada has never won a major trophy or been to the final of a major tournament.

Regardless if Canada wins or loses they will play one more game. The third-place game is scheduled for Saturday night in Charlotte, NC while the final is Sunday night in Miami, FL.