There was a direct ticket to Paris 2024 involved in today’s Goalball tournament in the Para PanAmerican Games – Santiago 2023.

The North American derby in one of the semifinals, between the men’s national teams of the USA and Canada, meant qualification. Just because Brazil, in the first of the semifinals, defeated Argentina and, so, being the Brazilian squad already qualified, the available continental slot was going to the silver medal.

It was a nerve-wracking match, but the USA held very still and showed nerves of steel, the one thing that was needed for the occasion. The other way around was Canada.

In the first minutes, three penalties from three mistakes made the difference for the Canadians. Tyler Merren scored the first penalty shot, and Calahan Young scored the next two. Before halftime, Christian King and again Tyler Merren put even more pressure on the opponents by scoring the fourth and fifth goals, respectively, just before Blair Nesbitt scored for Canada before the three-minute break for the second half.

In the first throw of the second half, Calahan Young scored again, and so it started a peaceful voyage to France. Canada, in a quite perilous situation, had to take more risks and pay the price for it. The four goals scored by Nesbitt were not enough against the 11 by the neighbours of the South.

The USA men’s Goalball national team, after walking a path with some obstacles, reached their goal and got with merit the slot to Paris 2024.

Before the misfortune of the Canadian men’s team, the happiness of the women.

In the women’s competition, the continental slot to Paris will only be known tomorrow, in the final, but Brazil and Canada knew from the beginning of the semifinals that one of them had to be out of the final and, for that matter, away from the next Paralympic Games.

The match started very balanced, although the North American squad got to halftime with a 2-1 advantage.

In the second half, mistakes started to come in the green and yellow squad, and Canada managed to hold their game and even get the score higher. More than enough to secure a place in the final… against the USA.

The Canadian head coach of the women’s national team, Trent Farebrother, explained the outcome of the hard semifinal and what his squad needs to improve on once it has already lost to the USA (3-5) in the stage group.

“Brazil has a very good team, and we play them tough and never stop believing. We have been working on our approach and our technique. For the final with the USA, it is true that we have already lost, but it was our first game in the tournament, and we took five penalties, and they scored four of them. This was a big factor. We have been working hard to minimise the penalties and in defense. We will be a different team in the final. Paris is the dream!”

In the last women’s semifinal, the USA defeated Argentina, becoming the second finalist, facing Canada for gold. In the first half, the team managed by the national head coach, Jacob Czechowski, was already winning 6-0.

Check out the results of the day and the schedule for the finals tomorrow (CET, local time -4):

Semifinals
Men
Thursday, 23rd
Brazil vs Argentina:
USA vs Canada:

Women
Thursday, 23rd
Brazil vs Canada: 2-4
USA vs Argentina: 8-1

FINALS
Men
Bronze
7.15 p.m. – Argentina vs Canada
FINAL
9.45 p.m. – Brazil vs USA

Women
Bronze
6. p.m. – Brazil vs Argentina
FINAL
8.30 p.m. – Canada vs USA