Canada treated like second-class citizens, says coach

Canada head coach Jesse Marsch has criticised the treatment North American sides have received at Copa America, claiming his players have been treated like second-class citizens.

Debutants Canada have received 14 yellow cards in the tournament, including one for Marsch himself during their 2-0 loss to Argentina in Tuesday's semi-final.

"The yellow card per foul rate is way higher for every CONCACAF team," Marsch told reporters in North Carolina, ahead of the third-place play-off match against Uruguay on Saturday (Sunday AEST).

Several Uruguay players clashed with opposition fans after their 1-0 loss to Colombia in the semis. Uruguay says players' family members had been assaulted by Colombians in the stands.

Uruguay head coach Marcelo Bielsa was outraged after South American soccer governing body CONMEBOL, who organised the Copa, opened an investigation into Uruguay and accused them of failing to protect the families.

"Certainly we wouldn't want any players' families to be put in harm's way, but I know if our team responded like this, that there would be heavy sanctions," Marsch said about the incident.

"We've had our players head-butted, we've had racial slurs thrown at our players live and through social media ... we've been treated like second-class citizens."

He complimented his players for maintaining their focus throughout the tournament.

"They've never berated referees, never rolled around on the ground like children looking for calls and yellows from referees," Marsch said.

"We're going to go out again in another tough match against a really good opponent and know that there's going to be many things going against us."