When the Canadian men’s national team take on Argentina in Thursday night’s Copa América opener, it’ll be the first time they’ve met the South American giants in a competitive match.

However, it won’t be the only time Canada have shared a pitch with the Albiceleste. Fourteen years ago, a few weeks before the 2010 FIFA World Cup kicked off, the Canadian men travelled to Buenos Aires to take part in Argentina’s final send-off friendly before they departed for South Africa.

It wasn’t particularly competitive. In front of a revved-up crowd of 52,000 at River Plate’s Mâs Monumental, Argentina opened the scoring 16 minutes in and went on to win 5-0. They did it even without Lionel Messi, who got the day off for rest after a 34-goal season at Barcelona.

Still, there was no shortage of generational talent in the Argentine squad, at the time ranked seventh in the world (with Canada 63rd) with Diego Maradona as head coach.

To recall the starting lineups from that game:

Argentina played Sergio Romero, Nicolás Burdisso, Gabriel Heinze, Nicolás Otamendi, Ángel Di María, Javier Mascherano, Jonás Gutiérrez, Maxi Rodríguez, Javier Pastore, Gonzalo Higuaín and Carlos Tevez. Their substitutes included Sergio Agüero and Juan Sebastián Verón.

Canada, coached by former Halifax Wanderers boss Stephen Hart, had Pat Onstad, Michael Klukowski, André Hainault, Paul Stalteri, Richard Hastings, Daniel Imhof; Nikolas Ledgerwood, Josh Simpson, Will Johnson, Rob Friend and Dwayne De Rosario.

There was plenty of quality in the Canadian squad, of course; Stalteri and Friend were playing in the German Bundesliga at the time, De Rosario was one of the best players in MLS, and many of the others in that team were playing at good levels in Europe.

However, four of those Argentina squad played in the World Cup final four years later. Two of them (Di Maria and Otamendi) started the 2022 final against France where they were crowned champions.

Add up the career achievements of the Argentina squad’s careers (from before and after the match against Canada, to illustrate how high-level its individual players were or would become, and you get 45 titles from top-five European leagues. Tevez had won the UEFA Champions League two years prior, and Mascherano and Di Maria would both go on to win it later.

All that’s to say: it wasn’t a surprise for Canada to lose heavily, especially in the hostile Buenos Aires atmosphere. Rodríguez (twice) and Di Maria scored in the first half to make it 3-0 before the break, and Tevez and Agüero both added one in the second to make it 5-0.

That said, in spite of the lopsided result, it’s a memory that the Canadian players look back on with fondness. Friend, now the president of Canadian Premier League club Vancouver FC, reflected recently on that trip to South America, and how surreal it was to share a pitch with some true legends of the game.

“We went down there and I would certainly say it’s one of those games I remember being on the field and saying to myself, ‘These guys are almost playing a different sport than what I’m used to,'” Friend told CanPL.ca.

“And at that time I was playing in the Bundesliga, so I was playing at a very high level, and it felt to me like a different sport playing in Buenos Aires with the crowd, the atmosphere, the level and the passion they play with for their country; it was something I’d never experienced.”

In 2010, Friend was coming off a season with German top-flight side Borussia Mönchengladbach, in the midst of an 11-year career playing in Europe. He saw some of the very best levels of football in the world.

Argentina were a different beast, though.

“It was such a great game to be a part of, representing our country, but also it was almost a miserable time because of how difficult it was to play against them,” Friend said.

In a 5-0 defeat 10,000 kilometres from home, a striker like Friend would’ve understandably been frustrated on the pitch, unable to get involved much against such an overwhelming Argentine attack.

There are moments from the game that will stick with him forever, though.

“I remember a moment where Mascherano was marking me on a corner kick,” he said. “Obviously I’m a big player, six-foot-five, and I would never have a problem outmuscling anyone, manhandling my defenders. I remember Mascherano and I couldn’t believe the strength that he had, and how tenacious he was marking me. It was definitely a moment, aside from me realizing how miserable I felt in that game because it was such a difficult game, especially playing as a striker. But also, realizing how strong Mascherano was.”

Now, as the current generation of Canadian players stares down an even bigger contest with Argentina, this time in the first match of a Copa América tournament the Albiceleste are favoured to win, few know better than Friend how tough this could be.

Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium might not be the Monumental, and indeed more of the Canadian squad have played in it than Argentina’s, but it will undoubtedly still be a hostile atmosphere for Les Rouges.

However, recent experiences against the Netherlands and France, as well as Belgium and Croatia at the 2022 World Cup, will help Canada prepare for the level of opposition, and they’re well familiar with how hostile stadiums in the U.S. can be from their matchups in Concacaf.

“It’s not going to be an easy game,” Friend said. “But we have a fantastic squad and I think if we’re disciplined and smart, we can have a very good, competitive game.”

Much like in 2010, the odds are stacked against Canada, and few are expecting anything other than defeat.

Anything can happen in tournament football, though. A result against Argentina is a dream, but not so far out of reach that it’s unthinkable.

Canada’s chance to dream big kicks off at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday night in Atlanta.