Until quite recently, there was remarkably little light or heat around men’s international soccer matches between Canada and the United States.
This, it seemed, was a border rivalry in hibernation. Long mired in a persistent programmatic malaise, the CanMNT endured a winless streak of more than three decades against their southern neighbors, until finally breaking through with a Concacaf Nations League victory in Toronto in 2019.
That proved the precursor to a precipitous turnabout during the 2022 World Cup qualifying cycle, where Les Rouges took four of six points off the Yanks en route to a startling first-place finish in the Octagonal round under now-Toronto FC boss John Herdman, signaling the rise of a new contender in the Concacaf firmament.
Now there’s intrigue aplenty as American Jesse Marsch leads Canada into Saturday’s friendly against the US men’s national team in Kansas City (4 pm ET).
“I would think that me being the Canadian coach will bring energy to the game, it will bring energy to the players,” acknowledged the former New York Red Bulls and CF Montréal boss in a 1-on-1 conversation with MLSsoccer.com as he and his squad prepare to visit Children’s Mercy Park.
Regional rivalries
That’s probably an understatement.
Marsch is not only a former US international and member of Bob Bradley’s USMNT staff from 2010-11. He took the CanMNT helm a year after U.S. Soccer reportedly came within inches of selecting him to pilot the USMNT, only to pivot to a dramatic 11th-hour rehire of Gregg Berhalter, with Marsch later saying he “wasn't treated very well in the process,” and that “unless there's a big shift in the organization, I don't think that I'll ever have any interest in that job in the future.”
The plot got that much juicier when he steered his Canucks to fourth place in this summer’s Copa América while the US crashed out in the group stage, prompting Berhalter’s dismissal, with Mauricio Pochettino said to be his chosen successor but still not officially hired.
Nor has Marsch been shy to share his points of view about the US program, be it in interviews since taking his new gig or in his previous stint as a pundit for CBS Sports – enough that Berhalter even sniped back at him indirectly during the USMNT’s successful defense of their CNL title earlier this year, on the matter of Gio Reyna being called up despite little playing time at club level during his forgettable loan spell at Nottingham Forest.
With all that for a prelude, how could Saturday not be personal for Marsch, at least on some level?
“Given the history, it makes sense that it would,” he said when asked if it would be on his mind when the whistle blows. “But once you take a job, then all the other s--t, it just kind of drops into the background. And then it's like, ‘Right, now how can we be the best that we can be?’ Of course, playing the US and Mexico, the competitive juices for me are going to be flowing, and for our players.”
Here he dropped a deep cut, harking back to the final stop in his playing career, where he got an up-close view of the footballing culture in Mexico, the region’s oldest giant and CanMNT’s other opponent in this September international window.
“Look, you're right about the US, but I played for Chivas USA too,” said Marsch, “and part of a rivalry is also about respect. I respect the players and the sport in this country, and then I also feel the same about Mexico. I mean, different US players have always talked about, ‘I hate Mexico,’ this and that; I've never been like that. I've always admired the way the Mexican national team plays. I've always admired the types of players, the type of people that come out of those programs.
“When I worked for Chivas USA and got to know people in Guadalajara, I was always amazed at what gentlemen and what professionals they were, and how it impacted the way that their teams played. And so that will be at the forefront, I think. It’s not just the competitiveness, but the respect, and the desire for us to prove to ourselves that we belong.”
Embracing culture
Marsch learned German when he left RBNY to expand his coaching horizons at the club’s European siblings, RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg, then dived headlong into the local culture at Leeds United during his eventful year in charge of the Whites as they fought in vain to remain in the English Premier League.
He’s applied that same mindset to his new gig. Though he and his family are based in Tuscany (his wife Kim gained Italian citizenship last year) and his far-flung player pool involves scouting and evaluation on both sides of the Atlantic, he’s been traversing Canada to watch Canadian Premier League matches, connect with the grassroots and educate himself about the country’s sprawling soccer landscape.
“I believe there's enough time in the day, in between windows, where you can do that,” he said. “And look, it should never be dependent on any head coach to be the technical director, right? The sport should be beyond whatever the first team coach is. But at the moment, with what we have, this is our task a little bit, is to try to, in our own way, develop something that we think can be lasting.
“Our player pool is not as vast as the US’s, not even close,” he noted. “The geography is still very large, but there's fewer, I think, people of major influences, and so there's a bigger opportunity to unify those people of major influences. We just have to figure out what the touch points are and how to continue to create an infrastructure that gives everybody the endeavor to be the best that they can be. That helps them understand how to be unified within a pyramidal structure to help benefit the overall development of the game in the country.”
While technical director is not one of Marsch’s official responsibilities, the combination of a long-range mindset and Canada Soccer’s current budget constraints have prompted him to contemplate factors beyond the immediacy of senior-team results. The elephant in that room, inevitably, is the 2026 World Cup on home soil.
“I've probably taken on more responsibility from the start than some national team coaches,” he said. “Ultimately, the whole program together needs to figure out what we can do to impact the sport the best way we can, to make sure that 2026 is a launch pad for the sport to really take a strong trajectory forward. So yeah, that's required a lot of time investment, visiting different places, getting a lot of conversations with coaches and leaders in the sport in the country.
“I know that the most important thing that I can do for the country is to help the national team win games and come 2026, be a strong team that can get out of group and go as far as we can. But in the meantime, I'm also trying to, in all ways, have a positive impact on the sport.”
MLS to CanMNT
That undoubtedly comprises Major League Soccer, and not only in terms of the talent at the three Canadian clubs, whose owners chipped in to underwrite Marsch’s CanMNT salary in an arrangement brokered by new federation General Secretary and CEO Kevin Blue, whose leadership and resourcefulness have impressed Marsch, among others.
“Maybe people appreciated having me here from a footballing perspective and soccer perspective for what I can do for the national team, but I can assure you that [Blue’s] appointment is the most important one that the Canadian Soccer Association has made,” said Marsch. “That's because the infrastructure, the fundraising, the finances, the professionalism that he will bring will change, ultimately, what the CSA becomes in the country.
“I was in Canada 10 years ago [as Montréal’s first head coach in MLS] and I had seen that there were a lot of issues overall with the unity of the sport in the country,” he added. “There was certainly a lot of competitive energy between Vancouver, Toronto and Montréal. I think that they've evolved a lot and matured a lot as clubs. And I think they've also realized that the relationship that they have with each other is beneficial, even though competitively, they still have strong battles with each other in terms of on the pitch and what it means and the pride of Canada. But it was a big signal to me when Kevin told me that those three clubs came together to get me here – that was a sign of unity to me.”
More than half of Marsch’s current roster is based in MLS, and much of Canada’s European contingent developed in the league before crossing the pond. He expects that to remain the case, even as big clubs in elite leagues amplify their focus on the likes of Moïse Bombito, whose performances at Copa América and with the Colorado Rapids just earned him a club-record transfer to Ligue 1 side OGC Nice.
“MLS is important to the region, period, but for us as a national team, and where we are in the development of our players, it's massively important,” said Marsch. “Because some of our players aren't maybe ready to make the jump to Europe, and they need the time to develop in MLS. We've seen this summer that a lot of those opportunities and doors started to open because of performances at Copa América.
“… I know the strengths and weaknesses of MLS just like I do of a lot of the other leagues I've been at. And the key is, I think, to understand how to help the players that are in our pool with the way that they play in their leagues, and the type of professionalism and commitment they have to developing their game to be as good as they possibly can be.”
Expanding pool
He pointed to Sporting KC's Stephen Afrifa and Montréal homegrown Nathan Saliba as examples of new CanMNT call-ups who he believes can take the experiences of this September camp back to their clubs and push for new levels. And he sees many other young Canadians around the league who could follow suit.
“I'm trying to affect the way they think about how to play the game and incorporate them into what we're doing here,” said Marsch, who helped nurture future US internationals like Tyler Adams, Matt Miazga and Aaron Long during his Red Bulls tenure. “Because I've been lucky enough in my experiences to be around a lot of highly talented young players, and understand how to maximize their potential and their development process. I'm trying to use those experiences to benefit a lot of the young players we have here, and give them the clues as to what it takes to be successful at the highest level.
“We have a core group right now with our team that you can probably say, look, these 12 to 15 players are likely to be strong candidates to be on the roster come 2026. But even if the number is 15, we have to find 11 more, and we have to find a way to develop it and quickly so that they're able to help us,” he added. “We learned in Copa América this time around, in a tournament format, we probably played the same team too much. But this was early in our development process and I was trying to push them, and we were having some early success. But in the end, we've got to find a way so that we can draw on more than just 11, 12, 13 players in a tournament format if we want to make a push to go far and deep.”
Unique culture
Amid many similarities between the environments of Canada and the US, Marsch sees distinctions that can boost the soccer culture, and by extension the national teams – opportunities manifested by inspiring success stories like Alphonso Davies, Richie Laryea and Bombito, Canadian heroes with roots in the country’s vibrant immigrant and expatriate communities.
“A big thing they say up here is that the US is a melting pot, and Canada is more of a mosaic. And they say that because the lines of heritage and diversity are stronger here,” said Marsch. “Because if you're from a certain place, like a European country or a South American country or an African country, there's still really strong local communities to those nations and those cultures, and they still speak the language, they still eat the food, they still kind of live in those ideas of what the culture is, but experience it through a Canadian lens.
“Along with that multiculturalism, there are challenges, but there are strengths. We create interesting athletes in this country, who aren't just about how they fit into a system, but how they fit into a community and culture, and then how ultimately, it benefits a Canadian sports system. Learning and seeing that and understanding it, I think it's fundamental to tapping into what the potential can become.”
Road forward
While clashes of greater consequence with the USMNT still lie ahead, Saturday won’t be your average friendly for Marsch. It might also carry a bit of extra edge for his squad, who embraced Herdman’s culture of brotherhood, fueled by a tenacious desire to change perceptions of their program by upsetting the region’s established powers.
Marsch considers it his duty “to take it further” – to prove that they’re not just plucky underdogs, but real contenders with staying power.
“We know the US is the gold standard in the region. But we believe that we can elevate ourselves and get to that status. Any time that we play the US and Mexico, this is the challenge,” he said. “John has done a lot of good work and created a really strong foundation, and he was very successful with this team, and the talent and the togetherness of the group is very apparent from the moment you step in.
“They had a little bit of a chip on the shoulder. They had a little bit of like, ‘We have to show the world.’ And for me, I think the messaging is more like, ‘Alright, we belong now. We're in this category and we have the kinds of players that are playing at big clubs, too, and we can put the kinds of performances together that show how good we are,’” he continued. “But we can't just say that. We have to deliver. We did in the summer, but that's in the past, and we have to use it to fortify who we are.”
