Canada coach Jesse Marsch: ‘Will MLS owners dictate selection? Come on man!’
Jesse Marsch
Jesse Marsch: ‘US Soccer had the chance to hire me. They have nobody to look at but themselves.’ Photograph: Rui Vieira/AP
This article is more than 3 months old
Joe Callaghan in Ottawa
The American is in charge of his country’s northern rivals after a deal with Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal’s MLS teams. He says it won’t affect his job
Until very recently, Jesse Marsch had plenty of time. The clock didn’t crunch, it ticked. Not now. He has landed in another country, this time Spain, checked into another hotel room and has to get refreshed for a dinner date.
That it is Cyle Larin, the Real Mallorca striker and Canada’s record male goalscorer, who will be joining him for the meal hints at why time has become a precious commodity in Marsch’s world.
Last week, the 50-year-old American became the newest head coach of the Canadian men’s national team, a nine-month search ending with an appointment that was close to stunning. Not because Marsch doesn’t hit the mark but the opposite: the former Leeds and Leipzig manager was overqualified for the role given the financial parameters that Canada Soccer was operating in.
That was until a new CEO found a unique workaround (more on that soon). And so the man who many had hoped would lead the host nation into the 2026 World Cup will indeed do so. Just not the hosts they’d been thinking of.
“It’s been a crazy few days,” Marsch tells the Guardian. “I’m trying to travel to see the players, trying to go here, there and everywhere and a lot of logistical things to sort out in between. So it’s been a little crazy but hey, I made it to Mallorca. It’s felt great – like I thought it would.”
Before heading out to dine with Larin, he’s shaving off time to dig into some implications and observations around Monday’s announcement. In an instant Marsch became the most high-profile hire in Canadian football history and not a moment too soon with the nation’s Copa America in a month, the World Cup two years away and so, so much to be done. But in some hearts and minds south of the border, he is also something approaching a traitor.
Marsch is as worldly as coaches come. Stints in Canada, the US, Austria, Germany and Yorkshire are just part of it. He’s visited 80 countries, calls Tuscany home and all three of his children study abroad. Perhaps those who reacted to the American taking over Canada with jibes about loyalty or treachery need a few more stamps in their passport?
“Maybe, maybe,” Marsch says with a smile. “But you know, US Soccer had the chance to hire me. They have nobody to look at but themselves, especially if that’s the question they’re asking. In the end I have the freedom in my life to do what’s best for me and myself.”
When Gregg Berhalter’s contract as USMNT coach expired after Qatar 2022, Marsch had been fired by Leeds and was instantly seen by many as an exciting alternative. Instead, after off-field chaos and delay, US Soccer went back to Berhalter. During the Nations League in March, Marsch worked as a TV analyst and the pair exchanged shots over Berhalter’s handling of Gio Reyna. In a final appearance on his CBS podcast on Thursday, Marsch claimed he “wasn’t treated very well” by US Soccer during the manager hunt without elaborating. There are layers to all this.
“I said this when Gregg made his comment about Gio: I wanted to see the US do well. I still do,” says Marsch, a US assistant to Bob Bradley during the 2010 World Cup. “That’s part of my football education. However I feel I could take a lot of the lessons from that and apply that to what we’re doing in Canada. Really, for me, it has nothing to do with the US. It’s all about preparing ourselves for [the 2026 World Cup, which Canada will co-host with the US and Mexico] to be the best team possible so we can create really big success.”
The federation north of the border hasn’t exactly run a tight ship either. Canada Soccer has been dogged by chaos, the on-field success of both the women’s and men’s teams standing in stark contrast to turmoil off it. In March new CEO Kevin Blue arrived from Golf Canada with no football background and a hole at the top of the org chart after Englishman John Herdman, who’d lifted the men to a first World Cup appearance in 36 years, walked away. With a strong background in sports philanthropy from his time in college
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