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 sports, Blue got creative.
Las week’s press release revealed Marsch would be “formally titled as the MLS Canada Men’s National Team Head Coach” after the owners of the country’s MLS clubs in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal had opened their wallets to cover a salary Canada Soccer, operating at a $4m deficit this year, wouldn’t otherwise have been able to afford. Reports say the three clubs are pitching in upwards of $1.5m. The arrangement is novel, potentially troublesome. Marsch has another view.
“I had someone ask does the three MLS owners coming together [to fund the salary] mean they’re going to dictate squad selection? I was like: ‘Come on man! Don’t be foolish.’ No coach would take a position with that kind of stipulation,” says Marsch, who had also spoken to South Korea. “I think what it shows actually is there is unity behind my appointment and the fact that people in [Canada] who are in leadership positions were really motivated to get this done, it motivated me.
“[Kevin Blue] has been adamant and proactive about the fact that we need to do some fundraising, we need to engage the people in the community. Basically I went to him and said: ‘Listen, this is what I think it’s going to take to get this done.’ Within two days he called me back and said: ‘We’re there!’ And I was like ‘Well done my man’. But that is a reflection on his professionalism and his ability to execute.”
Replacing Herdman could be daunting to some. Yet Marsch, who helped shape the careers of players such as Erling Haaland, Dominik Szoboszlai and Tyler Adams, has experience of replacing big names. He took over Leipzig after Julian Nagelsmann and Leeds after Marcelo Bielsa.
“I’m very aware that I’ve followed legendary figures. And I would include [Herdman] in that,” he says. “I’ve been trying to really get my finger on the pulse of what things do we need to keep and how do we evolve. That’s always been the process. I don’t know that I’ve looked at it that way because [my predecessors] were legendary. That’s just natural. I try to be pretty malleable – I get to know cultures and people but also stay true to myself. That’ll be important here for Canada. We need to make sure that this team reflects the entire country in a way that makes us all proud come 2026.”
Marsch took the reins after a week in which Alphonso Davies scored arguably the biggest club goal in Canadian history, Tajon Buchanan became the first Canadian to score in Serie A and Jonathan David fired Lille toward the Champions League. He wants the country to “dream big” but faces a trial by fire. There are friendlies against the Netherlands and France in early June before the Copa America opener in Atlanta against Lionel Messi and Argentina. Tough group games against Peru and Chile await. He insists he “wouldn’t have it any other way”.
“The challenge from the initial part will be that the level of the opponents will be so high that we’ll need to be really sharp in everything that we do,” says Marsch. “I need to phase the team into what I want them to become and introduce the most important topics to start us on our development process. It’ll be a challenge but I’m excited.”
