The moment came not on the pitch, but in a sterile press conference room in Toronto, 24 hours before Canada’s first-ever home World Cup match. Jesse Marsch, the American-born manager of Canada, sat behind a microphone and detonated a small grenade.
“Beg,” he said, when asked about US players and the national anthem. “We had to beg players to sing it.”
He wasn’t talking about Canada. He was talking about his previous life, assistant coach for the United States men’s national team under Bob Bradley. A confession that lands like a wet fish to the face of American soccer exceptionalism.
The anthem gambit
Marsch isn’t one for subtlety. He never has been. The man who once screamed “Run, Forrest, run!” at his players during a match in the Bundesliga is now the figurehead of Canadian football’s biggest moment. And he’s leaning hard into the identity card.
“Our guys know what it means to represent Canada,” Marsch said, paraphrased from the original report. “They wear the shirt with pride. They sing the anthem like it matters.”
The subtext is the size of a maple leaf. Here is a coach who crossed the border, took the job, and is now openly contrasting the passion of his adopted nation with the perceived apathy of his homeland. It’s cheeky. It’s calculated. It might just work.
Canada will host Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday in Toronto for their Group B opener. A game that represents not just three points, but a statement of intent. A nation of 40 million people, many of whom have only recently started caring about football, will watch a team that has never won a World Cup match.
Fit again, ready to run
Marsch confirmed that Moïse Bombito and Ismaël Koné are both fit after injury scares. Bombito, the 6ft 3in centre-back who plays for Nice, has been a revelation since breaking into the side. Koné, the Marseille midfielder, brings a rare mix of technical comfort and physical bite. Their availability is not a footnote; it’s the difference between a defence that holds and one that leaks.
The weather, predictably, has been a topic. Toronto in June can be humid enough to melt plastic. Marsch dismissed it with a shrug: “We’ll be ready.” It’s the kind of answer that tells you nothing and everything.
The bigger picture
Here’s the irony that Marsch probably won’t mention. The last time Canada played in a World Cup, in 1986, they lost all three matches and scored zero goals. They were honest, hard-working, and completely outclassed. Now, 38 years later, they arrive as co-hosts, with a squad that includes Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David, and a manager who just accused their neighbours of not caring enough about the flag.
The pressure is immense. The expectation is real. And Marsch is deliberately stoking the flames. He wants his players to feel the weight of the occasion, not shrink from it. “Embrace it,” he said. “This is what we’ve worked for.”
But the anthem comment will linger. It will follow Canada through the tournament, a ready-made headline for every pre-match build-up. Every time a US player stands mute during “The Star-Spangled Banner”, someone will remember that the Canadian manager once had to beg.
Marsch knows this. He’s not naive. He’s playing a long game, building a narrative of identity and hunger that his players can latch onto. Whether it translates into points against Bosnia, or later against Belgium and Croatia, is another matter.
What is certain is this: Canada will sing their anthem on Friday. They will sing it loud. And they will have a manager who believes that’s worth more than any tactical tweak.
Begging is for those who don’t believe. Canada, under Marsch, is done asking nicely.