Canada’s fun is over as Marsch demands discipline at Copa: ‘We have to grow up’

ATLANTA – In the hours after Canada’s historic friendly draw against World Cup runners-up France, a glow permeated within the team. Days earlier, they had been beaten 4-0 by the Netherlands, but they now had a newfound sense of confidence.

But Jesse Marsch’s plan was clear: wipe that glow off their faces and bring them back down to Earth.

After a handful of days off between the draw and the group re-convening in Atlanta — a predetermined schedule that frustrated Marsch — the coach gathered his team for their first meeting.

In a detailed video session, his confidence did not match that of his players. Marsch showed clips of how the players acted in the games against France and the Netherlands, followed immediately by clips of how Argentina, Peru and Chile played in tournaments. The teams they are about to play in Copa America scrap, claw and fight their way through games. Players are invested with heightened emotion — and they do so while adhering to a tactical plan.

“People underestimate (Argentina’s) edge. They can be downright nasty sometimes. And because they’re winners, they don’t want to ever back down,” Marsch said.

Does Canada have that edge in them?

“Not yet. Truly,” Marsch said. “We have to not be so naive. We have to grow up.”

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Canada has been plagued in previous important games by an inability to adapt to their opponents. Against a technically gifted Croatia at the 2022 World Cup, Canada relied too heavily on speed and the emotion instilled by an ill-fated “F*** Croatia!” rallying cry. Without a properly set-up midfield, they were humbled 4-1 and their hopes of advancing out of their group were dashed.

“We had that high (Canada’s World Cup opener against Belgium), knowing we played so well,” Canada winger Liam Millar said. “And then we went to another high in scoring against Croatia so early. That got to us. We thought we were there, and at that level. And then we lost ourselves. We got struck back down to reality.”

Canada lost 4-1 to Croatia at the World Cup in 2022 (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

Against Jamaica in a 2023 Copa America qualifier at home, Canada’s better quality — their resilience — disappeared. Jamaica were prepared to fight for a Copa America spot. Canada could not dial up like the visitors did. A second-half capitulation showed all the signs of a team unprepared to show any intensity mid-game.

Come the end of 2023, Canada looked like a shell of the side that stormed through World Cup qualifying two years earlier. Who, exactly, was this team anymore? What was their plan, tactical and otherwise, for the future? Could they recover from a disastrous year and a half of losses and dejection on and off the field?

By bringing his group together after the France draw to deliver the kind of heavy-handed message they weren’t always accustomed to hearing, Marsch’s vision for the next stage of this team is clear. He wants his players to ditch the affability in their play and their group persona and adopt a sense of hostility towards opponents. That, the coaching staff believe, could help them succeed.

Training sessions leading up to their opening Copa game against Argentina on June 21 have been light on the lighthearted. For every shout of encouragement from the coaching staff comes demands of improvement.

Marsch has strategically built levels of aggression into training sessions. It is not just encouraged but demanded that players treat team-mates with the physicality they should be showing during games.

If it doesn’t happen? The uber-enthusiastic and oft-optimistic Marsch has stopped sessions to let his players see the other, less enthusiastic side of his coaching persona. The overall harmony between coaches and players feels like a thing of the past for Canada. That’s fine, if results come.

“(Marsch) wants to take Canada Soccer to the next level and so far everyone has been on board,” Canada winger Tajon Buchanan said.

The Atlanta heat has been unyielding, but Marsch has still put his team through their paces during the hottest hours of the day. There is a clear desire from Marsch’s coaching staff to better prepare. Players have left the training pitch with expressionless faces, having been put through the kind of intensity few are familiar with in a Canada camp.

On the field and in team meetings, Marsch has challenged his best players to improve in ways they haven’t been challenged to in the past: don’t jog when you can sprint; don’t go into a 50-50 challenge if you’re not prepared to do it with your entire body and get a little nasty; don’t enter team functions, even meals, without the seriousness in your demeanour you’d show in the most important game of your life.

Add it up and things look and feel a lot less fun around Canada right now.

Maybe that’s not a bad thing.

“With (former head coaches John Herdman and Mauro Biello), that’s what we needed at that time,” Millar said. “But now, we’ve evolved and we need that level of discipline.”

Canada held their own in a friendly against France earlier this month (Romain Perrocheau/AFP/Getty Images)

Under Marsch, the time to use “potential” to describe this team appears to have passed. One popular line of thinking after their three losses at the 2022 World Cup was: “It’s their first major tournament against good teams, they deserve a pass.”

Marsch doesn’t see it that way. He’s pushing them to change how they think and deliver immediately. “We have to challenge ourselves to understand physically how to sprint more,” Marsch said, “how to own ground more, how to win more duels, how to be physically present in the game at all moments. And this will be a challenge for us at that level. But in some ways, it’s exactly what we need.”

Euro 2024 has provided the backdrop for planning. When the coaching staff gathers for tactical planning sessions, they’ve done so with Euros games on big screens. Discussion about what each coach sees is constant. Tactical ideas bounce off the walls.

Canada want to be considered part of international soccer’s elite. Under Marsch, their best players must show they can deliver in a tournament. They must deliver on Marsch’s blueprint and provide a jumping-off point heading into the World Cup in 2026.

Marsch has stressed he is still auditioning his players for those World Cup roster spots. He is demanding more from his core players and challenging them physically and tactically. Whether they respond will determine if their dreams of getting results against the world’s best come true.

“It’s true, South American teams tend to have more fight, intensity and brawl about them than European teams,” Millar said. “That’s a different challenge.”

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(Top photo: Jesse Marsch by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)