'A knife in the heart': Jesse Marsch reacts to Canada's loss to Mexico in Nations League semi-finals

The Canadian men's national team came into Thursday's Concacaf Nations League semi-final against Mexico in pursuit of history. Instead, they were taught a series of lessons by one of the region's giants in a frustrating 2-0 loss.

Class was in session from the opening whistle, when less than a minute into the match Mexico capitalized on a combination of bad luck and poor defending to open the scoring through Raúl Jiménez. By the time Jiménez added a second in the 75th minute on a stunning free-kick Mexico had all but booked their place in Sunday's final.

"It was like a knife in the heart, to play well, to really do a lot of good things in the game but then just fall short of the goal," said Marsch. "That disappointment is hard to shake, and it is a missed opportunity. But again I think in so many ways it's still another step where we're continuing to show our quality and our organization and intelligence. Now it's just that little bit of savviness that the best teams have."

Canada controlled the bulk of play during the match, as after that opening goal Mexico were mostly content to sit back in their defensive shape and look for opportunities on the counter-attack. Canada finished with 58 per cent possession and 24 touches in the penalty area to Mexico's seven.

But when it comes to the mental and gamesmanship aspects of the match, Mexico dominated. In high-pressure games like Thursday's, that can make all the difference.

"There's just this cultural aspect of Mexican football where they kind of know how to go down easy, they know how to draw a yellow card or two, they know how to kind of handle certain moments," said Marsch. "This is kind of the things that we're still going to be learning a little bit and the savviness that we need to grow into."

(Photo: Concacaf) 

Another area where Mexico outmatched Canada on Thursday was in front of goal. In a contest showcasing multiple strikers and attackers on both sides who play in the very top leagues in the world, it was Fulham's Jiménez who showed decisive composure in front of goal.

While speed and verticality have been central tenants to what Marsch has preached since taking over this Canadian men's national team, he said Thursday night was an example of the fact that sometimes they still need to slow things down in the final third. That the final pass, and final act, remains rushed at times.

Just one of Canada's 11 attempted shots in the match was on target, a strike from distance from Alphonso Davies on a free kick.

"We should have been able to create more given the way that we were pushing the game, but we're going to keep developing the ideas around the goal," said Marsch.

As he addressed his players following the match, however, Marsch was clear that there were far more positives than negatives in his estimation of their performance. For him, even if the result wasn't there, the process is in a good place.

"Especially when we got smacked in the mouth in the first minute of the match, there was still stability, and there was a real belief to still continue to go after the game," said Marsch. "I think the collective tactical understanding and then the commitment to really make it hard on Mexico and play the game that we wanted to play and have good performances, this was a really good performance."

Another considerable talking point following the match that Marsch was quick to address was the refereeing decision in the ninth minute to not award Canada a penalty after Derek Cornelius was brought down in the box by Edson Álvarez.

(Photo: Concacaf) 

Despite multiple protests from Canadian players, the referee did not review the call on the VAR screen. In fact, it was Cornelius who was judged to have committed a foul on the play in the eyes of the referee. When asked about the decision in the post-match press conference, Marsch didn't mince words.

"For me, this is like a definition of a penalty, when we touch the ball first and then we get clearly kicked as we are pursuing the ball, that's a foul that prevented him from pursuing the play," said Marsch. "You can debate how much of a penalty and everything else, but it is inexcusable that it's not at least looked at by the head official."

There was also some frustration expressed at how far the referee pushed the Canadian wall back on Jiménez's free kick goal, affording the Mexican striker extra space to bend the ball into the side of the net. But Marsch also said his side could have put up more of a stink ahead of the free kick being taken.

In a sick twist of fate, Canada will get what they almost certainly wanted coming into these Nations League Finals, a matchup against the United States -- who lost their semi-final 1-0 to Panama earlier on Thursday. But there will be nothing on the line except pride in the competition's Third Place game on Sunday (6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT on OneSoccer and TSN).

Still, the circumstances could have been worse. The chance to play against the United States is something that this group will always covet and it is a chance to quickly rebound from this colossal disappointment with a result that would still register within the national consciousness.

"We'll be excited for the US game," said Marsch. "Obviously there's disappointment that we're playing in the third-place game and not in the final. We'll wrap our head around the next two days for that match."

Canada now have a chance to demonstrate how quickly they can learn from lessons like the one taught to them on Thursday night, because as 2026 gets ever closer, there aren't going to be many other opportunities like this.