Marsch has key questions to answer in deciding approach, lineup for CanMNT’s third-place match vs. USMNT

The wound suffered by Canada’s 2-0 loss to Mexico in Thursday night’s Concacaf Nations League semi-final is going to sting for a very long time.

There is no doubt that even if Mexico gave a reminder that they will forever be a top team in this region, the missed opportunity, which head coach Jesse Marsch called “a knife to the heart,” feels colossal. With the United States losing their own semi-final to Panama, it appeared the stars were aligning for Canada’s 25-year trophy drought to finally end — until they didn’t.

But Canada will have to put that disappointment behind them quickly, because there is still important business at hand. While Sunday’s third-place match against the United States will feel like a pale imitation of what they were hoping to accomplish at this Nations League tournament, namely lifting a trophy, that doesn’t erase its importance.

Games against the United States, especially right now, register with the broader national sports audience — particularly when they are so widely distributed (6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT on OneSoccer, TSN and RDS). The United States will be just as motivated to bounce back from their own humbling defeat.

The fact that Sunday’s match does mean something is precisely why it presents a unique opportunity for multiple potential approaches from Marsch and his staff. Canada could go out with their best XI and try to ensure they don’t leave this Nation League competition empty-handed — aside from the lessons they have already been taught. Or, they could use this still-significant competitive match as an opportunity to see how some new players handle this sort of environment.

The last time Canada played in a third-place match, at the 2024 Copa América, Marsch chose to heavily rotate his side — starting an 18-year-old Luc de Fougerolles at centre-back and Tani Oluwaseyi up top, while giving Mathieu Choinière his first national team start and Ali Ahmed just his fourth. Canada, it should be noted, performed well in that match and took Uruguay to penalties.

Of course, that match came at the end of a gruelling competition where many of Canada’s usual starters required rest, but it was still an informative exercise. Ahmed, and to a lesser extent Choinière, have since become key players for the national team over the past few months. In fact, Ahmed was one of Canada’s best performers against Mexico in the semi-final.

Photo: Concacaf 

This summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup, of course, will be a great opportunity to test some of that depth in a competitive setting. But the squad also won’t feature many of Canada’s key players, with Alphonso Davies, Stephen Eustáquio and Tajon Buchanan all otherwise occupied by the FIFA Club World Cup, while others, like Jonathan David, could join them.

Sunday could be a rare chance to see how one of Daniel Jebbison or Promise David looks next to Jonathan David up top, how Niko Sigur complements Stephen Eustáquio in midfield or what Jamie Knight-Lebel looks like next to Moïse Bombito or Derek Cornelius in the backline in a game that means something.

For the likes of Davies, Eustáquio, Buchanan and David, Sunday will likely be their last competitive match for Canada between now and the 2026 FIFA World Cup opener.

That needs to be taken into consideration as well when the lineup is selected, and underlines the importance of this game even if they will not be hoisting any sort of trophy at the end of it. Does the fact that this match is against the United States, and not Panama, also push Marsch to select something closer to a first-choice eleven?

Canada have some solid tests coming up, of course. Ukraine and Côte D’Ivoire visit BMO Field in June and they play Romania and Wales in September’s European friendlies, for example.

But a chance to play the United States, in the U.S. is another rare glimpse at the pressure that will come in 2026. After showing some cracks under that weight against Mexico, this is a chance for Canada to quickly bounce back and use those wounds as a teachable moment. No matter who is starting the match, how they perform collectively will say a lot about the character of this group.