Everything you NEED to know about Jesse Marsch's appointment as CanMNT head coach
Jesse Marsch was named the Canadian Men’s National Team’s newest manager on Monday, as the American-born coach was hired to lead the program into one of the most crucial two-year stretches in its history.
Having qualified for this summer’s Copa América, and set to co-host the 2026 World Cup, Canada faces a crucial run for a men’s team looking to capitalize on the momentum they built in the lead-up to the 2022 World Cup, their first qualification to that tournament since 1986.
Following a 2023 filled with turmoil on and off the field, which included manager John Herdman departing his position as CanMNT manager after five years to go and join Toronto FC, this hire represents a fresh start for the program at a crucial time.
Now, Marsch will get set to tackle the big task that awaits him here. Inheriting a team filled with arguably its deepest and most talented player pool in history, he has a lot to work with as he tries to employ the vision he believes can take this side forward as they push to set new ground as a group.
Having reportedly impressed in his interview for this job with his level of detail and preparation, he’ll want to hit the ground running now, starting with a crucial summer, in which Canada has lined up friendlies against the Netherlands and France along with their participation at the Copa América, where they’ve been drawn in Group A with Argentina, Peru and Chile.
"This team is going to be something that Canada is going to be excited about and support,” Marsch told Canada Soccer’s CEO Kevin Blue in a video posted to Canada Soccer’s social media. “We're going to play with power and inspiration, and we're going to go for it.”
And @TSNScianitti's report is confirmed: Jesse Marsh is the next #CanMNT head coach
— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) May 13, 2024
Marsch: "This team is going to be something that 🇨🇦 is going to be excited about and support, we're going to play with power and inspiration, and we're going to go for it"pic.twitter.com/KREGJ9zxN9 https://t.co/rpTzJ8gsVG
With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about Marsch’s appointment, and what he brings to the table in his new role.
Who is Jesse Marsch?
For those unfamiliar with Marsch, he’s a 50-year-old American born in Racine, Wisconsin who brings all sorts of experience playing and coaching professionally in this role.
To begin, he had a solid career as a player, starting with the Princeton Tigers before embarking on a 300+ game career spent in MLS with DC United, the Chicago Fire and Chivas USA from 1996 to 2009, winning three MLS Cups, two Supporters Shields and four US Open Cups across that period. Over that span, he also earned two caps with the US Men’s National Team, one in 2001 and the other in 2007, showing the level of his club play.
Then, once he retired and got into coaching, he slowly started to work his way up the ranks, spending parts of 2010 and 2011 as an assistant with the US Men’s National Team, before becoming the Montréal Impact’s first manager when they made the jump up to MLS in 2012, spending one season in Canada.
From there, he spent parts of 2014 and 2015 as an assistant for his alma mater Princeton before getting his big break in MLS, which was as head coach of the New York Red Bulls in 2015. There, he thrived, spending three-and-a-half years with the club, winning two Supporters Shields in 2015 and 2018.
Through that, he started to work his way up to the Red Bull system, becoming a Red Bull Salzburg assistant in 2018-2019, before being named their head coach for the 2019-2020 season.
There, he earned global recognition, as he did a double in his first year in Austria, winning the Austrian Bundesliga and Cup. And, more importantly, his team left its mark in the Champions League, too, finishing third in a group with Liverpool, Napoli and Genk, going toe-to-toe in each game.
Armed with a squad that included Dominik Szoboszlai, Karim Adeyemi, Hwang Hee-chan, Sékou Koïta, Patson Daka, Noah Okafor, Takumi Minamino and Erling Haaland, his team got quickly raided, with some of those players moving on to giant clubs around Europe, a reflection of Marsch’s work there.
This moment between Haaland and his former Salzburg coach Jesse Marsch at fulltime 🥹 pic.twitter.com/1IYZbsVryI
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 28, 2022
Marsch eventually followed, as after repeating with double in 2020-2021, he earned his first job in a top-five league with RB Leipzig in Germany’s Bundesliga, completing his climb up the Red Bull ladder.
Unfortunately, he hit his first roadblock at Leipzig, as he replaced the outgoing Julian Nagelsmann. He only lasted half the season, as Leipzig were unable to make it out of their Champions League group and had dropped to 11th in the Bundesliga table, leading him to get fired earlier than hoped.
Despite that, he picked himself up and took a risk by joining Leeds United just months later, after they’d fired the popular Marcelo Bielsa, who had returned them to the Premier League for the first time in nearly two decades in 2020. There, he had a mixed tenure - he achieved his main goal at the end of 2021-2022, which was to avoid relegation, doing so on the last day, but he was unable to build on that in 2022-2023, which led him to get sacked in February of 2023.
Since then, he’s remained without a job. It looked like he was a frontrunner to take the US Men’s National Team job last summer, but that instead went to Gregg Berhalter, leaving Marsh to watch from the sideline.
Now, however, nearly 18 months after he left Leeds, he makes his return to the managing game with Canada.
Jesse Marsch will become the next head coach of Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team🇨🇦
— CANMNT (@CANMNT_Official) May 13, 2024
Now, the work begins!#CANMNT pic.twitter.com/LqiLKJ1tea
A job he's previously coveted, as he once expressed interest in the job in 2012, he will now get his chance to prove what he can do 12 years on from that, having gone on quite the adventure since.
Naturally, a lot of scrutiny will be on his status as an American, especially given the 2023 US links and the rivalry he's recently embarked on with Berhalter, which will leave some to wonder about his intentions in taking this Canadian job, but he’ll look to put that behind him by putting his all into this role, something his interview process and opening press conference seemed to indicate that he’ll do.
What will his system look?
Now, however, the big question with Marsch will be to see what he does with this Canadian team tactically.
Naturally, given his time in the Red Bull system, he’s known for being a disciple of a lot of the tactical philosophies that Red Bull teams are known for employing - an aggressive press, a desire to attack, and playing in a 4-4-2 or some variation of it, so it’ll be interesting to see him outside of that system.
Leeds offered a glimpse of that, and there he played a 4-2-3-1, with aggressive full-backs, vertical play and high pressing emerging as the cornerstones of that system, things he’ll likely bring to this Canadian team. Naturally, his Leeds ideologies had some mixed results, as that sort of style didn’t always blend in well with a team battling relegation in England, but it will be intriguing to see how it could translate to Canada.
And for what it’s worth, he does have the pieces to try and employ that kind of system with Canada. At striker, Jonathan David is one of the best-pressing forwards in Europe, while Canada has no shortage of athletic wingers who could certainly suit the physical demands of that sort of system, even if they don’t do it at the club level, with Tajon Buchanan, Liam Millar and Alphonso Davies just some of the names they could turn to out wide.
In midfield, they’d need players who could cover ground, which Stephen Eustáquio, Ismaél Koné, Mathieu Choinière, Ali Ahmed and many more could do, while they’ve got full backs in Davies, Alistair Johnston, Richie Laryea and Sam Adekugbe who can get forward and join the attack.
Then, at the back, centre backs like Moïse Bombito, Derek Cornelius, Kamal Miller and Scott Kennedy are some of the names that could fit the physical demands of playing a more aggressive, high-pressing system, while the likes of Maxime Crépeau and Dayne St.Clair should have no problems with what will be asked of them in goal on and off the ball.
So with that in mind, here’s an early look at what a Marsch lineup could potentially look like, with some likely alternatives. 
Despite that supposed fit, however, there are a few questions to answer.
First, what to do with players who don’t fit the system, but remain key pieces. For example, Cyle Larin continues to find the net for Canada and is the CanMNT’s top all-time goalscorers, but with David’s pressing ability, Larin might have to drop out if Marsch employs a 4-2-3-1 like he did at Leeds, with David the favourite to lead the line in that system. And at the back, Canada’s back three which consisted of Miller, Waterman and Johnston in their most-recent match, could see a shake-up in Marsch’s system, in which a Bombito seems tailor-made for if there is a switch to a back four as is expected.
Then, the bigger question will be to see how much Marsch adjusts from that high-pressing system. In the international game, pressing can be harder to do as coaches have less time to hone in on certain tactical work with their group and have to adjust to players who come from different systems and might not have the fitness or demands to press because of that.
That’s not to say it can’t be done, but it’s a big question, as some international coaches can struggle to get players to fit their system, with the best often being those who can adjust their system to fit their players.
Marsch has shown an ability to adjust in the past, as his system has tweaked from spot to spot, so he’s not unfamiliar with doing so, but he’ll have to strike the right balance towards maintaining his identity and finding something that works for this Canadian team.
"I think the raw athleticism and speed we have is obvious, right?" Marsch said in his opening press conference. "And I like to play the game in transition, I like to be dynamic, I like to impose our will on the opponent in all phases of the game."
"I think that this player pool has both the athleticism, the intelligence and football quality, but that combination of intelligence and athleticism will provide us with an opportunity to be able to compete against the best teams in the world."
What are some other skills of his?
One big area where Marsch is expected to thrive in this job, however, is in how he manages players, especially younger ones, having been known for giving a lot of them opportunities at his various stints in the Red Bull system and with Leeds.
Part of that is the DNA of the Red Bull system, which wants to develop players and move them on, but then it’s up to the managers to ensure that players are learning and not succumbing to the pressure of the professional game.
And Marsch has done a pretty good job of that, with the best example being the group he worked with at Salzburg, who achieved domestic success while moving several players on to the top level.
That’s important heading into this Canadian job, as this is a young team (14 of the players called into Canada’s last camp were 24 or under), one that will need some strong leadership to take that next step as a group.
They’ve got several important leaders in the mix, with Stephen Eustáquio a big one and the favourite to earn the captaincy long-term, while several others have been in the program for long enough to carry a voice despite still being young, such as Alphonso Davies, so it’ll be important that Marsch can help this group grow together and push them towards their goals.
A big success Herdman had in his stint with Canada is his ability to build his players up and ensure they’d believe in themselves, allowing them to dream larger than a lot of Canadian teams before them weren’t able to, something Marsch will look to tap into.
For what it’s worth, it appears Marsch will have the tools to do that, with a big strength of his being a desire to learn languages an example of that - he put in an effort to learn French when with Montréal, which will be an asset in this job (even if he needs to brush up on it, as he admitted in his opening press conference), while he impressed with his ability to quickly learn German when at Salzburg and Leipzig.
Plus, he strongly believes in player empowerment, noting that coaching is mostly ensuring that he can create the best environment for them to feel at their best and involved, which can then help him put his tactical ideologies into place.
Those details may seem minor, but doing so successfully can help unite a group, something Marsch will hope to do at this new job.
“That’s the goal of the way that I coach, it’s not to confuse them with tactics and concepts, but to empower them,” Marsch said. “So yeah, there will be challenges in communicating things in sometimes smaller windows, but the key thing is taking everything window-by-window, training session-by-training session, day-by-day, match-by-match together and learning from them, growing from them, and create as much of a learning curve as possible to give us the best chance to be at our absolute best come 2026.”
What are the big objectives?
Lastly, the goal now for Marsh will be to hit the ground running, as he’s got some big goals to hit.
In the immediate future, he’ll use Canada’s upcoming June window as a chance to test out his system and see how his side looks against top teams while hoping to potentially push into the Copa América knockout rounds.
Jesse Marsch is speaking for the 1st time as #CanMNT head coach:
— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) May 13, 2024
"With the way I think about football and the qualities of this player pool, it fits well, and I think it will allow us to develop the team further than where it's been, which has already been very successful."
Once the onboarding process ends, however, the long-term goals are clear - to try and win a trophy, be it at the 2025 Gold Cup or 2024-2025 Concacaf Nations League cycle, and then aim to win a World Cup game and then make the knockout stages for the first time at the 2026 World Cup.
While doing so, he’ll look to balance that with some loftier goals, noting that he believes Canada can be a “sleeping giant” in terms of the potential it holds in its overall infrastructure and playing pool, but while he’ll look to help do that, his main goal will be to help the team take a big step forward.
“My mission is more than just how good we can be in 2026,” Marsch said. “It's how much better can we help the sport grow in this country?”
He’s certainly got the tools to do so, now he’ll look to put it all together, marking the start of the next chapter of this Canadian team.
With a crucial two years ahead, it’s a big job, one that could do big things for the sport in this country, making it exciting to see how he takes to his new role, starting with what awaits him next month.
“These first matches will give us a good indicator and litmus test as to understanding how to employ all the things that we want to be about as we move forward,” Marsch said. “In this business, it’s about understanding how to be your best in the most difficult and biggest moments.”
“So yeah, we get some big matches right away, and we don't have a lot of time, but what will be important for me as National Team coach is having the ability to communicate my ideas very clearly, and to have the ability for the players to understand how to execute the style of play, to our game plans, our leadership style and communication style.”
“The efficiency at which I'm able to lead this team from every perspective will dictate how successful, and how quickly we can transform into the team I believe we can be.”
