THE BREAKDOWN: Diving into Richie Laryea's evolution with the CanMNT under Jesse Marsch
Despite the CanMNT’s earlier-than-expected exit at this summer’s Gold Cup, several players impressed at that tournament, including several lesser-known youngsters, such as Luc De Fougerolles, Nathan Saliba and Niko Sigur.
Quietly, though, one of Canada’s best players of the tournament was one of their most experienced members, as Richie Laryea was a steady force at left back for Canada in the three games he started.
Despite coming off a major hamstring injury, one that kept him out of Canada’s Nations League semi-finals matchup vs. Mexico in March, he did well to not miss a beat in his return to regular action this summer.
Since then, he’s done well to return to usual service for Toronto FC, too, where he’s been his club’s Swiss Army knife, playing 90 minutes in all but one of their matches since the Gold Cup - doing so in five different positions.
Yet, that’s been the story of Laryea’s evolution over the years, especially recently. Always a versatile player, one who came out of the NCAA as a midfielder before establishing himself as a full back, he’s had to fill in at multiple different positions in recent years, including playing as a centre back, a wide midfielder and even back in his original central midfield position.
For Canada, though, his role has been a lot more defined, especially lately. There, Jesse Marsch has kept things simple with him, either deploying him as a right or left back - that’s been a bit of a change from the earlier part of Marsch’s tenure, where he even deployed Laryea as a wide midfielder in three of his first five starts under the coach.
Since then, his last nine starts have all come as a full back, as he’s returned to the position where he had his CanMNT breakout back in 2019.
That comes at a good time for this Canadian team, as they’ve struggled with injuries at that full back position in 2025, with Alphonso Davies, Sam Adekugbe, and now Alistair Johnston all picking up major injuries in recent months.
As a result, that’s left Laryea as Canada’s main full back option for Marsch to lean on the rest of 2025, meaning that he’ll be expected to build on what he showed this summer over the next few months - starting with a pair of friendlies vs. Romania and Wales this month.
To that point, though, it’s worth pondering - what has allowed Laryea to be successful as a full back under Marsch?
It’s an interesting question, because when Laryea first broke into this Canadian team under John Herdman, his role looked a lot different than it does now. There, he was often asked to join the attack from right back, helping create width through his overlaps.
Because of that, he had one goal and eight assists in his first 48 caps with Canada - he’s had just one assist in 17 appearances under Marsch, by comparison.
Yet, that also speaks to the evolution he’s had, as he’s now being asked to play a lot more inverted as a full back over the past 12 months. To be fair, that’s something he’d done before under Herdman, who deployed him at left back on several occasions, but Marsch has really leaned on Laryea to become a bit of an extra midfielder in his system, especially with what he’s asked of him on the ball. 
Here's a clip of what Laryea does best - driving the ball forward up the pitch (and winning fouls) (Clip via Concacaf)
Just look at some of the games from this Gold Cup, where Laryea’s heatmap contained a lot of action in central channels, helping show the effect of the work he did to make underlaps and to tuck into the middle in possession. 
Laryea's heatmap from the 2025 Gold Cup (SofaScore)
That’s added a bit of a different wrinkle to what Canada does on the ball, as he’s offered a bit more support centrally, which can go a long way given that Canada deploys a double-pivot centrally under Marsch.
To that point, just look at Laryea’s passing numbers under Marsch compared to what he previously had before his arrival - he’s completing fewer passes (27.71 under Marsch, 31.18 before), dribbles (1.89 under Marsch, 3.65 before) and touches in the box per 90 (1.31 under Marsch, 2.4 before), but he has more passes to the final third (3.45 under Marsch, 2.53 before), passes to the box (1.8 under Marsch, 1.63 before) and more forward passes (9.5 under Marsch, 7.05 before) than he did in his earlier CanMNT days. 
Laryea's offensive numbers with the CanMNT under Jesse Marsch's arrival (first line) and before his arrival (second line), with his Toronto FC numbers from 2025 (third line) and 2024 (fourth line) added in for comparison's sake (WyScout)
What that shows is that when he gets on the ball in those central channels, he’s funnelling it forward into more dangerous positions ahead of him, including in the final third and in the box, instead of being the one to get on the end of those sorts of passes. 
An example of how Laryea's ability to both tuck in centrally to get touches and to drift wide and make runs can help the CanMNT's attack, as he does well to get involved in possession before making a great run off the ball (Clip via Concacaf)
Furthermore, when comparing his numbers under Marsch to his numbers with Toronto FC in 2024 and 2025, his passes to the final third, passes to the box, and forward passes are all higher with Canada, showing what Marsch has gotten out of him on the ball.
At the same time, it’s not as if Laryea’s stopped pushing wide like an old-school full back when needed to, either. In particular, he formed a great partnership with Ali Ahmed in Canada’s Gold Cup opener vs. Honduras, making sure to provide the width required in the moments where Ahmed cut inside and operated in the half-space. 
Laryea and Ahmed's offensive actions from that game vs. Honduras, highlighting their success down that left flank together (OPTA)
As a result, he’s still got good final-third numbers under Marsch - for example, his key pass numbers are nearly identical to what they were before (0.57 under Marsch, 0.56 before), showing that his lack of assists could also come from the finishing of his teammates and the quality of opposition.
Yet, overall, it feels like Laryea’s found a good balance in terms of what he needs to do on the ball, especially at left back. Naturally, when looking at his performances at right back and left back, he’s more of a natural right back, but he’s shown some great growth at that left back position with what he’s now able to do on the ball to help support his midfielders and attackers. 
Another great example of Laryea's ability to drift centrally and make things happen on the ball (Clip via Concacaf)
That’s seen in the numbers, as all of his passing figures are much improved in recent stints at left back for Canada compared to the times when Herdman had him out at that position. Namely, the big shift has been that he has a better idea of when to go forward with the ball, as one struggle he often had at left back was that his right-footedness naturally forced him to go backwards in possession. 
Laryea's passes into the final third per game played at left back with the CanMNT since 2021 (WyScout)
Unlike at right back, where he’d receive the ball with his hips pointed up the pitch, he’d often have them pointed back towards his own goal at left back, but that’s changed significantly in the past 12 months. 
Laryea's forward passes per game played at left back with the CanMNT since 2021 (WyScout)
Now, he does a better job of pushing the ball forward, and he can now also cut inside much more effectively - as seen with his assist vs. Honduras at the Gold Cup, for example.
GOAL 🇨🇦🇨🇦
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) June 18, 2025
It's TANI TIME 😎#CanMNT are up 2-0 over Honduras ðŸ‡ðŸ‡³ at the stroke of half-time as Tani Oluwaseyi finds a near-impossible angle and smacks it home 🚀
🔴 Watch Gold Cup on OneSoccer & TSN pic.twitter.com/MfdNNc8d0c
Otherwise, a lot of Laryea’s game hasn’t changed - he’s still elite at drawing fouls, can be dangerous in the final third, and is a reliable defender. For example, to that first point, he’s still drawing 3.2 fouls per 90 under Marsch - compared to 3.42 before.
As he does best, Laryea does well to draw contact and win a foul in a dangerous area (Clip via Concacaf)
Then, shifting elsewhere on the pitch, the defensive side of this game also remains quite important to what he can bring to the table, as one would expect for a defender in Jesse Marsch’s system. A system that asks defenders to play quite aggressively, Laryea has no problem with stepping up from off the backline to break up play, which has been quite important. 
Here, Laryea does a good job of jumping high up the pitch, helping his team recover the ball in a dangerous position (Clip via Concacaf)
He’s contesting fewer overall duels than he was before with Canada (18.91 under Marsch, 20.63 before), but he’s winning a lot more of them (58% under Marsch, 52.9% before). Then, further to that, he’s also contesting (and winning) a lot more defensive duels (8.14 at a 70% rate under Marsch, 7.48 at a 61.4% before), and has similar interception (3.13 under Marsch, 3.35 before) and ball recovery (6.74 under Marsch, 7.07 before) numbers, showing his defensive impact. 
Laryea's defensive numbers with the CanMNT under Jesse Marsch's arrival (first line) and before his arrival (second line), with his Toronto FC numbers from 2025 (third line) and 2024 (fourth line) added in for comparison's sake (WyScout)
Plus, for further context, his numbers with Canada, both before and after Marsch’s arrival, blow anything he’s put up with Toronto FC out of the water, showing how perfect a fit he’s been in Marsch’s aggressive defensive set-up. 
This clip might be a textbook example of what Laryea can bring to the CanMNT at full back - he wins the ball back aggressively, drives it forward, and then wins a foul (before mixing it up with an opponent, for good measure) (Clip via Concacaf)
Now, while there’s no doubt that Laryea fits nicely into Marsch’s system, however, which is why he’s now made the fifth-most appearances under him with Canada, the big thing to watch will be the role he plays at the World Cup next summer.
No doubt, he’ll have a role to play - what’ll benefit Laryea is his ability to bring something to a game both as a starter and off the bench. At the same time, what he’s shown lately suggests he could be primed to earn a starting role, much like he had at the 2022 World Cup, where he made two starts.
Unlike in 2022, however, when he was out of form after a half-season loan with Nottingham Forest where he didn’t play as much, he’ll hope to be in a better rhythm next year, too, provided he stays healthy.
Should he do that, though, it’ll be interesting to see where he lands in this Canadian team. It feels like, on paper, Marsch has preferred using Alphonso Davies at left back and Alistair Johnston at right back, leaving Laryea as an odd man out.
With what Laryea’s done, though, could Marsch keep him at left back and push Davies up the pitch? Or could Marsch push Johnston to a bit more of a supersub role with Laryea assuming a starting role? Or is there room for all three to see the pitch together?
The likeliest of the two situations is the first two options, so keep an eye on those two things when Davies and Johnston return. In particular, a battle with Johnston is worth watching, as both bring different but similar skillsets to the table, which could make the decision come down to more of a stylistic fit.
To that point, when comparing how both have performed under Marsch, those stylistic differences are evident. On the ball, Laryea has more dribbles (1.89 at a 60% clip for Laryea, 0.63 at a 77.7% clip for Johnston), key passes (0.57 for Laryea, 0.35 for Johnston), touches in the box (1.31 for Laryea, 0.63 for Johnston), progressive runs (1.8 for Laryea, 0.84 for Johnston), and fouls won (3.2 for Laryea, 0.63 for Johnston) - but Johnston has more passes (36.4 at a 80.3% clip for Johnston, 27.71 at a 83.3% clip for Laryea), crosses (1.05 per 90 for Johnston, 0.98 for Laryea), passes to the final third (6.38 at a 62.6% clip for Johnston, 3.45 at a 62.6% clip for Laryea), passes to the box (2.6 at a 37.8% clip for Johnston, 1.8 at a 59% clip for Laryea) and forward passes (16.28 for Johnston and 9.5 for Laryea). 
Laryea and Johnston's offensive numbers under Marsch, with Laryea on the top line and Johnston the bottom line (WyScout)
Then defensively, Laryea’s got an edge in duels (he’s got 18.91 duels won at a 58% rate, compared to 15.29 at a 58.7% rate for Johnston), Johnston has an edge in recoveries (8.77 for Johnston, 6.74 for Laryea), and both are pretty similar in defensive duels (8.14 at a 70% clip for Laryea, 8.21 at a 68.3% clip for Johnston), and interceptions (3.13 for Laryea, 3.71 for Johnston). 
Laryea and Johnston's offensive numbers under Marsch, with Laryea on the top line and Johnston the bottom line (WyScout)
What that shows, though, is that Johnston has offered a bit more in the ball-playing department, while Laryea has offered more with his dribbling and what he can bring further up the pitch - while still being quite solid with his passing, at least compared to how he used to play for Canada. Then, off the ball, Laryea’s been a bit more aggressive in his defensive actions, while Johnston does a good job of reading plays.
Yet, that shows that there isn’t a clear favourite between the two, even if Johnston has a bit more of an edge at that right back position - for now.
To Laryea’s advantage, though, will be that he now has this chance to further cement his status as a key player under Marsch over the next few windows with Davies and Johnston both out. Because of that, look at him as one of the players to watch over the next few camps. 
As a bonus, here's Laryea showing a bit of sauce with a nutmeg to win a foul (Clip via Concacaf)
A key leader on this team, one who is now up to 65 caps, which is third-most on this latest squad, and fourth among players called up over the last 12 months, that could be another thing that pushes him to keep a starting spot next summer.
For all of the talk of the skills he could bring to the lineup, one intangible that he seems to carry is that he’s one of the emotional leaders of this team, offering a similar impact to Stephen Eustáquio in that category. When he's on the pitch, he brings a necessary amount of fire, without ever crossing the line (he is yet to be sent off in almost 300 games for club and country), further showing that he knows how to channel the requisite aggression to be a good fit in Marsch's system.
That's no small detail, as this still remains a young Canadian side, one that feels like it lacked a bit of leadership during their Gold Cup exit this summer.
While Laryea was at that tournament, it was hard to fault him for what he brought to the table, so look for him to now build on that as he begins his push for a starting spot in next year’s World Cup team.
NOTE: The CanMNT data under Jesse Marsch is missing their friendlies vs. Panama and Côte d'Ivoire.
