THE BREAKDOWN: What's Jesse Marsch's ideal midfielder profile for the CanMNT?

---

It’s no secret that Jesse Marsch is going to have a tough time picking a starting XI for the CanMNT’s World Cup opener next summer. 

Such is the conundrum for a team with rapidly improving depth - it’s becoming harder than ever to nail down what Canada’s best XI might look like for a big fixture such as a World Cup opener. 

They’ll do their best to try and answer that question over the next 11 months, but there will be easy responses - and if anything, things might only get harder to figure out. 

For the most part, however, the spine of the team is set on paper. 

In an ideal world, Moïse Bombito has a significant role to play at centre back, Alphonso Davies will start at left back and captain the team, Stephen Eustáquio should hold things down in midfield, Tajon Buchanan will lead the way out wide, and Jonathan David has a huge role to play up front. Then, from there, you can fill in the other pieces - one of Dayne St. Clair or Maxime Crépeau will start in goal, Alistair Johnston and Derek Cornelius are favourites to start at the back, and Ali Ahmed is leading the race to start out wide. 

Elsewhere, though, two key races are brewing. The big one, of course, is up front, and that race has been brewing for the past 12 months already. Will Cyle Larin’s experience pay off? How about Tani Oluwaseyi’s rapid growth and his fit in Marsch’s system? And, of course, there’s the red-hot Promise David, who was one of the best Canadians in Europe in 2024-2025, period. 

There, however, that forward battle might come down to timing, especially in terms of form, as much as it does fit, as it’ll be up to one of the players to show they can regularly score for Canada. That’s the unique challenge with forwards, who have to be opportunistic, as their goal (pun intended) is to fill the net, a skill that’s worth defying or altering a system to extract the most out of.

Of course, that leaves the other key battle, which is a lot different to judge - the competition for who starts in midfield. With the unique nature of Marsch’s system and how this Canadian team presses, fit plays a big role here, too, as whoever slots in must be able to withstand the strict demands that are placed on them. 

So far, Eustáquio has proven capable of doing that, but figuring out who slots in beside him has been a challenge, as Mathieu Choinière, Ismaël Koné, Jonathan Osorio, Nathan Saliba and Niko Sigur have earned looks and are all candidates for that role. 

There could be a spot for two of them to start should Marsch make the slight shift in his formation from a 4-2-2-2 to a 4-2-3-1, a change he’s proven open to making with Canada and past stops, but he’ll at the very least need someone to pair with Eustáquio in a double pivot no matter the formation he chooses. From there, it’ll be up to one of the midfielders to prove they’re dangerous enough offensively to earn a spot as a #10, likely bumping the striker who isn’t Jonathan David out of the lineup to do so.

Here's Canada's most used formations under Marsch in the past 12 months, showing that he prefers the 4-2-2-2 but that the 4-2-3-1 is not off the table

Now, though, the big question is who earns that double-pivot role?

Instead of looking at how each player stacks up, however, which could be a difficult task given the impressive nature of their respective resumes, this is an interesting opportunity to look at something different by asking the question: What is the ideal Marsch midfielder? 

Given that Marsch now has a decent sample size in terms of where he’s coached, Canada included, it could help inform who fits best in this Canada system by looking at who he’s leaned on in the past, using players such as Eustáquio to see what that looks like. 

With that in mind, who are some ideal players who have thrived under Marsch, who himself is a former midfielder? 

When looking at his most-used midfielders from each stop, Eustáquio is the name to watch from his Canada stint, as are Tyler Adams and Marc Roca from his time at Leeds. Meanwhile, at Leipzig, Adams pops up again, this time alongside Amadou Haidara, and at RB Salzburg, Enock Mwepu and Zlatko Junuzović emerge (as does Dominik Szoboszlai, supporting the idea that Marsch can deploy a #10), while at the New York Red Bulls, Felipe Martins and Sean Davis are the minutes leaders (with none other than Adams lurking in third). 

Clearly, when looking at that list, Tyler Adams is Marsch’s answer to the question of what Marsch’s ideal midfielder looks like, given that he’s followed Marsch to three clubs, but all of the other names also offer an intriguing dataset to dive into. 

With those names in mind, here’s a chart that takes the averages from their most-used seasons under Marsch, and then puts them into one statline (highlighted in green), which looks something like this, creating the “Average Marsch midfielder”.

Using those aforemtentioned players, with Adams listed twice (with Leeds and Leipzig), here is the average 'Marsch midfielder'

As one would expect, some numbers stand out when looking at that chart. On the ball, the priority is to progress play quickly through long and short passes, with most Marsch midfielders averaging a high number of pass attempts (around 50 per 90), with a good chunk of them being long, forward and into the final third (or some combination of those factors). That’s not surprising to see, of course, given Marsch’s emphasis on direct attacking play, with the goal being to move the ball up the field as quickly as possible. 

Then, defensively, the expectation is aggressive defensive actions, especially in terms of duels, although his players also averaged a high number of interceptions and recoveries. Again, that makes sense - he wants his midfielders to play right on top of their opponents, and that can lead to a lot of defensive actions. 

Before proceeding any further, though, it’s worth noting that there are some potential holes with this methodology. 

In the case of some players (especially those at Leipzig and Leeds), some of their data comes from a different coach given that Marsch didn’t last a full year at either stop (and it was too difficult to filter out games they played just under Marsch), although theoretically, one would expect that their numbers didn’t change too drastically from coach-to-coach (it’s not as if Adams went from a #6 to a #10 when Marsch left him at Leipzig or Leeds).

Then, there’s also the fact that no Marsch team was built the same - his New York teams were a dominant force in MLS, as were his Salzburg teams in Austria, while his Leipzig side struggled in Germany and his Leeds teams fought relegation in England - meaning that some players might’ve had different stats from the situations they were in (his Leeds players might’ve seen less of the ball than his Salzburg players, for example). 

Returning to the list, however, when looking specifically at Eustáquio’s numbers under Marsch, which comes from a sample size of around 1100 minutes, his numbers are almost to a tee reflective of the average, especially defensively, showing that he hasn’t just looked the part of a Marsch midfielder, but has played like it, too. Very fitting, and shows why he’s a lock to start next summer.

With that dataset in mind, however, it’s interesting to then take it and see how Canada’s crop of midfielders compares to that average Marsch midfielder, seeing if any other players fit the mould of that player. 

To get an idea of what that looks like, here’s a look at the numbers of Eustáquio, Choinière, Saliba, Koné, Osorio and Sigur compared to that average midfielder. For reference, these are not their numbers with Canada (which could be skewed depending on minutes and opponents, given that some have had very different opportunities for Canada under Marsch, at least compared to Eustáquio), but instead, their numbers with their clubs. 

To keep it simple, all of those who spent time in MLS this year had their 2025 seasons tracked, while those in Europe had their 2024-2025 campaigns tracked, with the data coming from games only played as a central midfielder (to not count the games Eustáquio, Choinière and Sigur played at other positions, which can skew numbers).

For context, everyone still accumulated at least 450 minutes in midfield when using these metrics, so this is a pretty healthy dataset, with that being a good benchmark to use in these discussions. 

Then, for any wondering why Eustáquio’s club numbers are included, it’s to see if his numbers for Porto are similar to his Canada numbers, helping understand how the other players' numbers might translate over to a Canadian shirt. 

Again, there are flaws to this methodology, notably the big one being the different systems each player plays at their teams, as well as the level of their respective leagues, but it still offers a decent guide to use.

Here is how the CanMNT's six main midfield options stack up to the 'Marsch midfielder'

When looking at those numbers, too, Eustáquio again naturally leads the way, sitting with the best numbers among the six CanMNT midfielders in each of the categories: passing, long balls, passes to the final third, forward passes and interceptions. His duel numbers are the lowest (a byproduct of Porto’s domination in a lot of games), but his recovery numbers are also solid, further showing that he fits the mould of a ‘Marsch midfielder’, even when away from Marsch. 

Elsewhere, though, on the ball, both Saliba and Choinière stand out in terms of their passes attempted, long balls, passes to the final third, forward passes and dribbles, while Jonathan Osorio is also unsurprisingly pretty solid in those categories, showing well in areas where Marsch would want his midfielders to be good in possession. 

Then, defensively, Niko Sigur and Mathieu Choinière are the standouts, with Choinière doing well in his interceptions, duels and recoveries, while Sigur’s duels and recoveries were quite solid, as that pair leads the way defensively. 

Naturally, each player has categories where they’ll pop out - Koné’s interceptions are quite solid, Osorio is a recovery machine, Choinière loves a defensive duel, and Saliba is a strong passer, just to name a few - but the overall numbers stand out more given that midfield is a ‘jack of all trades’ position. 

Using those overall numbers, Choinière looks to be the closest natural fit in terms of the ‘Marsch midfielder’ profile, at least when considering all of the statistics. That’s not all that surprising, to be fair - much like Eustáquio, he’s looked like the most natural fit by the eye test in his CanMNT appearances - but it’s always interesting to see the numbers back up that sentiment.

Now, there’s the question of whether Marsch wants two similar midfielders playing together, especially in possession, but one would expect him to at least want two midfielders who can defend well, and among this Canadian group of six, Choinière ranked first or second in all of the defensive categories on that list expect fouls (where he’s third), which further helps his case. 

To be fair, Sigur’s also worth highlighting in that regard, as he’s first in two defensive categories and second in another (whereas Choinière only has one category where he leads). That’s key when considering if Marsch wants two different profiles playing together, as Sigur and Eustáquio are a bit different on the ball, so he could more than get what he wants defensively with Sigur while getting a bit of something unique in possession, which potentially might give Sigur an edge over Choinièe. 

Of course, these numbers offer but a guide of what this battle looks like, as it’ll ultimately be up to Marsch to figure out how all of these players fit in his system, and how different names might pair with Eustáquio - for example, he knows that Choinière is a pretty good fit, but is yet to see Sigur alongside Eustáquio.

At the same time, what this list does is give an idea of who the favourites to win that race are, as well as give an idea of what the others might need to do to improve their stock.

For example, Koné is a big wild card, as there’s no doubt that he didn’t play up to his standard this season, but given his age, the turmoil he went through and the fact that he was at the highest level among these six, he could turn things around very quickly. In particular, an offensive breakout could reignite the debate of him playing as a #10 for Canada, as he’d be the most likely player to push Marsch to consider that shift given his incredible on-ball ability (although Choinière has long looked capable of playing the more ‘defensive #10’ role Marsch had Brendan Aaronson play for him at Leeds). 

Plus, Koné has also proven he can shine with Canada, with his performance against France last year an example of what it could look like if it all clicks for him.

Then, on the subject of on-ball ability, the other wild card is Saliba, for example, who is quite young and is fresh off making a big move to Belgian side Anderlecht from CF Montréal, which could alter his trajectory as a player and throw him into the mix, especially if he continues to progress defensively, as his Canada stock is high after a big summer at the Gold Cup. 

Otherwise, something to watch is the emergence of any new names. At this stage, it’s going to be hard for many new faces to enter the mix with the limited time remaining ahead of the World Cup, but one name that stands out is Ralph Priso, who is having a strong 2025 season with the Vancouver Whitecaps in an elevated role. 

When you plug his numbers in alongside these midfielders, his defensive numbers are right in line with the likes of Eustáquio, Choinière and Sigur, which makes him worth watching. With his form, he could be a good name to look at in the fall, given that he’s still only just 22, and could add more good competition to this race.

Here's Priso's numbers (in yellow) added to that list of CanMNT midfielders for context

No doubt, however, that this battle is already quite fierce, and is far from over, so look for the next few windows to hopefully offer some more clarity in that regard. 

On paper, Choinière and Sigur look to be the most natural fits, but it’ll be up to them to prove that, while Koné and Saliba will remain hot on their heels, with Osorio and Priso rounding off this battle as the underdogs with an outside shot of shaking things up. 

Amid a summer where each of Choinière, Sigur, Koné and Saliba all have interesting club futures, as Choinière and Saliba have already changed clubs, with Koné and Sigur likely to do the same, these numbers will also offer a good reflection of what Marsch will be watching out for them at their new clubs, too. 

Now that the ‘average Marsch midfielder’ is known, that offers a good guideline of the expectations these players will look to follow, for both club and country, so look for them to showcase why they deserve to start next summer for Canada in the weeks and months ahead. 

(All numbers via WyScout).