After finishing fourth at the Copa America, head coach Jesse Marsch and the 40th-ranked Canadian men’s soccer teame in the world, will now be able to compete against the three highest-ranked teams in CONCACAF.
The friendly match sequence will begin on Saturday against the United States, ranked 16th.e in the world, in Kansas City. Marsch indicated that his team will play this duel with confidence.
“You see they’ve grown. They have more confidence,” Marsch said during a video conference call Friday. “They believe in themselves. They believe in the process that’s been put in place. They’re all committed to the end.”
“It’s a good team to work with in terms of mentality, work ethic, commitment to the national team. It’s a really special group. And it gives us the opportunity and the optimism to continue to get better.”
After the Americans, the representatives of the maple leaf will cross swords with Mexico (17e), Tuesday in Arlington, Texas, before hosting Panama (35e), October 15 in Toronto.
And even though these are friendly matches, it’s a chance to leave a mark.
“The United States has established itself as the best team in the region,” said Marsch, a former U.S. international player. Even though Canada won the qualifying group [de la CONCACAF] for the World Cup [de 2022]I still think everybody knows that with the resources, with the size of the country, with what sports are like in the United States, it’s a good indicator for us.”
Saturday’s game will be Canada’s first since losing on penalties to Uruguay (11e), during the Copa America third-place match on July 13.
Canada is 1-3-4 since Marsch arrived, playing elite teams along the way. It has two 2-0 losses to world No. 1 Argentina in that stretch.
Canada and the United States last met in July 2023. The Americans, then coached by Gregg Berhalter, defeated Canada on penalties in Cincinnati after a 2-2 draw in the Gold Cup quarterfinals.
The previous month, the United States had blanked the Canadians, coached by John Herdman, 2-0 in the CONCACAF Nations League final in Las Vegas. The country of Uncle Sam has a record of 17-10-13 against Canada.
The Americans are currently managed by assistant coach Mikey Varas, while former Tottenham and Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino appears to be the favourite to replace Berhalter on a permanent basis.
Berhalter was fired on July 10 after his team failed to qualify for the Copa America playoff rounds.
“I think Canada had a good run at the Copa America and we had a disappointing run,” Varas said Friday. “That’s pretty much where we’re at.”
“We know that we come here with the goal of showing who we are. We want to show ourselves who we are, but also to everyone. That’s what we’re focused on.”