American positives from a particularly sobering Sunday afternoon at SoFi Stadium were in desperately short supply. To be fair, Americans in general had been in short supply there last week, with the abject turnout for both of the host nation’s two games.
One bright spot for the Americans, however, was that Jesse Marsch had been silenced. A second-half red card meant the Canada coach was barred from talking post-match. The dismissal came after an almighty touchline meltdown that spilled on to the playing area as he roared at referee Katia Itzel García after back-to-back penalty appeals. Cameras trailed him through stadium gangways and tunnels as he raged on. ‘Marsch madness’ headlines were a layup.
As it turned out, Marsch’s reflections weren’t needed. His players had done more than enough talking in 90 dominant minutes, beating the US 2-1 in the Concacaf Nations League third-place game, and reestablishing themselves as a force within the region that could make noise when they co-host next summer’s World Cup.
Marsch and Canada departed Los Angeles Monday morning having used another international window to expand their repertoire. Sunday’s victory was for more than third place. The geopolitical climate dictated as much. So too, however, did sporting circumstances: two World Cup host nations, both coming off stinging semi-final losses, felt the 2026 clock ticking and only one locked in.
“Political environment aside … it was just really important that we go into this summer with some momentum,” defender Alistair Johnston said afterwards. “It would have been tough to have lost both of these matches and gone out of there thinking ‘did we make a step forward or not?’”
The Trumpian trade war backdrop was inescapable, so Marsch leaned into it, showing his players footage of the three fights in nine seconds that opened last month’s first US v Canada 4 Nations Face-off hockey clash. “Elbows up” is becoming a cultural rallying cry north of the border; Johnston raised his when he went airborne and rattled into USMNT striker Patrick Agyemang for an early tone-setter.
But unlike the gold medal victory in the second meeting on ice last month, Sunday’s Canadian triumph wasn’t tension-filled, edge-of-the-blade stuff. It was utterly comprehensive, with those in red dominating every facet. Thursday’s loss to Mexico hurt deeply given how vocal Canada were about leaving here with a trophy, but it set the stage for Marsch to make some demands of his team.
With Canada having bossed possession against Mexico but done precious little with it, Marsch insisted that more attacking fluidity could be found by “slowing the game down” in the final third. On Sunday they were metronomic, with Ali Ahmed tapering the tempo to terrific effect as he set up both Tani Oluwaseyi’s opener and Jonathan David’s winner. Marsch also asked his team to show they could rebound in a short turnaround, with just a few days between games. They did so despite adversity: losing captain Alphonso Davies to an early injury, then seeing the coach dismissed with the game still level.
Last summer’s Copa América run was the spark for the Marsch era but each subsequent window has helped build upon it. This is a squad which is growing, and new depth and options emerged in Inglewood. Hajduk Split’s Niko Sigur sprung from the bench to win just his third cap and put in 80-plus ultra impressive minutes at right back after Davies was forced out. Johnston switched to left-back to brilliant effect, perhaps opening the possibility of freeing up Davies to move further forward in future matches.
In midfield, vice-captain Stephen Eustáquio started on the bench with Mathieu Choinière brought in to partner Ismaël Koné. Choinière was impressively tidy and busy but Koné in particular took the added responsibility and thrived, owning middle America.
“An amazing performance,” assistant Mauro Biello said afterwards of a player who has found playing time hard to come by until his recent loan from Marseille to Rennes. “Ismaël’s in Ramadan right now and it’s not easy for him going through that but he showed his fighting spirit.”
Spirit can sometimes easier to identify by its absence than presence. The US appear to be devoid of what Canada have. And what Canada have may be best exemplified by Eustáquio, who admitted to reporters his disappointment at being dropped from the lineup but said “everybody matters … we need that depth come 2026.”
The team John Herdman brought to Qatar in 2022 had spirit without depth. Marsch, knowing this can’t simply be his or Davies and David’s team alone, is melding all of the above. Set-piece improvements feel like the next vital step with a specialist coach due to be hired by the next June window.
David’s winner was superb. But Biello pointed to his 50-yard covering sprint back to clear danger before half-time as “speaking a lot to the type of player he is, the type of leader he is.” Vitally, new pillars have been installed around existing ones. Moïse Bombito’s performances against Mexico and the US underlined his emergence as one of the most promising defenders in the game. Nice may well make a quick and sizeable profit on him this summer.
Before this window, The Athletic ranked the top 20 players in Concacaf, a list which included 11 US players and just four Canadians, with Bombito down at 19th. The sound of 40 million pairs of eyebrows being raised north of the 49th parallel made its way to LA.
“For many years there we were always the underdog,” said Biello in his brief, unexpected post-match appearance. “But things are starting to shift.”
