Peak leaf hasn’t yet arrived in Montreal but the bursts of gold and butterscotch up on the hill that gave this place its name still mushroom out by the hour.
Sitting in a glass-panelled hotel mezzanine at the foot of Mount Royal, Canada men’s coach Jesse Marsch has his mind on another harvest. When this extended autumnal international window ends he will decamp to Italy, where the olive crops at his Tuscan villa are ready for reaping.
Flight paths between Canada and Europe have been busy lately, and figurative transatlantic distances are closing fast. As Canada’s relations with the noisiest neighbour to the south stretch and fray, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney is forging alliances with the EU so close that the bloc is apparently inventing new membership categories.
As an American residing in Europe who is also a Canadian leader with robust approval ratings, Marsch is watching. To him, it feels right.
“I’ve always thought Canada was a little bit more European than the US anyway. Right?” Marsch tells the Guardian. “But certainly now there’s enough happening politically and economically that you would say, we’re looking much more like that. There’s talk of [Canada becoming an associate EU member] even actually happening. I like that aspect.
“There’s a uniqueness to Canada in terms of how truly multiethnic this country has become. You can see that Canada is not just a North American country any more, you know? That bodes well for our sport and for the makeup of our team, the makeup of our fans.”
Having led Canada’s men to historic highs at this summer’s World Cup, Marsch is feeling his way into his second act in the job. Some of his sideline displays – we’ll get to that meme – may have irked outsiders, especially in his homeland, during the tournament. Yet, having extended for four more years, Marsch is someone an overwhelming majority of Canadians are happy to have at the helm. There are more than a few cross-points between Marsch and Carney.
“My impression is that first of all, he is a really smart guy, but a really normal guy,” Marsch says of Carney, who attended a number of Canada’s World Cup matches. “Sometimes you meet a US president, and you’re overwhelmed, maybe by their presence, the position itself. I’ve met Clinton, George Bush Sr, Obama, Trump, Biden. Oh, and Carter. Six in person. Carney, compared to all of them, the closest would be Obama. A real air of intelligence, but a real air of being a regular guy. I think that that’s perfect for this country and this moment.
“He has shown great support for us. I made a joke with him that ‘I heard you’re an Everton fan?’ and he goes, ‘Yeah’. And I go, ‘I’m sorry about that’. He replies: ‘Why does everybody say that? Everybody has to pick their team and stick by them.’ I said, ‘I appreciate that you don’t switch from Everton to Arsenal or Liverpool, like everybody else’. There’s something so genuine [about] that. Could a president of the US ever be an Everton fan? No chance.”
Circumstances, as well as natural impulses, have led Marsch to play statesman during this prolonged cooling of relations between Canada and his home country. He’s been defiant – lashing out at Donald Trump’s “51st state” barbs – then more deft. Sometimes, especially when it comes to the US Soccer Federation he said led him on with a job offer only to renege, he finds it hard to hide his disdain.
This window is the start of turning the page to the next phase of his Canada project. He admits, with a chuckle, that the four years stretching ahead feel long but there are imminent goals – a first trophy in 25 years, cracking and consolidating inside the world’s top 24.
A win over Chile in Toronto and 2-0 win over Peru here on Saturday afternoon in games billed as The Homecoming made for a solid start. New caps have been handed out. Key players arrived thriving in new surroundings, none more than Jonathan David at Atlético Madrid. Extended injury absences and the awkward non-attendance of captain Alphonso Davies (skipping the window to honeymoon) have been overcome.
But Tuesday’s clash with the US in Saint Paul means more American questions are coming. Looking back, the Folarin Balogun affair feels absolutely tailor-made for a Marschian verdict. He, of course, has thoughts.
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“Well, this is a deep conversation,” he leans back. “We, as Americans, have been inundated with propaganda since we were young. We’re the No 1 country in the world, we deserve everything, we dominate everything, No 1 in every aspect of life. This is what we’ve been told. So, when things happen and we don’t feel like we’re in control of it … we feel like we deserve to be treated differently because we’re Americans. That is one of the things that infuriates the rest of the world about Americans. And Americans don’t know that if they don’t ever leave the country.
“So what I feel when the Balogun ruling happens is that would never happen in any other country in the world, and this is why everyone around the world hates America. That was proven to be so. The US had had a good World Cup, was doing well. All that switched in one moment. But do I think that that’s about corruption and unfairness? The problem is, football is inundated with this kind of stuff.”
The meme is another World Cup leftover. “I’ve had all kinds of people ask me what it was, was it a meat slicer?” he says of his sideline gyrations during their match against Qatar. The incident spawned a gif which has been used plenty in the Marsch family WhatsApp since. “I don’t know what I’m doing sometimes. As soon as I’ve done it, I’m like: ‘Why did I do that? I’m such an idiot’.”
He doesn’t feel fooled, however, by the sport’s latest, arguably greatest, modern corruption crisis. Defeats to Manchester City in 2022-23 didn’t help the Leeds United side Marsch had managed when they missed safety by five points. That campaign is not one of the “sham” seasons which were part of the damning verdict against City last week. But he’s adamant the unfairness extended to his time in England.
“I think Man City should be punished severely. I think they should have to go down, and by the way, everyone knew about it. Everyone knew,” says Marsch, who also pointed to Everton and Nottingham Forest later being deducted points for issues in the same season when Leeds were relegated below both.
“That summer [2022], us and Man City were the only teams that said we made money. For us, we did make money, because we sold Raphinha, we sold Kalvin Phillips [to City]. We had a lot left over from what we bought. At the time, we weren’t in a position financially to not save. Our ownership didn’t have deep pockets. Whereas when Man City says this, I was literally like, ‘Are you kidding me? Is this some kind of joke?’
“When they said they got Erling Haaland for £52m, it’s like: ‘Yeah, OK, sure!’ So, I knew there were inconsistencies in it, but what can you do? You just put your arms in the air and go, ‘This is football’.”
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