Audio By Carbonatix
Jesse Marsch was not hired to coach the United States Men’s National Team in soccer. He instead took the same position with Canada just a few months after he was rejected by his home country.
The 51-year-old took a not-so subtle jab at the team that chose not to hire him ahead of the Gold Cup as Christian Pulisic and his father feud with Landon Donovan. It was and is completely warranted.
Marsch was hired to lead Canadian soccer last May. This is his second year with Les Rouge. He has a 7-4-6 record over 17 games.
Canada will have a complete roster at the Gold Cup. The same cannot be said for the United States.
Some USMNT stars, like Weston McKennie, are unable to play because of obligations with their club. They must play in the Club World Cup per their contracts. Pulisic chose not to play in the tournament because he needs a mental and physical break after two-straight seasons with 50+ games for his club.
Donovan, who is widely considered the American GOAT at this point in time, tore into his younger countryman for the pathetic decision. Pulisic’s dad offered a scathing response to the criticism (with help from Chat GPT?) and his son echoed those same sentiments. Tim Howard, another USMNT legend, also joined in on the conversation to side with Donovan.
Christian Pulisic supposedly offered to play in the tune-up matches prior to the Gold Cup but not in the actual Gold Cup. First-year head coach Mauricio Pochettino and his staff reportedly told him no.
Meanwhile, the United States lost four-straight matches for the first time since 2007. All of the losses were embarrassing— 1-0 to Panama, 2-1 to Canada, 2-1 to Turkey and 4-0 to Switzerland. Yikes.
Pulisic could be the difference in a lot of these matches but he is choosing to rest. Tough look.
Canada does not have that issue. Other than injuries to captain Alphonso Davies and Moïse Bombito, the CanMNT has a full complement of first-choice stars for the Gold Cup. Jesse Marsch made sure to establish the difference between North American countries.
This is the internal pressure we put on each other, there’s no time off. Not one guy called me and said, “Coach, I don’t know, it’s been a long year, maybe I don’t come to the Gold Cup.” Not one guy. Not even close to that conversation.
— Jesse Marsch
He continued on to praise his players for wanting to compete.
They know the expectations they’re putting on themselves, and certainly the expectations I’m putting on them, all of those things have added up to more confidence and self-belief, not more doubts. The guys all want to be in those situations … They’re not fazed by these moments. They’re actually excited about them.
— Jesse Marsch
Shots fired? Shots fired.
Marsch might still be salty that he didn’t get the USMNT job. And honestly, I don’t blame him for taking something of a victory lap amid a successful start with Canada. He established a culture where guys want to play for him and for their country. The United States’ biggest star is staying home to rest.