Former USMNT player and current Canada manager Jesse Marsch “[doesn’t] really care” whether the United States advances to the Round of 16 at the 2026 World Cup.
Marsch led his side to its first World Cup knockout stage victory on Sunday and said he isn’t worried about how the US fares against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
“I know a couple of players on their team, and Bosnia is a group of fighters, so they were not easy to play against,” Marsch said. “I was very complimentary of them after the game. I thought we could have been better in the match, but I think that whoever they play, they will give a really hard match.”
Canada and Bosnia played to a 1-1 draw on June 12 in the host country’s opening match, which kept Canada from winning the group and getting to the Round of 32 on home soil.
Despite the recent match, Marsch did not offer any help to USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino, who has a chance to lead the United States to its first World Cup knockout stage victory since 2002.
“It’s up to the U.S. to figure out, and they can learn from the matches that Bosnia played,” Marsch said.
Marsch is from Wisconsin and spent most of his playing career in the United States, spending time with the Chicago Fire and D.C. United after graduating from Princeton.
The Canada manager played for the USMNT in a 2001 World Cup qualifier against Trinidad and Tobago and in a 2007 friendly against China.
He briefly worked as an assistant to Bob Bradley with the United States when he started coaching.
Marsch’s reputation as a boisterous manager has grown during the 2026 World Cup, in part due to earlier comments about the USMNT.
In the lead up to Canada’s games against Bosnia, Marsch said he “had to beg” the U.S. players to sing the national anthem while he was coaching, but the Canada players “belt it out to the top of their lungs. Because they want to show the country how proud they are to be here, to be Canadians and to represent what Canada is.”
