Jesse Marsch on Canada’s Historic Moment, Alphonso Davies’ Fitness, and Building the People’s Team: Men in Blazers 06/05/26

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2:01Start planning your journey at meninblazers.com backslash cityguides. You're listening to the Men in Blazers Media Network, suboptimal radio. You want them to do well, but it would piss you off, knowing you, Jesse, if you don't. If you do not get further than the United States, that would not be a happy Jesse Marshall. I want the US to do well.

2:28My guest today, on the cusp of a historic moment as manager of the Canadian national team, he's a trailblazer. He has a love of hard-charging football. And he's comfortable as quoting Gandhi as he is breaking down XG versus PPDA. The pride of Racine, Wisconsin. It's an incredible pleasure to welcome back. It's Mr. Jesse Marsh. I'm very angry right now with my press officer here because he didn't tell me that we were speaking today, Roger. And I've been preparing an introduction for you to rival how you always introduce me. And I'm very disappointed. But the next time you're going to get a glowing about Everton and growing up in the streets of England.

3:13okay so that's the next time i'm giving you that is that your english accent that's all you got that's a scouser i'm saying you know what i owe you i owe you press officer lunatic because if he's deprived me of that i'm so grateful i will not have nice things said in my presence but jesse too bad you are so chill we are just nine days before canada kick off this monumental world cup in toronto against bosnia and herzegovina can you give me a vibe check if you were to describe your mood in three adjectives what would you say calm focused and ready roger i've never been any of those three in my life and i'm not managing a world cup on home turf but let's get into it and hear about this calm focus readiness because you just named your 26 man roster for canada a live broadcast i loved it from the iconic cn tower in toronto players names on the spire it's like watching Canadian Blade Runner, the process of squad selection.

4:12How long before you announced the squad were you at one with it? Do you agonize? Do you go back and forth? Are you wrestling through the night in your own head or did you just know? Well, we've had a pretty strong core here, you know, and we've built a broader and broader player pool around that core. So the biggest challenge for us was we had a lot of injury issues, you know, and so we had to manage like, OK, what were the return to play protocols and timeframes and what did it what did it look like? And, you know, we were kind of going week by week as we were nearing our pre-camp date and just keeping our fingers crossed about not picking up any more injuries.

4:52Fortunately, we've had a lot of people trending in a really positive way. We lost Marcelo Flores in the in the CONCACAF Champions League final, which was really sad. An agony. Yeah. But a lot of guys are trending in a good way. A lot of guys are looking fit and strong. And so, of course, there were some discussions in the 11th hour about exactly what we want to do and how we want to handle the squad. But I'm really happy with the squad. And if we can keep edging all of our players toward 100 % fitness, we really think we have a good team. I've been advertising it as the best Canadian team ever assembled.

5:27And there's no reason why we can't have very high expectations for ourselves and be ready for some big challenges. Let's talk a little more about those factors. But I do want to touch upon, every international manager talks about the other side of the equation in this moment as the pride of announcing the 26. But the players who didn't make it, you're a former international player yourself. And you know the weight of the emotions that are involved. You talked on selection day about how you made it a point to personally call or leave voice messages for all 27 players on that roster who missed the final cut.

6:00You talked about respect and honesty. I know speaking to international managers, so many of them find that one of the most emotionally and psychologically difficult moments. Can you talk about how you do that and your philosophy in those conversations? Well, in 2010, I went through it with Bob Bradley and we made seven cuts in the 11th hour in the middle of the night, mind you, when we prepared the team to go to South Africa. And I've always advertised that as the worst moment or the toughest, most difficult moment of my coaching career, even though I was only an assistant coach. And I cut players or I took part in making the decision to cut players like Sasha Kleschen, who I'd been really close with, Brian Ching.

6:43Like you could go down the list of players that deserve to go. You woke them up in the middle of the night? Yeah, well, we had to because we had to submit the roster in the middle of the night because it was done South Africa time. So it was very difficult. Very difficult. But, you know, here what I've tried to do, and I'm not saying that I've been perfect along the way, but what I've tried to do is really show respect to all the players and to make sure that the work they put in, the effort they give to the national team, you know, and by the way, I often describe the character of this Canadian national team and the individuals in it as impeccable, as literally like perfection, because the selflessness and the commitment that they've all made to the national team to try to help it elevate itself and to become great has been different than anything I've ever seen in any team I've ever coached.

7:35They're very proud to represent the country. Many of them are first and second generation where their families come from different places, but representing Canada means the world to them. And so I really feel like I'm just a steward of the program, right? And by the way i'm not even canadian right they are and so it's my job to make sure that i honor their work that i support their work that i provide a platform for them to be really great to be the best that they can be and that i show respect to everyone that has come before me that has helped bring it to where it is and to the current people that have helped us elevate it to where it is now amen um in this squad that you have put together that you've almost built in your own image to a large degree.

8:17It's fast. It's high energy. It's aggressive, positive. I don't know if I mentioned the word fast. I'm going to ask you different members of your squad. And when I say their name, just tell me the one word that you use to describe them. Start with, are you ready for this? Start with Jonathan Davis. Intelligent. Alphonso Davies. Dynamic. Ismael Coney. Special. God, I could only have you use one word. I want to know more. Dane St. Clair. Ready. My favorite, But Alistair Johnson. Warrior. Yeah, that man is like the most cerebral bar brawler in football. Last one, Jesse Marsh. Lunatic.

8:58And now we know that the others are all true. That's how we know people. The team's been training in Charlotte, North Carolina. And I know how important communication is to you. It's why I love being with you. You always talk quite directly about your expectations. your sense of purpose and you fuse your inspirations into everything you do. What's your message been to the players? What's your opening theme been? What have you been quoting? Yeah, I mean, we've been talking about, you know, the last phase of our preparation because I think we've built a really clear identity. You talked about being fast and being direct and being dynamic.

9:34You know, we talked from the beginning that I told them that this is one of the fastest collection of players that I've ever coached and that I thought that we played too methodical and that we needed to shift that. And the players agreed and they committed to it and they've been rewarded for it and the team has grown. But I think in this last phase, it's less about the actual football, which we all know is incredibly important, and more about making sure that from a personality perspective, a game intelligence perspective, a moment where we know we can all seize the moment by being together and being ready and pushing our overall communication, organization and personality.

10:12like this is, I think, still the next step, the final frontier for this team to be really, really good. So, you know, the football is clear. The identity is clear. The commitment to be the things we want to be. We're incredibly hard to score on. Right. We've been very, very, I think, organized. And now it's about like creating a new level of belief and a new level of standards of what we think the overall personality of the team needs to look like. Let's start with the big one. World Cups are about talent. They're also about timing. Your captain, Bayern Munich left back, the sword, the shield, Afonso Davies has battled a cruel ACL injury and then hangstring challenges.

10:54He's back now. He's not quite ready for action. You've made it clear you don't want to, quote, put him in a situation to suffer again, to be vulnerable again. He said he's not going to be ready for that first game. How do you balance that hunger to play him with the need not to rush him back, knowing that you need to peak in the knockout round? Well, Alfonso and I have gotten pretty close, right? So we can have good conversations and have really good dialogue about where he is, how he's feeling. We've really now created a meticulous plan in his return to play to make sure that we're monitoring everything.

11:28And then we can, as we go day by day, then make little adjustments to the plan. But we think that, you know, First, he's an incredible athlete, right? And he's a quick healer. He's shown that. But we have to make sure that we're also hitting all the markers in terms of his overall body symmetry, in terms of his overall strength, fatigue, like that we're moving forward in all right ways, that he's strong, that he's healthy. And put yourself in Alfonso's shoes a little bit. Like, I think one of the biggest challenges that Alfonso is going through right now is just trusting his body, right? Because he's kind of as soon as he gets himself going, he starts to experience a new injury.

12:05And and you can imagine how frustrating that is for a young man who plays at a high level, who believes in himself and in a moment where he wants to represent the country as the captain in all the right ways. So, look, he and I have talked a lot about making sure that we have a plan, that we stick to the plan, but that we work through the plan carefully to think about what little adjustments we need to make. And again, to set himself up to succeed and not to have another setback or another injury where he's left with big questions and big concerns about what his future is. Like, that's the last thing I want for Alfonso.

12:37So we're working diligently with Bayern, with their medical team, with everyone, our medical team together to make sure that we're putting a program together that can really benefit him and get him back to being his best.

12:53Psychologically, how do you prepare the rest of the squad for those two different scenarios? One with Alphonso, back on the pitch by game two or three, and one without? What's your message? Look, in general, I think even Alfonso would tell you that this team is so much more than one player now. There's so many talented players, so many dynamic players. We know we're better with Alfonso, but we also know we have a good team and we can be successful without him. But I tell you this, a major motivating factor is no doubt. You have to understand, when you're around great players and great athletes, there's an aura shift when they walk into the room.

13:34And so the only time that we've seen Alfonso over the last year and a half was he came to our Honduras game that we played in Gold Cup, the first game of the tournament in Vancouver. He came to that after he had a surgery and everything. And we won 6-0. And a big part of our play in that game was that Alfonso was there that day. Right. And the energy he brought, I thought, shifted the entire expectation of what we wanted the game to be. And so I think that we're motivated to get him healthy. We're motivated to give him a chance to play in this tournament. We're doing everything we can to work with our medical team to do that.

14:13And Alfonso is too. And then in the meantime, the team feels the energy, right? They feel having him back in the group is a different feeling than it was without him. And if we can give him a chance to play in this tournament and then get him on the pitch at a high level where we know he can help us be better, this is all that we're focusing on in terms of what Alphonso means right now. You talk about how this team can shut opponents down. At the other end, in terms of balance, you've scored, I think, before the game, Monday night against Uzbekistan. Dan, I think you scored three times in open play from the last eight games.

14:50Very much in the style of Premier League winners, Arsenal. You rely on your set pieces, your penalties. Jonathan David is your talisman. He's come off a season of some challenge at Juventus. Six goals in his first year there. It's been frustrating for him. He's talked about it. But you know, that man can score at will when he's feeling loved. What's your message to him? Is this just about ultimately man management? Yeah, look, I, Johnny is a very confident and intelligent person, right? Like he, he, I think only needs little reminders. He doesn't need like massive psychological support and emotional framework or foundation.

15:32He, he, he needs, I think a clear idea of what the expectation is for him on the pitch and the ability to go out and play. And so we use him a little, you know, sometimes we put him up there where he's like our last player and our last striker. But then other times we use him in ways where he's such a great footballer. He's so intelligent. He's he's really a good presser. He's a good counterpresser. He's really alert for all situations and he kind of knows everything that's happening around him at all times. And so we just find that he makes us a better team by doing so much more than just scoring.

16:05but we don't want to take away his ability to also be the guy that can do that. So, you know, I mean, I even had a conversation with him today on, you know, how do we, you know, keep little reminders for him on things I think that make him really good. How is he feeling about how we're using him? You know, that we're continuing to try to get him around the goal, but also know that he means so much more to our team than just scoring goals. So, and Johnny's always aligned with these things. Like he sees things clearly. It doesn't take a lot of explanation for him to understand the full 360 view of everything that's happening.

16:40So this is one of the things I really like about him is just at times picking his brain, because I know he'll have insight to almost anything that we are talking about. And certainly when it comes to him and his play, yeah, he's got really strong ideas about how to get the best out of him. And I think he's aligned with everything we're doing to use him that way. Quick one about that win, 2-0 against Uzbekistan, fellow World Cup travellers. You made 11 changes in that game. You rotated every single position on the field. What is the philosophy there, balancing the need for chemistry between your goalkeeper and your centre-backs?

17:14They need reps, they need to build comms, and the desire to get everybody minutes and looks. Well, in general, we did a very heavy fitness element when we were down in Carolina. So we try to go down for these tournaments to somewhere where we know it's going to be really hot and we run them, man. Because I find in tournament play, like overall team fitness, especially with the way that I like to play, is a very big contributor to how successful you can be. And frankly, when we played in Copa America two years ago, we just felt like we were fitter than everyone else. And if you look at the run data and if you look at, you know, the explosive run data, explosive moments in games, explosive data, Canada was at the top of every team in that tournament.

17:55And it was no small part to the fitness work that we did. So, you know, I know it's been a long season for a lot of our guys, but injecting them with this booster of fitness really helps them, I think, perform at their highest level. And then we have to make sure that, especially in that first match, that we're not over stretching them from a physical or loading perspective and risking injury. So, you know, we've got a pretty good formula for what we think we need to do to get the most out of them and we try to follow it to a tee team cultures at a world cup are critical but they're also hard to you know maintain amongst the pressure the isolation social media hype the ego the competition um you know it's hard to keep the vibes high and good you were part of the 2010 the u.s world cup coaching staff can you talk about the techniques you use to keep that sense of joy keep the boredom away keep the spirits buzzing Yeah, look, we do some team building things, right?

18:51We did this in 2010. We had Bill Walton come to the team. We had Dan Gelata, the helicopter pilot from Blackhawk down. You know, we showed different things that we looked at, you know, and so I've kind of used that model here. I will say that the character of this team is incredible. It's impeccable. Like, it's an honor to coach them, and it's a pleasure. But we're having Georges St-Pierre come and speak to the team, and he's a UFC world champion, right? And he's going to speak to the team about, like, you know, what it's like to be in the ring, the man in the arena, right? And when things get tough, what do you put into your preparation, your physical, your mental, your psychological preparation?

19:33maybe when you're getting your kicked like how do you have strategies to respond to you know back against the wall and to be ready for anything so Raj I'm sure you've never been in a cage match fight I I can say I never have either but you know I think there's something to be learned from these kinds of situations and he's Canadian right he's Canadian he loves he loves the country and he represents the country every time he fights. So we've tried to, in our own little way, have little messaging, have little people around, have different people around the team, you know, to speak to them, to share experiences.

20:11We've had Sidney Crosby with the team. We've had Wayne Gretzky. You know, we try to find the right Canadians who can really share experiences about what it means to represent the country, what it means to really compete, what it really means to, to, you know, have your teammates backs. And then I think that that has to be an X factor for us. Like one X factor is our speed and athleticism. And another X factor for us has to be our willingness to do anything for each other, the commitment we have to each other and the national team. And I think that all these guys embody that the right way. And I just want to give them a platform to pull that out, to, to, to, to show everybody how good demonstrate what that means and to be at our best in those ways.

20:52Oh my God. if Alistair Johnson gets to work out to give a sharper nut punch from St. Pierre, it is lights out. It is game over. Jesse, what is your biggest fear right now? I know you're going to tell me you don't have any fears, but everybody has fears. What's the biggest worry you're experiencing this close to the World Cup? More than anything, it's just to give our injured players the best chance possible to get themselves as close to 100 % as possible so that they can contribute to what this World Cup is and be close to their best so that they can represent who they are and what they mean to our team.

21:27So that's been – I mean, we have two medical meetings a day, and we're really just trying to stay on top of all these details to really give a lot of these names and players the best chance to get close to being their best. So obviously Alfonso is a big one in that way, but we've got a number of guys that if we think we can get them healthy, they can be big contributors to our success in this tournament. Do you sleep well? Yeah, look, I mean, I've learned as a coach that as much as you want to control things, that the best thing you can do is put your players in position to succeed and empower them to believe they can be great.

22:06Right. And so the thing that concerns me more than like the nervousness of what's going to happen in the game or making sure that the decisions I make are right, is that I want our players in a mindset and a physical status that that they can go out and be their best. And so I believe that we have that with this group. I believe that we've already established that at a high level. And I believe that we're going to continue to push that. And I believe that these guys are ready to capture the moment. So that part excites me more than it makes me nervous or worried. When you're asleep, do you dream about like Promise David?

22:44Do the things you're grappling with every day, the fitness, the goalkeeping decision, the strategy, does it penetrate your dream life? Serious question. No, no. I sleep pretty well, Raj. You don't dream football dreams. You do not dream football dreams. God. No, I dream of little things about, you know, friends and family. But I don't, you know, like, look, I've said this to you before. I love football. But like, the things that I love about football are more the people, right? Like, I enjoy training and I enjoy tactics and I enjoy preparation and all this kind of stuff. But what I really enjoy are people and really helping young men, highly talented young men, understand how to be at their best.

23:32That's what really drives me. Your press officer would want you to say, I dream only about poutine. I'm in Montreal right now. So I'm here. We're, you know, the homeland of poutine. Oh, my God. I would love that city more than I can say. I want a bagel just hearing you say that town's name. In that group stage, you play Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto, led by 40 years young Eden Djekko. Going to be well-supported to huge Bosnian community in Toronto. Five days later, Vancouver, you meet Qatar, Julian Lopetegui's Qatar. They actually qualified this time round and are not to be underrated. And then Switzerland finished top of their group in qualifying.

24:13Granit Xhaka, an inspiration, very much like Swiss U, ferociously tenacious. As you're planning, are your coaches game planning all three right now or do you do it one game at a time? We do it one game at a time, but we've talked a lot about a lot of the concepts that we're building in into all these matches and then referencing what those games are going to be like and what we'll need to be aware of against those opponents. So that part, I think, has been educational and important for our team. And I think we've, in the first match against Uzbekistan, we were clear on the things that we wanted to try to eliminate from them that we know we'll have to be good at when we play those three opponents.

24:51They're all three a little bit different, but they all three have some similarities, right? So we're really clear on what kind of match plans we want to have. We're really clear on what the group will look like and what teams will look like. And then it's about can we perform at our highest level and give ourselves the best chance to make it difficult on every opponent and to then find ways to capitalize on things that we can be good at.

25:17Canada have never won a World Cup game in their entire history only scored two World Cup goals total when you think back to the reasons why with so much talent what do you pinpoint? Well look I think that there's so much good work that's been done in this country but there's been a lot of sort of disarray moments between you know the CSA being financially strapped they're not being a league they're not being clear development pathways i mean i even i say this all time like there's a lot there's clearly a lot of good work that's been done in the country just look at our player pool right so it's not like they just came from nowhere there's been good grassroots there's been good youth programs there's been good academies professional ranks however most of our players have had to take development paths that haven't been very linear You know, they've been kind of sideways and backwards and up and down.