Jesse Marsch knows he says things people may dislike.
He’s not about to stop.
“Look, I’m American. But I’m honoured and really proud to be the Canadian national team coach,” the head coach of Canada’s men’s soccer team said Monday.
“And I think we know I’m not afraid to say things that I think sometimes need to be said or that I feel should be said, whether people agree with them or not.”
Marsch, who hails from Racine, Wisc., raised ire this week with comments he made about American mentality in a wide-ranging interview with The Guardian.
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He told the newspaper that Americans are “inundated with propaganda” from a young age and “feel like we deserve to be treated differently because we’re Americans.”
The comments come as Canada prepares to face the U.S. in a friendly in St. Paul, Minn., on Tuesday, with an ongoing trade war between the two nations playing out in the background.
“I get that it’s not always the job of a sports person to put themselves in the forefront of the political environments and everything else. But I’ve had a unique perspective, being an American and having a bit of a Canadian mentality and representing a really important role in the nation,” Marsch said in a press conference on Monday.
“So I’ve taken that on as something that I take very seriously. And when I believe that there’s things that need to be said and stood up for, then I do that. Do I cross the line sometimes? Yeah, probably. But so what? So what? If the team’s ready to play on the weekend, then we should all be happy.”
Heading into Tuesday’s game, Canada sits 27th in FIFA’s world rankings, and is coming off a 1-0 exhibition victory over Chile on Sept. 26. The nation then blanked Peru 2-0 in Montreal on Saturday.
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The Americans are ranked 16th, and are 3-0-0 in the current international window with wins over Chile, Peru and Mexico.
Both Canada and the U.S. were host nations for this summer’s World Cup, and both were ousted from the round of 16.
Tuesday will mark the first time the two nations have faced off since March 2025, when the Canadians downed the Americans 2-1 to take third place in that year’s CONCACAF Nations League.
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That game, too, was played in a politically charged atmosphere as U.S. President Donald Trump mused about wanting to make Canada the so-called “51st state.”
The background isn’t much different this time around, Marsch said.
“Here we are now, the big talk in America is Lake Ontario, Lake America, this kind of crap,” the coach said.
“In the end, I don’t have to sit in front of the guys and say, `OK guys, we’re playing the U.S., this is an important game, we have to get ready and we have to make sure that we’re at our best.’ They don’t need reminders when we play the U.S. … So, I think the rivalry is better than it’s ever been. More because the two teams are good, right?”
