When Jesse Marsh and his wife were looking for an attractive holiday destination a few years ago, they came across a property they liked in the hills north of Pisa. There was a garden containing olives, capers and oranges, but it was a bit neglected and needed some care and attention.
The house seemed solid, rooted in the ground, built from local marble. There was a terrace overlooking the open Tuscan landscape. And about the possibility of adding your own ideas, for example, a boccia court with fine red sand. The villa seemed the perfect refuge for a man who had made a good living as a football vagabond for decades but had never found a real home.
Jesse Marsh, who grew up in the anonymous industrial town of Racine on Lake Michigan in the US state of Wisconsin, knew only one thing: โI need to get out of there.โ He really wanted to โsee the world.โ
โIโve never seen Jesse so upset.โ
However, such a project is difficult to plan for a football player with limited athletic ability. So Marsh only had enough to complete the 14-year Tour dโHorizon in the second tier of the North American professional league Major League Soccer (MLS) with just three stops โ Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles. And only two calls to the US national team.
The long-awaited shift in views began late for the Ivy League graduate of Princeton University, after his active career had ended. There he found a conveyor belt in the intercontinental Red Bull universe that transported him from New York (2015-2018) through Salzburg (2019-2021) and Leipzig (2021) to the world. Soon after, he also moved to Leeds United, where he became the third US manager to receive the Premier League seal.
However, this resume was clearly not enough for decision-makers at the American Football Association when they were looking for a successor to the hapless Gregg Berhalter. Instead, they chose the more prolific Argentine Mauricio Pochettino. He had to form a team that could have bold hopes of impressive tournament success.
When Marsh did not get the position he wanted, although he was seriously considered as a candidate, he lost the composure that he usually exudes. โIโve never seen Jesse so upset,โ said a teammate of his when he was playing in MLS. โHe told me, โI have no idea what just happened. They literally pulled the rug out from under me. I thought everything was clear.โ
He never misses an opportunity to mock his compatriots
This became the starting point of an alternative and relatively piquant professional path. A little later, Marsh accepted an offer from the Canadian Football Association and became the head coach there. Since then, he has never missed an opportunity to mock his compatriots. For example, a few weeks ago he said that as an assistant coach for Team USA, he had to โbegโ the players to sing the national anthem. Unlike the patriotic Canadians in his unit, led by Alphonso Davies, the Ghanaian son of Liberian refugees, who did not need to be taught this.
The extent of the provocation became clear when Americans such as former national team striker Clint Dempsey began to defend themselves. Marsh should โmind his own business,โ he said angrily. Marsh has actually always done this quite successfully as a coach. He led the Canadians, long considered weaker, to two straight victories over the United States, including in the Concacaf Nations League third-place game in March 2025.
Include external content
March made no secret of his motivation to stir up rivalry between the two countries. It showed right from the start, as he began a tour of Canada, nine cities in ten days, and shook hands with assembled soccer fans like a politician on the campaign trail. โI need to know what it means to be Canadian,โ he said. This led one of his players to say: Marsh was โmore Canadian than us.โ
Thatโs why he didnโt soften his words when US President Donald Trump launched his disparaging verbal attacks on Canada in 2025. In his new professional home, he has found a place that โembodies the ideas and values โโthat define not just football and the team, but life,โ he said, and criticized Trump directly: โStop this ridiculous rhetoric about Canada being the 51st federal state,โ he said. โAs an American, I am ashamed of this.โ
X Factor: Jesse Marsh hopes for captain Alphonso Davies.dpa
Anyone who observed him more closely during this process of assimilation could not fail to notice a certain change in his heart. After being ousted from Leeds, Marsh deliberately turned down offers from other European clubs and sought a less stressful challenge. โBefore, my goal was to reach the highest level. And the higher I rose, the fewer things I lovedโand the more things I hated.โ Now he wants to find exactly the environment โin which I feel fulfilled.โ How well he apparently succeeded was conveyed by an eleven-minute film from the Canadian sports channel TSN, the title of which alluded to the film crewโs visit to Tuscany: โLa Dolce Vita.โ
X Factor Alphonso Davies
On the other hand, in his homeland, an American from half a distance is perceived in a slightly more nuanced manner than across the border. The โmarching ball,โ the concept of attacking with high speed and high pressure, gave the Canadians, considered particularly polite, a fair amount of arrogance, the New York Times wrote in a profile.
But March always offends me too. For example, with exaggerated dances of joy on the sidelines, as during the victory over Qatar in the second group match of the World Cup. There was almost no such thing in the important third game against Switzerland. Given the opportunity, his players could secure victory in the group with a draw. But they couldnโt find a way to level the score until the end. Canada lost 2-1 and thus lost home advantage in the first game of the playoffs.
Canada will now play South Africa in Los Angeles on Sunday. And if they are successful, they will face the winner of the Netherlands-Morocco meeting in Houston. If you look at it soberly, reaching this round of 16 would be a decent success. Before this World Cup, the Canadians qualified only twice, in 1986 and 2022, and lost all six World Cup games.
From now on there will be no relief for Alphonso Davies, who suffered a thigh injury in the Champions League semi-final between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain a few weeks ago. Marsh has no other choice. His captain is the X-factor in his game and is missed at every corner.