Questions linger for Marsch’s Canadian soccer side ahead of 2026

With the 2026 World Cup fast approaching, Jesse Marsch and the Canadian men’s national team still have more questions than answers.

Coming off a 1-0 loss to Australia on Friday, the team looked to bounce back Tuesday against 13th-ranked Colombia, at Harrison, N.J., on Tuesday.

The match saw a closely contested 90 minutes that proved to be a true challenge for Marsch’s men, who are currently ranked 26th in the world.

Both sides were held to very few chances throughout the two halves, until the dying minutes of the game where the Canadians were forced to hold off a late surge from the South Americans.

The hard fought scoreless battle may be seen as an impressive showing of stability for Marsch, but the inability to put the ball into the back of the net proves to be an ongoing issue over the course of the American’s tenure north of the border.

To date, Marsch’s Canadians have scored 47 goals and conceded 38.

Positives can be taken from a +9 goal differential, but when comparing that to the record of the previous man in charge John Herdman whose side had 89 goals for and 17 against at the same point, eyebrows start to raise. 

Since Marsch’s introduction as head coach, he has managed 24 matches, winning 12, drawing four, and losing eight – for an average of 1.67 points per match. While not the worst record in international football, there still seems to be questions surrounding key positions in the starting eleven.

As the team arrived in Qatar in 2022, to take part in its first World Cup in 36 years, then-head coach Herdman had less to figure out. At that time, 34 year old goalkeeper Milan Borjan was set in stone in goal, while the veteran experience of Cyle Larin and Junior Hoilett were options in the forward positions. 

Borjan has since hung up his gloves, Hoilett was not even involved in the squad for the two October friendlies, and Larin has been out of favour recently for younger talents such as Jonathan David and Tani Oluwaseyi.

Now, almost 4 years on, the landscape of the national team has changed with Marsch having more squad depth to deal with.

As for the spot in between the sticks, Marsch has been split between his two main options. Both Maxime Crépeau and Dayne St. Clair have each started 12 games, with the latter being favoured in recent matches having been the first choice in 6 of the least 10.

But even with St. Clair seemingly being Marsch’s first pick, some believe Crépeau, who was seen as Borjan’s understudy for many years, is the better option, leaving more discussions to be had surrounding who will take the field come June.

Marsch will welcome the returns of Alphonso Davies (ACL) and Alistair Johnston (hamstring) in the coming months who have both been out with injuries, while the recent sidelining of midfielder Moises Bombito (broken leg) is yet another setback for the Canadian squad.

Since taking over in May of 2024, Marsch has faced constant change and Canada still seems to be a step behind the world’s best, with key decisions looming before next summer.

Canada now look to their next set of friendlies in November where they will take on Ecuador at BMO Field on the 13th before heading to Chase Stadium to face Venezuela on the 18th.