Jesse Marsch was at one time a candidate for the U.S. men’s national team head coaching position, but after a positive start to life as Canada boss, the American admitted his happiness in his current role.
Marsch hit out at U.S. Soccer ahead of Canada’s Copa America third-place match vs. Uruguay on Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina. A former USMNT and long-time MLS player, Marsch was considered for the open vacancy in 2023 before U.S. Soccer decided to re-hire Gregg Berhalter for a second spell in charge.
After previous stops at Red Bull Salzburg, RB Leipzig and Leeds United, Marsch earned his first major international opportunity, taking over for John Herdman who joined Toronto FC.
Berhalter, 50, was released from his position earlier this week after the Americans group stage elimination from the Copa America tournament. Despite leading the USMNT to two CONCACAF Nations League titles, one Gold Cup, and a Round of 16 finish at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Berhalter lost six of his 14 matches in charge during his second spell.
Meanwhile, Canada delivered a positive debut in the Copa America this summer, going further than any Concacaf nation. Marsch praised the Canadian brass ahead of his team’s final match of the summer while also voicing his disapproval with the current focus of U.S. Soccer.
“I’m not leaving this job, I have no interest in the U.S. job,” Marsch told reporters on Friday.
“And to be fair, unless there’s a big shift in the organization, I don’t think that I’ll ever have any interest in that job in the future. So I’m really happy here, I couldn’t be happier actually in terms of what it’s like to work with the leaders in this organization and what it’s like to work with this team.”
Marsch will get his first crack at the USMNT this September when the two sides meet on September 7 at Children’s Mercy Park at Kansas City, Missouri.
Spain manager de la Fuente (no relation to Konrad) has reportedly reached out to USSF expressing interest in the position. This kind of seems like a ploy to get a bigger raise given he doesn’t seem to have any connection to US or US soccer.
Would you consider him if this was serious?
He just won the Euros.
I think Spain would be open to giving him a raise even w/o the USMNT ploy..
They also won last NL I believe. So yes for sure I’d consider it. He also won a couple youth Euro Championships, 2020 Olympic Silver medal. Interesting this is the first name leaked after Klopp’s initial refusal.
IV,
“i believe in the transitive property of results and when a team you usually beat at home, ties a team you lost to at home, you underperformed or have regressed. [and we tied uruguay 2 years ago.]”
You really believe in that? Why?
It doesn’t work. It’s superstition. It’s more of the malarkey you like to spread. As Americans we get enough of that in the daily media.
Uruguay 2 years ago was very much a different team and so was the USMNT.
And Bielsa now coaches Uruguay
And it was a friendly, not a do or die Copa America game to advance out of your group. Friendly results are exceedingly flexible and you can use them to bolster bogus narratives.
The USMNT has underperformed since Gregg took over.
Quick count of Euro knockouts and all Copa matches that ended with a winner. Teams with less possession were 11-28. So yes does being defensive and sitting back in your own half and trying to counter work? Yep, 1/4 of the time. So wanting the team to posses the ball and actually move the defense out of position is not a “fanboy Eurosnob” theory. The “we aren’t good enough to pass and dribble” self loathing is just sad. It wasn’t Gregg’s theories that were wrong it was his implementation of it. Get a coach that can actually implement the ideas.
here is reality. group D played out as expected and if our team had been as good as some of you thought before the tournament, the crossover was going to be colombia or brazil. i remember the fanboys making excuses about those friendlies but we got a rougher draw than canada and that was what even the quarters were gonna take, is nothing less than beating brazil. brazil and uruguay tied. we tied uruguay 2 years ago.
you do not advance in these tournaments or beat good teams making excuses for negative results and running the same stupid lineup back out there.
as i said below, i think a lot of the pro marsch fetish is just jealousy. fanboys expected another deep run without considering the draw or calling for the sort of tactical or selection changes required to get there. the weird thing is the fanboys seem to think any given berhalter roster must be the best players who work the hardest and play for the fanciest.
dude, at the mere select or college levels if the team didn’t fulfill expectations they recruited replacements. eggs get broken to make a better omelette. half the problem here is a fanboy mentality where players are untouchable and the response to a friendly that predicts how far you can advance, is, oh well. setting aside we let a guy coach for years while we neither got results nor looked well oiled.
you want to make the semis or final this kind of tournament you need to make changes until they win BEFORE THE TOURNAMENT. and not uzbekistan.
i say this because i already see naive folks, minus berhalter, talking up more of his possession soccer or some of his less defensible lineup choices. if that doesn’t change, we don’t change. it’s not just a different guy making bounce passes on the sideline. it’s gonna require some different choices. some of the sacred cows need to be hamburgered.
I have always been a huge fan of and followed Jesse Marsch as he began his ventures doing his thing, rooted like a nut for him and his career, for years.
being a US soccer fan, I have been bummed by how he has handled himself in this, excusing nothing re. USsoccer in all of it
at Leeds, I watched most of it like many here, and saw a team get absolutely hosed by the masseuses of the EPL, just like how the world’s wonderfully unbiased officials treat us…….
Congratulations to Jesse Marsch and the Canadian National Team for their accomplishment. Without all the drama, I would genuinely be happy for him
anyway, we need a coach that brings instant credibility and respect from the region 🙂 I just don’t know if anyone is interested like that. the candidates discussed are all wonderful coaches, but…….
unless he’s literally quitting them to coach us — of dubious value IMO — i would remember he coaches The Enemy, who he will play in the fall, and it’d be in his interest to sow discord in the competition. mexico coaches regularly mess with us. it may be head games.
that being said, to me the series of choices since roughly when klinsi went off boil suggest the fed is a corrupt mess. flynn delayed the klinsi firing so he could pick the replacement, resulting in the opening 0 point window that dug the hole we never quite got out of. they took the coach hiring away from the president and gave it to a succession of overrated GMs. we hired the brother of a USSF executive, twice. our caretakers are pedestrian. the suits seem to have decided that our group of fairly athletic but sloppy guys should play pep style possession soccer. this to me is the eurosnobs seem to have the apparatus seized.
we need to get the politics and corruption out. we need to hire the best coach we can afford. we need to hand him the power to decide how we play. we need to elevate performance back up above analytics or abstractions.
IV, we agree, and I like saying that since we do not so often
except re. Jesse man, I think it’s more…he burned’em down, his choice to make there, ok, message received
Beach…..I didn’t mean it like that. Nothing but respect 🤙🏾
@bizzy
cheers mate
Honestly I’ve kinda been rather unemotional on the positive or negative side regarding him… All along. He was kinda on the fringes of the conversation for me if that makes sense.
Wanting him to succeed as an American, but not surprised at any of the moves that have happened with him. I like his raw emotion but I also recognized that can only take coaches so far.
I would have chosen him over GB a long time ago, but I also would have chosen a half dozen SBI dudes over GB…
I asked a sarcastic hypothetical when he got hired on with Canada what would happen if they advanced further than us, never thinking it would actually happen, and I’m already meh about it. (The part about him, not our team) I think he could have easily taken the “less is more” approach to some of these comments and it would have served him better…
I don’t know, it’s weird but I’ve had literally zero emotion invested in that guy… I wonder why
unfortunately at this point, the feeling is mutual Jesse
I’m just curious…. Is it amateur hour not being able to get out of group c or getting out of your group,play past the quarterfinals, actually playing in a semi-final and out playing an opponent the US could not even score on….. using Canadian MLS players? Not to mention only being with the team for almost 2 months, a feat in itself that warrants mistakes because the coach hasn’t been with his team for that long? Asking for a friend…..
you’re curious? lol, you’re being a smart ass to me. I’ve never treated you like that
to answer your question…no, BUT screwing up that lead late with the same stuff he’s done his whole career…yes
genuflect for him all you want
told you Rob
at some point grasp that “MLS” is not the slur the fanboys make it out to be. it’s a top 15 league.
panama had a fair amount of MLS and USL. we’re getting beaten by teams like trinidad fielding USL and domestic.
nah we were fielding lineups of nothing but euro based, and there are rules against us sending kids below 18 over there to train.
wake up there are other issues. we hired another possession soccer coach to work with sloppy players and this will continue.
“using Canadian MLS players”
So you’re saying MLS players are dog shit?
That is ignorant.
If you want to buy into the idea that defense is all about hard work and dedication then Canada’s MLS and overseas players are more than capable of that.
And if you then think that creativity HAS to come from foreign based players then Canada have got plenty of that in Davies, David, Buchanon, Estaquio, Kone, Millar, etc. At the club level, while perhaps not as numerous, Canada’s overseas guys have done as well if not better than their American counterparts.
If you’re trying to convince everyone that Gregg was not as good as Jesse, why are you doing that? You’re arguing with yourself. Even the USSF media proxies were/are saying Gregg needed to be replaced.
Are people telling you otherwise?
On the other hand, if you are saying Jesse was the obvious replacement for Gregg because of what he did with Canada, you’re wrong. Jesse had not done the Canadian job when he was being considered. And even if he had, it’s too early to judge Jesse’s Canadian tenure. He got to a third place game and LOST it. So did JK in 2016. Judge Marsch when the 2026 WC is over and not before.
“Not to mention only being with the team for almost 2 months, a feat in itself that warrants mistakes because the coach hasn’t been with his team for that long? ”
You say that like the short time span means Jesse is a miracle worker.
He may be.
Or he could just be in the right place at the right time. Maybe in two months he’s actually done nothing of substance. Maybe the team was just ready to respond to something different from Herdman.
It’s called a new manager bounce and it may or may not last.
There are lots of examples in sports. Since it’s Canada, Larry Robinson took over the New Jersey Devils as interim head coach in late March of 2000 replacing Robbie Ftorek with 8 games left in the season. The Devils were not fancied by anyone. He guided them to a Stanley Cup win which featured a comeback from a 3-1 game deficit against the Flyers in the third round.
Or, closer to home, look no further than BJ Callaghan. When he took over, the USMNT suddenly became unrecognizable in a good way.
As someone else said Jesse is just another version of Gregg, more fiery, with a little more media savvy but he’s still a tactical dumkopf who believes in his tactics because, well, because they are HIS tactics. Gregg acted like he could take any player and if they just played his way, they would be a success. Like Gregg, Jesse is another square peg-round hole kind of pounder.
In other words he’s learning the international game ON THE JOB, just like Gregg has been doing for 5.5 years. Watching him in Europe makes me wonder just a quick a study Jesse is.
The way I look at it is that Canada was a much better and more suitable team and situation for Jesse to take over than the USMNT, so good for him.
I love Rush, Tim Hortons and Vancouver, so I wish him and Canada well but, if the USSF gets in touch with its inner competent self, they can find a better manager than Jesse for the program. I did not think they would fire Gregg no matter what, so in proving me wrong they are at least showing progress. They have a chance to do something good. Let’s hope they don’t piss it all away.
“So you’re saying MLS players are dog shit?”
what is wrong with your comprehension, lol. Where did I mention MLS players are dog shit?? Your ignorance is only surpassed by your lack of comprehension. Since you are clueless let me put you on the path…….MOST US / Canadian MLS players are not on the same level (both technically and tactically) with players playing regularly in the top leagues……hope I didn’t lose you
Now I specified “Canadian MLS players” because they have a lesser pool of talent than the US does (in MLS and Liga MX!!!). How many Canadian MLS players are on the MLS-ALL STAR roster? US has better overall players in MLS than the Canadians do……and Jesse Marsch is doing what he does with THOSE PLAYERS. Look before you leap into something you are clueless about……so you don’t show your ignorance.
“If you’re trying to convince everyone that Gregg was not as good as Jesse, why are you doing that? You’re arguing with yourself. ”
Hmmm……I seem to be arguing with you because its somehow getting under your skin for you to write a whole bunch of nonsense. It is relevant because Jesse was passed up by USSF for a coach like GB, and now the person they passed up on is doing what the person they selected could not. It is highlighting the poor management, structure, vison and coaching knowledge of USSF as a whole.
Marsch is working with less (time/talentwise/player pool/player quality) and has produced more that the US program has (in COPA) after 6 years, WHAT IS THERE TO ARGUE? Why is it bothering you?
Help me understand, if there is nothing to argue about and somehow you are not bothered by it, WHY ARE YOU ARGUING????
That was a stupid way to lose a game.
Up 2-1 with three minutes left and you get scored on a counter?
It was Amateur Hour in the Canadian Bench.
good luck explaining that to some of the crowd here. the hate for GB clouds all judgment
Canada also benefitted from some friendly officiating, ask Chile, something Marsch would NEVER enjoy coaching the USMNT, certainly not in an important game, and I mean never
canada got far but won 1 game in regulation. meh. blew it in the second half like a typical jesse team. that being said, has their crap together more than us, which makes us jelly.
i think part of GB’s “crime” here is letting the fanboys down who thought canada would be us. this stuff doesn’t happen by magic. the tactics and selection need to be optimized. people grumbled about the tactics — and i don’t know how you defend a coach when you don’t like how they play — but largely gave the coach a free pass (assuming his correctness) on a selection that was getting meh results.
klinsi introduced this club snobbery virus in the bloodstream but at least he understood soccer coaching enough to understand, oh, my skill players aren’t good enough to pull off what i am trying — and do something else.
This result doesn’t change a thing, As expected, Canada lost to a team with better player and a better coach. No shame on that.
As far as Marsch, he still hasn’t done anything worth of praise.
6 points out of 24 is actually pretty bad for any team. Even Canada.
Of course there’s also the intangibles. If you add the moral victories he is Guardiola’s heir apparent. Unfortunately, this is a tournament and not a circle jerk. There are no points for “almost”.
Any self respecting organization would be looking for a new coach.
Wow…..with Just 2 months on the job, Jesse and Canada “beat-up” Uruguay, the strongest team in copa Group C, until the last minute. Better possession, better chances, better tactical strategy (beat Bielsa at his own pressing game)…….all with mostly MLS players, Canadian MLS players. They just lacked the quality to finish ( scored 2 goals but had over 4-5 chances). Putting out on the field, a team that wasn’t made up of the strongest players….. But somehow made the strongest team A testament to his coaching ability and what he wanted to accomplish in terms of strategy (in just 2 months)
Congratulations Marsch!!!!!👏🏾
I didn’t even know Jesse Marsch stans existed, let alone that I’d see one on SBI
After what he’s been through and how he was treated by US soccer….. Absolutely!🤣
Wilfred Nancy certainly staked his claim if USSF ends up turning to MLS for its next manager. The Crew handled Cherundolo and LAFC 5-1. Outscored opponents 20-2 over last 5 matches.
yeah we pick players for streaks why not pick coaches that way pfffft
If no one wants the job, they’ll have to go begging in MLS. Three MLS names pop up, Dolo, Nancy, and Noonan. Wilfred just destroyed Steve, with Sean Zawatski as his attacking MF and Max Arfsten as a WB so apparently you can teach “sloppy guys” to play “Pep style”.
He is coming onto 3 straight excellent seasons which include turning Montréal into a legitimate team, winning MLS Cup, taking the Crew to the CCL final and keeping Crew as probably the best team in the league at the moment. That’s not just a streak. It’s entirely reasonable to not think he’s the right guy for the job, but he’s shown himself to be a pretty decent coach.
Credit where it’s due. That’s a good result for Canada even if it was just moments from being a great result.
They did not get the result but :
He has them playing well together
He has them looking confident
He’s probably won over the fans
He’s probably won over the management.
There will be all kinds of hoohah about his all guns blazing for 90 minutes style.
I’ll bet he’s more concerned about them missing all those chances.
Regardless, they are a lot of fun to watch and in the short term atmosphere of a tournament setting, are going to be a huge pain in the ass for anyone.
If you can’t win, at least you can entertain.
Let’s see if Marsch has staying power and keeps Canada rolling instead of just teasing with one solid tournament. Since he’s currently their coach I would have been shocked to hear him say anything other than what he did. At least the Sept friendly will carry some relevance.
i believe in the transitive property of results and when a team you usually beat at home, ties a team you lost to at home, you underperformed or have regressed. [and we tied uruguay 2 years ago.] we had the fewest goals on bolivia of the group. no bid-ness losing to panama but that was one game and weah didnt screw us all 3.
canada had financial problems for a bit and i am curious if they are finding their feet again. i don’t think finishing 4th means a ton but they aren’t falling apart. the other hosts are a mess.
the seriousness of the coach hire will tell where this goes.
IV,
“i believe in the transitive property of results and when a team you usually beat at home, ties a team you lost to at home, you underperformed or have regressed. [and we tied uruguay 2 years ago.]”
You really believe in that? Why?
It doesn’t work. It’s superstition. It’s more of the malarkey you like to spread. As Americans we get enough of that in the daily media.
Uruguay 2 years ago was very much a different team and so was the USMNT.
And Bielsa now coaches Uruguay
And it was a friendly, not a do or die Copa America game to advance out of your group. Friendly results are exceedingly flexible and you can use them to bolster bogus narratives.
The USMNT has underperformed since Gregg took over.
V: all due respect but in college in the pre internet era “how did they do against a common opponent” based on scores in soccer america or something like that, used to be fairly predictive what showed up that weekend. examples, colombia put 5 past panama too, and brazil and uruguay tied.
my rules of thumb are common opponents and a 2 goal swing home to road. i knew TnT would give us a game back in 17 based on we had only won 2-0 at home.
with no changes, coaching, stylistic, selection, the numbers suggest to me we should have scored more goals and and escaped the group with 5 points. we had similar margins to panama against june opposition. so we should tie panama. and had tied brazil. if brazil then ties uruguay, logically, we should tie uruguay.
that’s 5 points, panama would finish on 4, we advance and play colombia. colombia hands us our head again.
re “underperformed,” it depends by what baseline. if you remember WCQ we T-3d with costa rica, and going into that last panama game, the winner between us was going to finish higher in the table.
i think we have actually regressed slightly. i also as i have beat my drum for weeks, believe that our home tournaments hide our actual pecking order. it’s pretty obvious contrary to the snobs we are not far and beyond concacaf.
my response would be with our talent how does that even happen.
And there is Jesse Marsch’s flaw as a coach. Canada should have been a more defensive stance after they got the goal. Saw that all.of the time with his time at Liepzig amd Leeds.
Big reminder Shaffelburg was a dual national. Has been better than most of our wing options besides Pulisic.
Well not punching anyone is a pretty low bar.
Marsch has Canada playing well.
Brazil isn’t Brazil anymore. Rarely do see Germany overpowering teams these days. Spain isn’t a tricky tacky soccer anymore.
The US is a football, basketball, baseball country? Sure we are but we are a soccer country too. The continued growth of MLS shows that. The continued growth of all levels in this country shows that. I do agree that unfortunately this team needs to learn some grit This nonsense of kick and run after the ball was gone by 2002. In fact watching the 94 US team they actually possessed the ball quite a bit.
As the talent continues to rise the ability on the field will rise.
By 2030 the USMNT could be a legit contender. I see the talent coming.
Marsch was an assistant under Bradley for the USMNT. So he does have some idea about the international game.
He was very successful in MLS (arguably more than GB) and in Austria (admittedly with the most loaded team there). In the brief time he had Erling Haaland on his squad, he did nothing to hurt him.
In his time as an assistant coach at Princeton Univ., the player who led Div. 1 in goals credited Marsch with teaching him a lot about attacking soccer in particular how to move to be open.
I suspect his philosophy has changed a bit since his NY Red Bulls days and that he has learned things.
Gary,
“It is not at all fair to use a record as a judge when you are a brand new coach…….”
If you won’t hold a bad record against him because he’s new, why would you credit him for a good record when he’s new, regardless of who they play?
Maybe he lucked into a team that just needed a “change of scenery” from the old boss.
Ultimately, Jesse will be judged by how Canada does leading up to and in the 2026 World Cup. That’s all that is left now.
As for all this 20/10 hindsight about how Jesse would have taken Canada’s results and transferred them to the USMNT in Copa America had he been the manager instead of Gregg that’s all balderdash.
Does anyone dispute that Gregg should have been fired?
Should Jesse have been hired instead of Gregg back then after Qatar?
I don’t think so. He’s not as much of an improvement over Gregg as I would want for my team.
But it’s a moot point and we’ll never know what Jesse would have done with this USMNT group.
I’m more interested in seeing if these clowns can hire a better manager than Jesse. You want to do better than Canada right?
Don’t blame Jesse for his sentiments but glad we didn’t hire him, our defense is already shaky enough. I think his humbling will begin tonight.
Marsch would’ve been perfect for the USMNT……. about 15 years ago.
One bad coach doesn’t change the fact that our program is so much farther along than Canada’s.
We don’t need to revert to the Run Fast and Kick Hard style. We have way to much talent for that.
In about four months Marsch will be exposed for what he is: a third rate coach coaching a third rate program.
Our performances over the past decade show how much better the USMNT has done from the “old days”.
Maybe we should go back to Run Fast, Kick Hard. Maybe we should try a team with a little heart soul in the game.
Our talent will NEVER be at the level where we win on our resumes. We will never be Brazil’s beautiful game, Spain’s tick tack, Germany overpowering players.
The US is a Football (american type), baseball and basketball country.
We need take a cue from Columbia and fight hard, run fast and kick hard if we want to win sometimes.
you go find me the technical mids to play possession soccer and we can talk. i’ve suggested move christian and reyna inside. without that you’re relying on the sloppy weston and musah to play keepaway and drive the offense. good luck with that. so either play some way that fits musah and weston, or find skill mids to replace them.
thing is, in the fanboy universe it’s unthinkable that you’d bench a couple serie A mids. but their reputations! CP is serie A too and reyna is germany/EPL. so freaking what. we need to get off the club snob bull, and in reality we have a ton of prestige club players where it’s not like we’re suggesting run out the earthquakes as the NT.
the mentality has regressed. get the best players on the field who fit some scheme that we make work. there is plenty of US soccer history of players who were good in the abstract but didn’t fit what we were trying to do. we used to do better when it was about the team and success, less about hype and snobbery.
what scores goals. what wins games. period.
One coach has been on the job for 6+ YEARS…..While the other has been on the Job for barely 2 MONTHS.
“6 year” coach crapped out of their group…..”2 month” coach is playing for Bronze.
–
Like, why are people hating on Jesse Marsch??? It’s not like he went straight to Canada. He was interested in the US COACHING JOB went to USSoccer had an interview which was productive and seemed like he would be selected and they moved on with GB….. Who continued to fail miserably. So after being turned down by one employer , US SOCCER, he went to CANADA…..THAT WANTED HIM. What’s the issue? haha
So where is all the negativity coming from in regards to Jesse Marsch?
Wishing you nothing but the best Jesse (as an American Coach) AND I HOPE YOU PUT FINAL THE NAIL IN THE COFFIN BY BEATING URUGUAY !!!! That would really give USSF the bird…… And maybe shake things up for US SOCCER.
Canada has 7 points out of 27 disputed under Marsh with a 17% win average.
We don’t deserve Klopp, but we are way past Marsch.
“Canada has 7 points out of 27 disputed under Marsh with a 17% win average”…….AFTER 2 MONTHS UNDER JESSE MARSCH…haha
In almost 2 months, being put on the spot to participate in a major tournament, Jesse Marsh gets his team to the bronze medal game (survive a harder group stage, passed quarter finals and played in the semifinals). We are not past Jesse Marsh because we just came from Gregg Berhalter. Hmmm….. Let’s see what qualified GB:
Eight years of managerial experience before joining the USMNT.
Coached Hammarby in the Swedish League (2011-13)
Coached Columbus Crew’s from the 2013 MLS season
……… He hasn’t coached in the English premier League, he hasn’t coached in the German bundesliga, he hasn’t coached in the Austrian bundesliga…… He hasn’t coached in ANY top 10 league in the world (Allsvenskan might not even be in the top 20🤣) yet GB was good enough to be the US national team coach for 6+ years.
SO with that being said, I can tell you Jesse Marsh is more than qualified to be the US men’s National Team head coach.
Canada under Marsch played Argentina twice, Holland and France and got a draw with France out of that. Would the US have done better out of those games? I doubt it. You are using what Mark Twain called one of the 3 kinds of lies–statistics.
bizzy,
“SO with that being said, I can tell you Jesse Marsh is more than qualified to be the US men’s National Team head coach.”
Your argument seems to be that Jesse is more qualified for the USMNT job than Gregg was when he waltzed into it. WOW! Really? Is there anyone anywhere who does not agree with you on this? If there is. I’d love to read their take.
Regardless, more than a few people are “more than qualified to be the US men’s National Team head coach.”
That doesn’t mean they should be. Matt Crocker may well have been at Southampton when Jesse allegedly was courted by them after Leeds. So perhaps he already had an idea about Jesse before the USSF did not treat Jesse well.
With Canada, Jesse did a great job and is in a perfect position to play “I told you so”.
To do so the way he has is kind of a dick move but hey, that kind of behavior is popular with people these days.
Had he taken over from Gregg after Qatar he might have done better, or worse.
As he did with Canada, Jesse came into the Leeds job with very little prep time and did well right away.
With Leeds he saved them from relegation.
However the magic did not last.
I’m sure Leeds management was a shit show. They should have given him more time. But, when dealing with relegation, a manager’s moves have to work out right away. None of Jesse’s did. That’s just how it is. Were the Leeds management and ownership more dysfunctional than the USSF? Who knows?
Those of you who are saying he would have gotten the USMNT out of this group with these players, well, you don’t know. As it happens , Canada were in a weak group with a geriatric Chile( I did not realize that Alexis Sanchez was still playing let alone starting) and a lamer than normal Peru.
He made the semis? That’s good but so did JK in 2016, a manager most here despise and regard as incompetent.
Canada also have a team that fits together better than this edition of the USMNT and they were that way before Jesse got there. Just wait and see how much Jonathan David gets sold for. And Davies and Larin are not shit. Jesse gave them that shot of confidence and adrenaline that they needed heading into this kind of tournament. He lead them well.
We’ll never know if he could have done the same for the USMNT. It will be interesting to watch Canada play his Leeds predecessor Bielsa in the third place game. Let’s see how long his “new manager bounce” lasts. Third place games are often a mess. No one wants to be there. But occasionally you get a good one. I don’t know who will be suspended for Uruguay.
I wish Jesse well with Canada. He’s off to a good start. We’ll get to watch him learn the international game on the job just like Gregg did.
I think the USSF, if they have their act together, can find a better manager.
At least there’s some good news!
This is pretty simple…there is no comparing the two…Marsch is by far a more accomplished and better head coach than Berhalter…and it is not even close.
I love this. I’ve seen absolutely no one mention Jesse as possibility to replace Berhalter and yet the reporter asks him if he’s leaving. If Berhalter had guided the US to 1-3-3 record with a -7 GD this summer but got the US to the semis the US fans would have still called for his sacking. If I was a Canadian fan and we scored only 2g in 7 matches in our last big test before hosting the WC I’d be pretty worried.
So Jesse, so who asked you?
Tele 57 says Gregg is a lucky coach. My take is that Jesse is a lucky coach. He did a great job but he also greatly benefited from:
+ Inheriting a solid, hard working, hard grinding squad with just enough offensive talent so that , with just a few tweaks and a bit of luck they could do some damage in a tournament setting. Those guys are not and never have been wussies like our guys.
In some ways that squad were/are better off than the USMNT because, as the cliche goes, they have known who they are for some time now.
+ He benefited from new manager “bounce”.
+ Peru and, especially, Chile were far away from the kind of teams I’m used to seeing from them. I can see why Chile were briefly interested in Sebastian Soto.
I’ll be curious to see if Jesse can keep his mojo going heading into 2026. Hopefully they will get back a healthy and in form Tajon which can only make them that much more dangerous. If they get a decent draw, who knows how far they can go.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen such petty, naked vindictiveness but then again, we live in the USA 2024 where we are used to our authority figures being petty and vindictive dicks. And proud of it.
I must say though, Jesse’s criticism of the USSF is spot on. Almost every sane and sensible person thought re-upping Gregg was .. a questionable decision. But they did it anyway and pissed away at least a year and the best and only dress rehearsal the USMNT will get for 2026. A huge waste.
Our 2026 campaign is not scuttled yet but there are a lot of leaks and a serious list developing. Somebody give BJ Callahan some truth serum and find out what he really knows about what was going down since Gregg got back in town.
Gregg is gone and the players are chastened but other changes are needed,
These fucking people just shit away six years and a glorious chance to revamp the entire program and put it on more solid footing. And now they get a THIRD chance to screw this up.
Yeah, Gregg built a solid blah, blah , blah, blah. But you know what?
Tolerated stupidity tends to breed more stupidity.
Watching this team bumble through 74 games and you got the impression Gregg spent most of that time walking around with his dick in his hand.
The good that went on seems to have happened organically or even accidentally without any meaningful help from Gregg. What if instead of Gregg and his enabler clown car buddies, people who really knew what they were doing were in charge?
Where would the whole enchilada be now?
Instead the same people who brought you FIVE and a HALF years of the Berhalter ball freak show are the VERY SAME people who will find a successor.
That’s like putting Homer Simpson in charge of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
How many of you are confident that this ends well?
Okay, rant over, move on to Jim Curtin.
You’re stupid.
Oh my goodness Alf…..I can’t breathe 😂
Alf,
Define stupid.
Johnnyrazor,
In your comparison of Marsch and Berhalter, you are overlooking a material piece of information…time.
If Berhalter went 1-3-3 this summer with a -7 goal differential, it would be after 5 1/2 years of elapsed time. Marsch has been on the job for 2 months. The difference in time is not only significant, it is material in nature.
Papi: it’s hard to compare given Gregg didn’t have the Copa America to play in but Gregg opened 4-1-2 against weaker competition. If you want first couple months he beat Ecuador and drew with just coming down Chile. People try and act like Canada was Canada 2015 a month ago. They did qualify for the WC and have a World Class player in Davies and a top league scorer in David. Throw in Larin in La Liga and Buchanan in Serie A, Eustaquio a regular starter for Benfica, Kone just got sold to Marseille. Scoring 2g with that lineup, that have been playing together for four years, should concern Canadian fans.
Hahaha…..before it was 1 goal in 5 matches, now its 2 goals in 7 matches. Well he at least is playing for Bronze. How many goals did the US score and where are they now? Oh, that’s right watching from home……a week ago.
Bizzy, I can’t help it if they scored 1g in the last two matches, 1+1=2 and 5+2=7. It’s just math. Unless your Argentina or Colombia tournament success often entails a lot of luck. Canada had a terribly easy draw and benefited from multiple red cards. Chile and Peru are both ready for roster rebuilds and then they got Venezuela who only won their group because Valencia got one of the dumbest red cards ever. Jesse now has one win against Peru and draws with Venezuela and Chile. Peru by the way lost to Boliva 2-0 in November.
“Bizzy, I can’t help it if they scored 1g in the last two matches,”
And Johnnyrazor I can’t help that the Canadian national team is playing Uruguay for third place (being with Marsch for ALMOST two months) in the Copa America and not playing a must win game against Uruguay just to get out of the group stage
Terrible goal average…… Atrocious past percentage…… Horrible defense….. Disappointing shots on goal rate…… It doesn’t matter. They are playing for third place, and not at home already watching the games lol
It is not at all fair to use a record as a judge when you are a brand new coach and so many of your games have been against top 10 teams in the world. If Marsch had that record against CONCACAF teams you might have a point, but it isn’t.
Name a decent team they’ve beat? Peru? Peru lost to Bolivia and Canada needed a man advantage to win 1-0 against them. Take out the good teams, Jesse is 1-2 (w-t) with a 2-1 goal difference (playing 94 minutes up a man). You’ve got the #2 scorer in Ligue 1 and you only get 1g on Peru and Chile with a man advantage for 94 minutes. This was a WC team. Marsch is Berhalter with more charisma. Credit to Jesse for being pragmatic enough to tie his way to semis and huge kudos to Crapeau for being their highest rated player in 4 of their 5 matches. If Turner/Horvath had played as well as Maxim, Berhalter would have a job right now, which would stink.
Gary,
“It is not at all fair to use a record as a judge when you are a brand new coach”
If you won’t hold a bad record against him because he’s new, why would you credit him for a good record when he’s new, regardless of who they play?
Maybe he lucked into a team that just needed a “change of scenery” from the old boss.
Ultimately, Jesse will be judged by how Canada does leading up to and in the 2026 World Cup. That’s all that is left now.
As for all this insanity about how Jesse would have taken Canada’s results and transferred them to the USMNT in Copa America had he been the manager instead of Gregg that’s all balderdash.
Does anyone dispute that Gregg should have been fired?
Should Jesse have been hired instead of Gregg back then after Qatar? I don’t think so but it’s a moot point and we’ll never know what Jesse would have done with this USMNT group.
I’m more interested in seeing if these clowns can hire a better manager than Jesse. You want to do better than Canada right?
I don’t know why anyone should be surprised at this. After being snubbed for a job and then getting another job and just starting, and doing well, why would he or anyone leave for an organization that seems dysfunctional at times? I don’t know why some mentioned his name after Berhalter was shown the door.
Let’s not forget Canada couldn’t hold friendlies just 2 years ago because the players went on strike over pay. From a public letter from the players in June 2022 “ due to executives delaying the process and taking vacations … Canada Soccer waited until the evening of June 2nd to present an archaic offer.” The federation also reportedly looked into what it would take to declare bankruptcy. They faced a governmental audit into their deal with Canada Soccer Business over their terrible marketing and tv rights deal, were sued by the women’s players union as a result of that. Also, had a sexual harassment investigations involving their women’s youth teams and still haven’t come up with a long term solution to their equal pay and benefits for MNT and WNT. The only reason they could come close to his salary is by having MLS Canadian team owners to pay his salary. So the USSF is certainly dysfunctional but Canada is dysfunctional and broke, with a large lawsuit looming over them.
Stick in the knife, Jesse.