🗣️ Jesse Marsch hopes for a “mature” performance in his home debut for Canada

Jesse Marsch was a steal for the Canadian men's national team.

The American-born coach seemed destined to take on the USMNT role following his departure from Leeds United, but when he was disappointed by US Soccer's decision to rehire Gregg Berhlater, Marsch decided to put his talents to use To bring rivals from the north.

But before his first home game as head coach of Les Rogues against Panama on Tuesday, Marsch is just hoping for a positive atmosphere when he finally sits in the dugout on home soil.

“It's my first home game and I can say that between the time in Montreal and here in Toronto it went perfectly,” said Marsch.

“A lot of people came up to us and were happy to see us. I think there is positive energy and I’m looking forward to standing in front of our fans and seeing what it feels like to be the manager of the Canadian national team.”

It was a stunning start to life as a Canadian coach for Marsch, leading the team to the semifinals of the Copa América before losing to Uruguay in the third-place game. But the former Leeds coach knows his team will face some adversity ahead of the next major tournament – a World Cup on Canadian soil.

“We will lose some games between now and 2026, we know that. But the key is to refine the performance, the mentality, the mindset and the development of what we are building,” Marsch said.

“We want to continue to show that we are mature, that we will not make mistakes and will continue to press. We brought in different players to show them what we do in the national team. But at the end of the day, we still want to go out and win this game.”