What about Jesse Marsch as USMNT? Who cares that he just went to Canada. Princeton grad, Canada has way overachieved, something the US never does.
fork, fork, fork, fork, fork no.
Jesse Marsch isn't going to blow off Canada after one tournament, especially for a country that passed him over for Berhalter II, even if it's his own. Further, I can't remember who it is here, but Marsch definitely has his detractors, both on this board and throughout the US soccer ecosystem.
Me, me, me!
I should explain my animosity.
Marsch coached at Leeds United, which I am a long-time supporter of. At first, I was open-minded. It was in my interest for an American to succeed there, if for no other reason than it would make my life easier with my English Leeds friends, who were circumspect and provincial from the start about having an American coach. Moreover, he's a Wisconsin guy like I am and I root for my people.
He was converted to Red Bull ball at some point in his career. If you don't know what that means tactically, it means pressure the ball in packs and trying to turn that quickly into attack. Failing that, Marsch was very bizarrely committed to attacking through the middle of the field. He really did not want the ball near touchlines, thus, his teams don't really spread the field well.
It worked for him at NY Red Bulls, in a league that has forced parity, and at Salzburg at a club that has a massive monetary advantage over the rest of their league. Didn't go hot at Leipzig and while he did keep Leeds up in 2022, it had a lot more to do with fixing Marcelo Bielsa's suicidal defensive approach, something anyone with a functioning synapse would have done, than anything the club did in creating chances.
Leeds had success for about a month to start the 2022-23 season, but then they were found out and those tactics were proven to not work against even-strength or more-talented clubs. While Marsch was gone by the time relegation happened, Leeds was well on its way to the drop when he was let go. (Matches-in-hand for other clubs eventually caught up as expected.)
OK fine, so the tactics weren't great, but that's a small part of why I'm Never Marsch.
His personality is extraordinarily grating. He's a talker in the worst sense of the term. He is the absolute embodiment of those TED-talking motivational speaker type coaches who are all vibe and no substance. That approach works for some players, but if there's no tactical nous behind it, it's all empty words if it doesn't lead to meaningful success on the pitch ... which it doesn't.
He's also entitled out of all proportion to anything he's done. His sideline demeanor would suggest he should be treated like Klopp or Guardiola. He's one of those coaches who fails to understand that he hasn't done shirt, so when he acts like a dickhead towards the officials, it does more harm than good because why on Earth should they respect him?
Worse, for all of the talking he does, he sometimes says things that come off clueless at best and irritating at worst.
This quote, of all things, is what started to turn me against Marsch.
"I love the basketball culture in the United States. The way they match inner-city kids with college grads and amazing mentors is amazing."
Even taking into account that he is talking to an English audience largely unaware of college sports, that quote just rubbed me the wrong way. I wouldn't go so far to say it's racist, but that's a weird perception from someone who was around college sports for a long time. What it struck me is how it sounded like someone enveloped in their own soccer bubble would say. It's the elitist's view of how college athletics works as it relates to minorities.
There was an article in Defector from when he was coaching at Leeds that summed him up well.
"At worst, you are coming off like a performative dork who seems more concerned with polishing his own personal brand as a motivational maven than he is with actually winning soccer games ..."
Bingo.
The press release when he was hired by Canada was hilarious in how much it had to hunt for something tangible he actually accomplished once he was given the keys to the kingdom.
"His departure (at Leeds) came at a time when the club sat in 12th in the Premier League for non-penalty expected goals, and the club led the league in disruption of opposition passes by a large margin."
Well, let's all sing Marching On Together to all of that!
He's all hat, no cattle. Fake as the day is long. He fools a lot of people because he's out-going, but he is beneath the standard we should be seeking for USMNT coach.
And as for Canada's "overachievement"? They scored exactly two goals in five matches. They lucked out in having both Chile and Peru crater at the same time (and both had red cards in their matches against Canada) and they got past mighty Venezuela in a penalty shootout. He fell ass backwards into a semifinal spot with one of the softest advancing resumes you could possibly conjure up. Because of that, he's also fallen ass backwards into the minds of those who think he should represent our country as coach from those who aren't holding him up to scrutiny.
Stay in Canada, Jesse. It's your level.
