Jesse Marsch was being fingerprinted for a work visa at Leicester City when his phone changed everything. A call from US Soccer made it, in his words, "very clear" that he was getting the USMNT job. He turned down the Foxes on the spot. Then US Soccer reversed course entirely.
"It was made very clear to me by U.S. Soccer that I was going to be the coach, and then it was made very clear to me that I was not," Marsch told GiveMeSport. "At the time, I was devastated and angry."
That's a remarkable thing to say out loud. Most coaches in his position would swallow it, move on quietly, protect future opportunities. Marsch didn't — and the detail about the Leicester visa fingerprinting isn't just a colorful anecdote. It means he had already committed. He walked away from a Premier League club on the strength of a promise that was then broken.
What US Soccer actually did with the job
After passing on Marsch, US Soccer re-hired Gregg Berhalter — the same coach they'd already shown the door. Berhalter's second stint ended in a group-stage exit at the 2024 Copa América on home soil, at which point they fired him again and turned to Mauricio Pochettino. That's two coaching cycles, a tournament embarrassment, and a broken promise to a qualified American candidate, all in the space of about 18 months.
Canada, meanwhile, has climbed from 50th to 26th in the FIFA World Rankings since Marsch took over in May 2024. He's expanded the player pool, toured all 10 provinces and three territories to build grassroots connections, and by his own account found somewhere that actually wants to work together rather than pull in competing directions.
"Canada is calmer. There are fewer people and spheres of influence," he said. "There's more of a desire for everybody to work together."
Canada's World Cup picture heading into June
Canada open Group B on June 12, with final tune-up friendlies against Tunisia and Iceland in Toronto this month, then Uzbekistan and Ireland in Edmonton and Montréal in June. The squad race for 26 spots is genuinely competitive, which is itself a marker of how far this program has come.
For anyone looking at Canada's outright odds or group-stage markets, the trajectory under Marsch matters. A team that's jumped 24 places in the rankings in under a year, with a coach who is fully bought in and clearly motivated — that's not a side to dismiss lightly in a home World Cup where crowd support and travel logistics will favor Concacaf nations.
As for whether Marsch would ever reconsider the USMNT role if Pochettino doesn't work out: he's said he has "no interest." Given how the last conversation ended, that's hardly surprising.
