Nobody could accuse Jesse Marsch, Canada’s men’s national soccer coach, of being pessimistic about the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
While Canada — led in 2022 by John Herdman — has lost all six matches it’s ever played at the world’s biggest soccer tournament, Marsch has some grandiose visions for his Canada side.
“Not to win a game, not to get out of the group, but to be winners at the World Cup,’” Marsch told reporters this week about his ambitions in 2026.
Well, that would be the biggest upset victory in men’s international soccer history. Only eight countries have won the tournament in its history: Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Uruguay. Five others, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Netherlands, and Sweden, have made a final but lost it.
To say Marsch’s vision might be a long shot is an understatement: Canada is currently ranked 38th in the world men’s rankings. No team from North or Central America have even made a semifinal in nearly 100 years, dating back to when the USA did so in 1930, the first year of the tournament.
But perhaps there’s some precedent for surprise successes at the World Cup, even if they might not be winners.
Morocco was a first-time semifinalist at the 2022 tournament in Qatar after picking up one draw and two losses at the 2018 edition. Like Canada, they’d faced a long World Cup appearance drought, having not competed since 1998 prior to their 2018 run.
In 2002, co-hosts South Korea fought to the semifinal before ultimately finishing fourth. In five previous appearances, they had never made it out of the group stage (or even won a match).
Marsch and the Canadians had immediate success at their first major tournament, making it all the way to the semifinal of this year’s Copa America, which was made up of teams from all over the Americas. While Canada held its own against Argentina (despite losing to them twice) and Chile, Marsch is looking ahead to getting more top-quality opposition ahead of 2026.
“There are major challenges with scheduling and getting the right kind of opponents,” March said. “We’ve been trying to work ahead of time with European nations, African nations, Asian nations, South American nations.”
While Canada has automatic entry to the World Cup, 44 other spots are still up for grabs.
“We have to wait for some of the draws for World Cup qualifying and different things like that,” Marsch added. “We can’t necessarily make anything concrete right now, but we’re really trying to build out a robust schedule that gives our players and our team the opportunity to play against the best opponents possible in preparation for 2026.”
Marsch and his Canadian men take the field tonight at Toronto’s BMO Field against Panama in a friendly. Kickoff is set for 7:30 pm ET/4:30 pm PT.