Jesse March proud of CanMNT after 2-1 win over USMNT | PRESS CONFERENCE 🎙️

we're here with MLS CID men national team head coach Jesse Marsh we'll start with questions in the room Joshua go ahead Jesse you made it oh right Jesse you made it further than any conera team at cop America you also said that this us team was the measuring stick for the region what does this win do for the group and their belief that they are now the best team in the region I don't know I don't want to start talking like that yet um I I I'll talk more about about just the the adaptation from this team to be the team that I want them to be tactically mentality wise um it's been a real pleasure to coach them and that's what I think you see tonight it's it's it's the discipline it's the organization it's the aggressiveness it's the the understanding of what we want the game to look like and I challenge you know I think I told this to you already but I challenged them when they came back in that we couldn't pick up where we left off that they had to continue to um employ that I knew were going to make them better players with their Club teams and I think when as soon as I saw the first training session this week I was like well they've done exactly that and when I watch them play with their clubs I could see that they have pushed themselves so yeah I mean look first half was really strong really strong um and we probably should get into half with more than one we're still struggling to really capitalize on a lot of our moments but but we'll get better and better at that and if you have questions Zoom please raise your hand J um what you make of Ali Ahmed tonight felt like maybe his best performance in a canid fantastic fantastic but I spoke with him and again talking about pushing himself with this club I've been watching him play with his club and he's elevated his performances a lot and and so I said to him look it's not like you're a different player but you're a lot more mature player you're a lot more Dynamic player and you're being rewarded for it in All Phases of the game and so I I was sure because of the way he trained this week I was sure he was going to have an outstanding game um and he delivered he was very good the other one I would say is Matthew uh schier schier was very good all over the place good on the ball covering ground winning duels really outstanding both of those guys I thought were were outstanding hey Jess hey what uh what's the so Jeff he was at my first career professional match we're old men now we're old men you are a shootout specialist yes unfortunately that's all Bruce would give me oh what's the personal satisfaction in this game being uh not just an American but obviously you interviewed for the job clearly you've been about the team and you've said that over and over but there must be a little bit more right yeah of course I enjoyed it um you know and and I was certain that we would play well I wasn't certain we would win but I was certain that we would play well and so from the beginning to see us with confidence and personality and loud on the pitch it was not easy with the heat and everything but like we were on the front foot the whole match and yeah they had a couple moments where they have quality players specifically Christian that can pull off a play or two but I thought we managed him really well and we were aggressive and and we didn't there was no even when we went down 21 there was not a moment where we started to uh become un able or become afraid of the situation we we were strong we were committed and made me proud made me proud to be their coach that's for sure Jesse sanre from back heeld and scuff podcast two questions for you first one um you talked recently in interviews about giving guys specific um Concepts or habit that you want to see them emplo with their Club could you talk about specifically something you saw tonight whether it was an individual thing or collect thing that you're really satisfied with yeah well in general I would say just physically inserting themselves in the game more so more sprinting more initiating contact in duels more making the last step in pressing actions uh more ball-winning and pressing actions and less playing backwards and more seeing things forward so that we can uh win balls and Lead ourselves into attack the first goal was almost a direct action even the second goal was very very good counter pressing winning the ball and playing forward again and winning so or and scoring so I mean there's a lot more than that um but in general I challenge them to look more mature to be more physical to be fitter to be stronger and to play like that and and clearly they're adapting in a really good way and the second one um there were long stretches where you guys played a pretty high line and the US didn't really test that much until later in the game um why do you think that was do you think it's because of the recovery speed of your back line or other things and uh yeah how you thought the US kind of responded to that that that chess match yeah look I mean we're always trying to be compact so you would call it a high line I would just we like of course the compactness is if you want to be a good pressing team compactness is key and then if they're showing body language like they're going to play long then the the the center backs and the backline has to have really good behaviors to be ready to drop and cover space and behind and you need a goalkeeper that wants to be a last Defender so this is a tactical approach as to how to make it difficult on the opponent and look they they have some quality so they broke as times we certainly want a lot lot of balls in the Midfield and if we're a little bit sharp in the final third I think we would have turned a lot more of these transitions into more goals but this is this is how I coach right I coach aggressive football but I try to coach intelligent football um and these players are capable of playing the way that that I would like them to play and they're adapting and learning and and excited about the process hey Jesse um you talked last during the cop American America about the fact that there was this idea out there that you it would be harder to implement in a high pressing style at the National Team level where you have guys less that you felt like that wasn't true um I wonder what you've learned about kind of the transition from the club game to the National Team game obviously poino is expected to be named the coach of kind of what challenges he might see in that transition and how you could how you see him maybe trying to take over this team yeah I don't you know for that's for him I I've answered enough questions this week and probably brought on more um uh pressure than I needed to about the team and the players and the coaching and all this I mean I did I'm not believe me I'm not bitter people think I'm bitter that if I but most people if they ask me a question I answer it that's how I operate in the media um I'd rather coach our team 100% no questions asked I'd much rather coach Canada than the us right now right you can see the mentality that's been developed you can see the way this team plays you can see how much they love playing for the national team and they're willing to put their career and lives and the way they play on the line to be the best they can can be for each other and for the team and that's all you can ask for as a coach specifically if you want to play the way that I want to play which is aggressive front foot going after the opponent trying to press them trying to play in their end also trying to be good on the ball and create option or opportunities and command the game with the ball but that game I felt like was in control and it was because of the qualities we have in the team the mentality we have in the team and what we're developing as a group so again really excited to be here really excited exced wouldn't change wouldn't change coaching this team right now for anything in the world we'll go to zoom Neil Davidson go ahead thank you uh Neil Davidson from the Canadian press in Toronto Jesse uh what was the problem for alist Johnston's early exit he said he felt a little bit of tightness in in his hamstring and so um he just felt it was smarter to to to step out he did that if you go back to the Holland game he he felt a little bit of tightness so he kind of knows his body and then from that game he was able to recover and play against France so let's hope that it'll be a similar type situation um and look it's it's really nice to see that we have depth you know that you can bring a guy like Richie Vara in you can you know we brought a lot of guys in Off the Bench that I thought when we brought guys from the bench we got stronger which was good to see really good so but I'm hopeful that Alistair will be okay thank you y Charles bow Jesse can you hear me y we got you congrats uh you you did ruffle feathers I think South of the Border for for speaking about the US and lead up to this one but the game plan suggested you know this team pretty well maybe better than they know themselves what how did you craft this approach Bas on the United States's strengths and weaknesses yeah I mean look it our players know the the US national team pretty well too we we we have a tactical plan I again it wasn't the easiest to prepare for but I had anticipated that Mikey with the with Greg being Greg berhalter being a big influence for him would play a similar style of football so we were able to craft a match plan to to deal with some of those things and and I thought again we we were pretty clear and and and we executed really well so we know we knew like I don't have to tell the players that Christian pisk is an important player for their team he knows that they all know that but certainly making sure that when he would get on the ball that we were closing space that we were being aggressive with him that we were trying to eliminate his ability to have time and space on the ball was important and then in buildup we wanted to make it hard on Tim and and try to make sure that Tim wasn't able to just pick us apart and we knew that they like to play through the middle and and when they play through the middle we wanted to really jump on their players win balls and play forward and get into transition so those were some things that I thought we did well Andrew Jones thanks again congrats on the win um Jessie just wanted to ask about Fonzi in terms of his captaining especially with his defensive work and Ricardo at the end with Maxine saving the shot holding down K cow just his leadership um and his performance saying what happened with the fourth official with the sub they give you explanation I threw a bottle a little bit I try I was tried speaking Spanish I said comio I was trying to get them they didn't want to change are players ever and they wanted to wait in like three four uh pauses but we got him out there fonie my favorite moment of the match is when he sprinted back with Brennan arenson when it looked like he had an advantage and sprinted all the way to defend and make sure that he wasn't going to have a chance to get in on the attack and and at our goal and then he celebrated after he did it right like and and like I'm the mentality that foni has developed to be at his best to do everything for the team and to be a lot not just a good attacking player and a good player on the ball but a lock down Defender um is has been fantastic um so yeah that was that was probably my favorite moment of the match Ronald Blum Jesse a lot of teams coming off tournaments and tough competitive matches can have a let down going into a friendly what approach did you take with them to guard against that yeah I'm challenging them to commit to the process at the highest level and and the balance that I give them is like I we work when we train we work really hard and I demand a high level of concentration and high level of commitment and then I manage the downtime and make sure that we have an enjoyable environment that we have good relationships um and then I try to make sure that before matches that they there's a down that we come in some of the loading to make sure they're fresh and ready to push in the match but I think that they're really enjoying what we're doing and they see the how the why the what and it gives them uh excitement it gives them inspiration it gives them belief and it gives them the desire to give their best and by the way they're like this anyway they're amazing men and you know I'm just trying to continue to push them to be better footballers and that's that's been the biggest emphasis thank you everyone thank you