Canada coach Jesse Marsch has no interest in the open USA soccer job and explains why

Canada manager Jesse Marsch has shut the lid on any possible interest in him succeeding Gregg Berhalter as coach of the U.S. men's national team. With the turnaround that Marsch has done with the Canucks since taking over, it makes people wonder what would've happened if U.S. Soccer hired him instead of re-hiring Berhalter, but instead, he plans to continue building the program north of the border ahead of the 2026 World Cup. 

"I'm not leaving this job. I have no interest in the U.S. job," Marsch said on Friday in a press conference. "And to be fair, unless there's a big shift in the organization, I don't think that I'll ever have any interest in that job in the future. So I'm really happy here, I couldn't be happier actually in terms of what it's like to work with the leaders in this organization and what it's like to work with this team."

The denial of interest is one thing but the stance that Marsch took calling out U.S. Soccer as a whole is what's notable here. While it's natural that Marsch is enjoying his time in charge of an improving Canada team, the USMNT role is supposed to be a dream one for any American manager especially ahead of the 2026 World Cup. To understand where Marsch is coming from, the clock needs to be rolled back to when Berhalter returned to coach the USMNT.

Marsch was a candidate at the time and here's what he had to say about the process.

"Obviously growing up in the U.S. and contributing and playing for the national team, playing for the youth national teams, coaching at the World Cup with the U.S. national team, my respect for U.S. Soccer is big," Marsch said on Call It What You Want, a CBS Sports Golazo Network podcast. "But I went through a process with them, right? And I'm not going to go into it but I wasn't treated very well in the process and so whatever, man. That's in the past now and I'm fully focused. The minute it was done, I was like, 'Okay, I'm moving forward and I'm going to figure out what's right for me,' and again, it motivated me again to find the right people."

That path forward led him to taking over the Canucks but it does make you wonder about the entire process of hiring a new manager. Time isn't on U.S. Soccer's side in replacing Berhalter and after already being turned down by Jurgen Klopp, sporting director Matt Crocker will need to determine the best person for the job. But if there are parts of the process that could scare off candidates, that could also hurt U.S. Soccer.

While it's unknown what specifically soured Marsch on U.S. Soccer, it's something that needs to be examined by Crocker during this process. It's critical to bring in the right hire with only two years remaining before the World Cup and U.S. Soccer can't be their own worst enemy while trying to do so.