Canada booked their place in the World Cup round of 16 for the first time in history on Sunday, with Stephen Eustaquio’s dramatic stoppage-time winner seeing them past South Africa in a 1-0 victory.
Interestingly, an American became the first manager to guide Les Rouges to the knock-out rounds, with Jesse Marsch, who was appointed in 2024, securing a second-place finish in Group B, before edging through against the hosts of the 2010 World Cup.
The narrow win means Marsch’s side will take on either Netherlands or Morocco for a place in the quarter-final, which will undoubtedly be their toughest test to date, with the latter side reaching the semi-final of the 2022 World Cup.
The former Leeds United manager will, of course, be fully focussed on going deep into the competition with Canada, but he has been asked for his thoughts ahead of the USA’s round of 32 match, where they are set to take on Bosnia & Herzegovina.
The 52-year-old was quick to make it clear his home country’s upcoming match is of little concern to him, albeit with a warning to Mauricio Pochettino to prepare for a fight.
“I don’t really care. It’s up to the U.S. to figure out, and they can learn from the matches that Bosnia played. I know a couple of players on their team, and Bosnia is a group of fighters, so they were not easy to play against.”
Bosnia sneaked into the round of 32 with a third-place finish in Group B, although they led for large parts of their match against Canada, taking the lead through Jovo Lukic in the 21st minute, before Cyle Larin’s late equaliser ensured they had to settle for a 1-1 draw.
Before taking charge of their North American rivals, Marsch was a contender for the USA job, but expressed his disappointment in the way he was treated, saying: “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.”
As such, the opportunity to get one over on the USA by reaching a further stage of the competition with Canada may be enticing, but Netherlands or Morocco will provide a stern test in the next round, with both nations still yet to taste defeat in this World Cup.
The Stars and Stripes, on the other hand, arguably have an easier route to the quarter-finals. Should they get past Bosnia, Pochettino’s side will face either Senegal or Belgium, with the former the only third-place side to make it out of the groups with just three points.
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