LOS ANGELES – As Jesse Marsch stormed off the SoFi Stadium field following the red card he received against the U.S. in the Nations League third-place game, he felt genuinely pleased with himself.
“If I had to do it again, I would,” Marsch said during a Monday morning interview with The Athletic.
Marsch, who was prohibited from addressing the media postgame due to his red card, reiterated his Canada team was “pissed off” after a missed penalty call during the semifinal against Mexico. Marsch felt he needed to take matters into his own hands.
“It’s not like I went into the game thinking, ‘OK, I’m going to get thrown out.’ But I was definitely looking for opportunities to make a point, right?” Marsch said.
During Canada’s 2-0 semifinal loss to Mexico, Canada defender Derek Cornelius looked to be fouled by Mexico midfielder Edson Álvarez in the Mexican box. Replays showed that Álvarez kicked Cornelius. No penalty call was awarded and Mexico was awarded a free kick. Against the U.S., Marsch was protesting two missed calls on possible penalties for Canada forward Jonathan David.
His second-half red card became a turning point in Canada’s 2-1 win over the U.S. Assistant coach Mauro Biello said it “galvanized” Canada. Jonathan David scored five minutes after Marsch was sent to the locker room.
The only thing Marsch wishes he had done differently?
“If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t have run on the pitch or over into the other box on (the second possible missed penalty call). I would have done it on the other one before. But actually, the fourth official said to me when I was starting to escalate, ‘No, we all reviewed your what happened to you against Mexico and we’re aware of it and we’re going to look at this carefully.’ And so I was like, ‘OK, they’re going to at least go to VAR,’ and then they don’t go to VAR. And then honestly, I was cursing myself. I should have freaking run over there, I should have forced a reaction,” Marsch said.
David himself admitted postgame that he slipped during the play that led to Marsch getting handed a red card.
“It wasn’t a penalty,” Marsch said. “It was a chance to do what I should have done before.”
The circumstances surrounding how he was given his red card remain slightly irrelevant to Marsch. For him, the point needed to be made: Canada deserves different outcomes from officials in Concacaf tournaments.
Canada’s next Concacaf tournament is this summer’s Gold Cup, where Marsch will be suspended for the opener due to this red card. But by then, he hopes to see a change in how Canada games are called, at the very least.
“You know what even makes me even more frustrated and happy that I did it? Did you see Panama’s penalty (during the final against Mexico)? Ours against Mexico is worse for me, right? I think it was necessary,” Marsch said. “(The Canada national team) have been through this, more than I have. So again, I’m learning what it is to be the Canadian national team coach, and certainly in this Concacaf setting, they feel like they’re getting the short end of the stick again. I get it.”
(Top photo: Alex Gallardo/Imagn Images)
