Jesse Marsch couldn’t take his eyes off the TV from his home just outside of Pisa, Italy, in the fall. Like so many Canadians, he was glued to the Toronto Blue Jays’ run to the 2025 World Series.
Watching those games in the middle of the night, and seeing the scenes from Toronto and across Canada, he couldn’t help but have a vision. That run, as much as it enthralled the nation, was nothing compared to what a World Cup could do.
“I was a Jays fan, maybe not as much as the rest of Toronto, the rest of Canada, but this was the first time, for another sport, that I was getting up in the middle of the night because I had the fever as well,” Marsch said in the fall. “And I believe that we will be even bigger… I can tell you right now, that is exactly what this national team will be about, and it will electrify this country.”
People doubted him. Fast forward to Sunday’s scenes and the events of the last month — Marsch was right.
On Sunday, as Stephen Eustàquio fired a half-volley past South Africa’s Ronwen Williams and sent Canada to the round of 16 at the World Cup, scenes erupted from watch parties from all three coasts.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, who attended the two games in Vancouver and spoke to the team, even dropped to his knees on the runway of the Ottawa airport in celebration. His plane landed in the 85th minute, and he stepped off just moments before the winning goal, watching the game on his phone.
“This national team has come a very long way from when I started, even before that, it was in a place where guys were coming in and trying to fight to get respect from other nations,” Richie Laryea said postmatch, having made his international debut in 2019. “To see where we’re at now, and to win a game like this in a World Cup, and to be moving on, it’s special… It’s a moment I don’t think Canadians will ever forget.”
The co-host of this World Cup entered having never earned a point on soccer’s greatest stage, losing each of the six matches from the previous tournaments in 1986 and 2022. Now, they’ve won twice, scored nine goals and have prevailed in a knockout game.
For Marsch, the Wisconsin-born manager, who kissed the Canada badge and danced with his players after the win, it was right back to baseball. Canada is set to take on a global titan in either the Netherlands or Morocco in the round of 16—and Marsch called it a “free hit.”
“My goal in this tournament, apart from inspiring our nation, was to make a run so that we could get to see one of the giants of the world,” he said after the game. “We’re at that phase of the tournament, and I feel like it’s a free hit, so we’re going to go after it and do everything we can to see if we can find a way to get a win.”
The Global Eyes
Due to a weird scheduling quirk, millions more than a usual Canada match audience got to see the historic performance. There were no other World Cup games on Sunday, leaving a soccer-thirsty world with a single option.
It wasn’t a good game. Neither team played well, and even Alphonso Davies, who made his first Canada appearance since March 2025, was a step below his potential as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury.
Yet, it introduced the world to Canada’s story.
“We have a special group. We feel like we are brothers, and at the same time, when we fight for each other, when we play for each other, special things like this can happen,” explained Eustáquio. “I don’t want to say that the job’s finished… We know we’re going to get Morocco or the Netherlands, which will be a very hard game. We hope that when they saw the game back home, they felt that next week the game is going to be very tough for them.”
For Alistair Johnston, who parlayed a starring performance in the last World Cup into a move to Celtic on the back of his British citizenship, it was a massive step to Canadian legitimacy in the global game.
As Johnston and generations of Canadians have experienced, there’s a stigma around Canadian players. A common thread from those abroad is how hard it can be to contend with a Brazilian, Spaniard or Englishman, even if they offer similar quality to a team. There’s simply an added baggage to coming from an untraditional soccer nation.
A round of 16 berth at the World Cup—and potentially further—can change that.
“The biggest thing for me is that in 20 years, you’re going to look back and you’re not going to remember how each individual played, all you’re going to care about is that you advanced, and that was all about today,” Johnston said postmatch. “It’s survival in advance, it’s 90 minutes of whatever you got, and we’re going to get a chance now next weekend.”
Canadian Heroes Out of This World
As much as Canada is a global economic power and a member of the G7, there is an infantile aspect to the Canadian identity. Marsch, a brash American, has said that the team can be “too nice” and “too Canadian,” but has also admired the country’s ideals. On Sunday, after the match, he was adamant that this group contains the latest Canadian heroes.
“You guys are Canadian heroes for the future children of this country, who play this sport,” he said. “This sport has a big future because of you guys. You should be so proud of who you are. You should be so proud of this game.”
Sunday, as big as it was, is just the first step. Canada has a massive challenge—one that might take an interstellar effort to win, in the round of 16. Luckily for them, Artemis II astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who recently visited the moon, is on their side.
“While it is very Canadian to be humble, and it’s a great human character trait, sometimes we can keep ourselves small. Being humble should not stop us from setting big goals and chasing big dreams,” Hansen said on TSN.
“The World Cup is another opportunity for us to strive for greatness, to rally around a team who is willing to leave it all on the pitch. … We should set big goals, we should expect challenges, we should allow for failures and adaptation, we should continue to persevere until we ultimately succeed, and it makes me proud as a Canadian, because I know that is in the root of how we show up on the global stage.”
While a win against the Netherlands or Morocco might seem out of this world, there’s little to go against Marsch’s claim of the 26 men donning the red, white and black being Canadian heroes. Before next Sunday, they will celebrate Canada’s 159th birthday—and after that, step up to the plate to take their free hit, looking to put in a performance that is out of this world.
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