Jesse Marsch Fires Strong Warning to Canada Squad Hopefuls Ahead of 2026 World Cup

Canada opened 2026 with a win over Guatemala, but face challenging roster decisions for the World Cup.

Jesse Marsch can’t make any assurances that there won’t be dramatic final cuts to confirm his 2026 World Cup roster in June. | Courtesy of Canada Soccer

The Canada men’s national team has just four friendlies until kicking off the 2026 World Cup and manager Jesse Marsch would not rule out making dramatic cuts from the final June camp to the tournament roster. 

While some teams, like the U.S. men’s national team under manager Mauricio Pochettino, will bring as close as possible to the final World Cup squad, Marsch said he could be forced into heartbreaking decisions, risking potential disappointments for players.

“My goal would be to have the squad named and relatively clear in that camp,” he told Sports Illustrated in a recent media availability.

“There may be some outlier situations where we have to consider looking at two or three players for one or two spots and then evaluating on June 1 exactly what the squad looks like.”

The concern of final cuts ahead of the World Cup is a relatively new one for Canada. In the nation’s previous 1986 and 2022 tournament appearances, depth pieces weren’t pushing in the same way. In 2026, roughly 35 players are vying for 26 spots. 

For the USMNT in the past, the cuts from the World Cup pre-camp to the final roster have sparked significant blowback. In 2014, Landon Donovan broke down in tears after Jürgen Klinsmann cut him from the final squad and Jeff Agoos infamously burned his kit when he was dropped by Bora Milutinović in 1994.

Yet, injuries may make it unavoidable for Canada, given the key players that have struggled with fitness issues in the past year and are slowly making their return ahead of the summer’s tournament. 

Left back Alphonso Davies leads that group, but has recently returned for Bayern Munich after an ACL and meniscus injury. Meanwhile, center backs Moïse Bombito, Alfie Jones, Derek Cornelius, Luc de Fougerolles, right back Alistair Johnston, and winger Jacob Shaffelburg are all pressing to return in time. 

“We have a number of guys coming back from injury, and knock on wood, we’ll hopefully get those guys back and get them strong and fit and ready to go,” added Marsch. “When you have important players, we’re going to have to try to figure out exactly where everybody is from a health, fitness, form perspective.”

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January Camp Opens More Options

Ralph Priso (left) and Jacen Russell-Rowe (right) impressed in Canada’s January camp match against Guatemala. | Courtesy of Canada Soccer

Marsch spoke on his potential June squad from Los Angeles, where Canada held a 10-day January training camp, capped off by a 1–0 win over Guatemala in a Tier 2 friendly. While the match won’t affect the FIFA rankings, it raised more roster questions.

Vancouver Whitecaps central midfielder-turned-center back Ralph Priso impressed with feisty tackles and the ability to play line-breaking passes, while Columbus Crew striker Jacen Russell-Rowe scored a deft header. Both likely earned themselves a look with the top-tier national team in the March window for two Tier 1 friendlies in Toronto. 

GOAL 🇨🇦

JACEN RUSSELL-ROWE opens the scoring for the CanMNT with a PERFECT header off Malik Henry's cross, for a 1-0 lead over Guatemala 🇬🇹

🔴 Watch LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/iG0OQ2cBKy

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) January 18, 2026

“Everything has been really important since I’ve taken the job. There’s been urgency in everything we’ve done and the good thing is, there’s an ingrained identity now to what we do now, so March will probably have us bring more than 23 players,” Marsch said of the March window, which many see as the final true tryout. 

“It’ll be important to get everybody up to speed on exactly what our identity is and what’s been established, from our mentality to our football and how we’ve evolved and then make sure that we have two good performances, probably giving everybody a chance to play.”

With the World Cup fast approaching, the roster selection conundrums only grew for Marsch and there remains a significant possibility that heartbreaking cuts could be made in June to trim the squad down to the final 26. 

Canada opens the World Cup in Toronto against one of Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Wales or Northern Ireland on June 12, before facing Qatar and Switzerland in Vancouver on June 18 and 24 to round out Group B action.

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