AGR: Why it's time for the CanMNT to embrace being Gold Cup favourites - and the pressure that comes with it
Jesse Marsch has made a statement - he wants the CanMNT to win the 2025 Gold Cup, and they’ve named a squad that matches that ambition.
With the 2026 World Cup now almost a year away, time is ticking for his team to be as prepared as possible for that tournament, especially given that they’ve already qualified automatically. Unlike 45 of the other countries, who will have had to grind their way through World Cup qualifiers, Canada, the US and Mexico will have had the chance to waltz into this tournament as co-hosts, which isn’t always easy to do.
SQUAD DROP 😎
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) June 5, 2025
Here's Jesse Marsch's 26-player #CanMNT roster for the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup 🏆
MORE DETAILS: https://t.co/v4BT8y34yZ pic.twitter.com/75vgghgkuK
Because of that, it’s imperative that those three teams make the most of their opportunities to be together as a group, and that they ensure that they use every match, no matter if it’s a friendly or a competitive match, as a chance to get better.
In that regard, that shows why the Gold Cup is so significant. For Canada, the US and Mexico, these are the last competitive matches that they’ll play until the World Cup, as the rest of their preparation will come via the form of friendlies.
Those friendlies can be incredibly valuable, no doubt - Canada themselves have two important matches vs. Ukraine and Côte d’Ivoire as part of the Canadian Shield, giving them a good lead-up to their Gold Cup opener on June 17th - but the Gold Cup will be played at a different intensity with such an important trophy on the line.
For a Canadian team that hasn’t won a trophy since they lifted the 2000 Gold Cup, they’ll be itching to lift some silverware this summer, having come so close to doing so on a few occasions over the past few years.
Having become one of the top teams in Concacaf over the past half-decade, the only thing missing from their credentials has been a trophy. 
Of course, it’s one thing for Canada to need to win a trophy - at this stage of their development, it’s clear that’s the next step for them. What’s different is going out and making that happen, which is a whole different beast.
Now, it’s far too early to know if Canada will lift the Gold Cup trophy on July 6th at the NRG Stadium in Houston, but they’ve taken a big first step this week, naming an incredibly strong roster for the tournament.
Essentially, other than Alphonso Davies, who remains sidelined with an ACL injury, and Moïse Bombito, who is recovering from wrist surgery, Marsch has been able to call up every other player available to him. That includes Jonathan David, who is about to make a transformative signing as a free agent, Stephen Eustáquio, who will miss the first part of the Gold Cup due to Club World Cup commitments, and even Alistair Johnston, who played a whopping 49 games for Celtic this past season. Had any of those players missed out, no one would have blinked - yet, they’re instead getting ready to represent Canada this month.
The #CanMNT 🇨🇦 haven't won a trophy since 2000...
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) June 6, 2025
... and for Jesse Marsch, the honeymoon period of this new appointment has now become expectation: Canada must win the Gold Cup 🏆
Here's why anything less would leave the team disappointed 👇 pic.twitter.com/5JoV5RALfq
At a time when other countries in Concacaf have struggled to secure the commitment of their players for matches, that’s no small feat. Just look at what USMNT head coach, Mauricio Pochettino, said this week on that subject, as he gets set for his first Gold Cup while missing several of his European-based players, including Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Gio Reyna and Antonee Robinson.
“The people need to prioritize the national team,” Pochettino told Unfiltered Soccer. “We were talking about Argentine players, Brazilian players or English players or Spanish players, they are desperate. Even Messi, even Neymar, even Mbappé for France, these guys are desperate to go to the national team. For them, when they go, they don’t see if it’s a friendly game, if it’s an official game, it’s a World Cup, it doesn’t matter, because the possibility to defend one more time your flag, your shirt. It’s about feeling proud. And that is our responsibility to translate.”
Yet, that’s a huge vote of confidence for Marsch, who has done a great job of getting his players to buy into what playing for Canada means. As a result, instead of having to chase down players to try and get them to represent their country, they’re coming to him, knowing that if they decline an opportunity, a list of players hungry to represent Canada at a World Cup are ready to step up in their place.
At the end of the day, successful international teams have that buy-in across the board, and Canada seems to have that from their players, as Marsch explained when asked about it shortly after naming his Gold Cup squad.
“Yeah, I said after the Nations League that we were going to bring our strongest team possible,” Marsch said ahead of the Canadian Shield. “I didn't have one player call me and say: ‘Hey, Coach, maybe I need this summer off, or maybe I need a break.’ I think every player understands the gravity and the importance of the situation that we are in as a national team, and no one wants to let the national team down, no one wants to miss the opportunity to play in a home World Cup.”
“The motivation and inspiration for the team is clear, so for me it’s now about raising the standards and demands for how good we can be as a team, and to put the team under pressure against really good opponents, so that we can learn about what it’s going to require to succeed come next summer. I’m very happy with our squad, I'm very happy with the balance we have in the squad. We still have a lot of work to do to maximize the potential of what next summer needs to be, but I expect us to push and have good performances this summer.”
Now, however, it’s one thing for Canada to get this commitment from their players - that alone won’t win a Gold Cup. Part of the reason why the US brought a weaker squad is that they’ve consistently used this tournament as a chance to experiment with their team and grow their player pool, and have still won seven Gold Cups despite that, including three of the last six.
Because of that, the big goal for Canada will be to turn the ambition they’ve shown with their squad selection and translate that into tournament success.
One way to do that in the short term? To now embrace the fact that they’re now one of the tournament favourites, if not the favourite, based on the team they’ve brought.
The #CanMNT 🇨🇦 Gold Cup squad has been REVEALED 🙌
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) June 5, 2025
And one thing is clear: Jesse Marsch is going for it 🏆
Here's what you need to know ✨ pic.twitter.com/6AsYD8LN2w
They’ll face stiff competition at this tournament, as Mexico has brought a very strong team after winning the Nations League earlier this year, while Panama has also brought a strong group and is looking to build on the fact that they reached the final of this year’s Nations League and the 2023 Gold Cup, falling to Mexico in both games. Then, elsewhere, Jamaica has brought a strong group, while Costa Rica, Curaçao, Suriname and Saudi Arabia have strong teams of their own - and of course, you can’t count out the US, weakened team or not.
Yet, that’s part of the mentality shift that Canada will have to endure - there’s no reason why they can’t look at the other teams vying to lift the Gold Cup, and think - why not us?
At the end of the day, they were the one Concacaf team, not Mexico, the US, Panama or others, to reach the semi-finals of last year’s Copa América, seen as many as a more difficult tournament than the Gold Cup, despite only playing CONMEBOL teams in that tournament. That’s no small feat, and a sign of what they can do as a team.
Good teams deal with that pressure, but great teams embrace it, so if Canada wants to win this trophy, they’ll have to welcome that pressure of knowing that this is the last chance they’ll have to lift a trophy before the World Cup.
The good news, however? Canada has shown signs that they’re willing to do that. Given the roster that they’ve brought, and the level of performances that they’ve shown under Marsch, they know that it’s time that they embrace being the favourites, and his comments show that.
As a result, look for them to play with that expectation, armed with the pain of losing to Mexico in the Nations League semi-finals, and show why they believe they’re ready to make some noise at the World Cup.
No better way to do that than by experiencing lifting a major Concacaf trophy, and doing so in the presence of their strongest possible team, many of whom will be representing Canada on home soil next summer - that sort of experience could be transformative for this group, especially in terms of embracing the pressure that will be on them to win their first World Cup game, and reach the knockout stage for the first time in 2026.
“We’ve pushed to a level where internally, the truth is that we won’t be satisfied with the Gold Cup unless we win it,” Marsch told TSN this week “That’s not a statement to try to put bulletin board material out for our competitors in the region. That’s just the reality of how we feel internally about where we are as a team.”
