Jesse Marsch is not the most popular former Leeds United manager and shares a large share of the blame for their relegation from the Premier League in 2023. His Canada team beat the USA to finish third in the Concacaf Nations League, but he has not stopped attracting controversy.
The former Leeds boss came under fire even when his side beat the USA as he was red carded for getting on the pitch and complaining at the referee’s face this week.
Jesse Marsch has been moaning about the Canadian National team not getting proper respect from the officials, and it came to a boil in the third-place playoff game against the United States.
However, the fallout from the game has continued to haunt the Canada manager, and he is now under pressure for mishandling one of the most important players in the Canada squad.
Jesse Marsch has been blamed for the injury of a key Canada star
Alphonso Davies is probably the most high-profile Canadian player, but he is now staring at a long road to recovery after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament on international duty.
He is due to undergo surgery in Germany and will probably be out of action until at least the start of next season due to the severity of the injury.
Nedal Huoseh, his agent, has blamed Canada and Marsch for the defender suffering the serious knee injury and claimed that he was not 100 percent fit going into the United States game.
He insisted that a decision was made that he wouldn’t start against the United States, but feels he was pressured into playing that fixture and now he is out for months due to the serious knee injury.
“I am very disappointed. Alphonso was not 100% after the Mexico game, and it was planned that he was not going to start against the USA”, a statement from Nedal Huoseh read.
“On Saturday night the expectation was he would not be in the XI. As a captain I feel he was pressured to start the game by the coach. Alphonso is not the kind of guy to say no in those moments. He ended up playing and look what happened.
“Canada Soccer needs to do a better job managing these players, in my opinion. Alphonso is down and obviously really disappointed about this injury.
“Thankfully, he is in wonderful hands with a world-class group at Bayern who will take great care of him. He is expected to have the surgery within the next 24 hours.”
Leeds fans won’t remember him fondly
Marsch replaced a cult hero in Marcelo Bielsa in early 2022 and somehow kept Leeds in the Premier League in the latter half of the season.
However, the American was exposed in the following season, and many felt Leeds wasted precious months by delaying his sacking until early 2023.
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Leeds eventually got relegated, and Marsch picked up the blame for some baffling tactics, with many insisting that he was never good enough to manage in the Premier League.
He is rebuilding his reputation in Canada, but Leeds fans won’t have any fond memories of a man who replaced Bielsa and was more or less responsible for their relegation.
