Canada Gets Ready For Guatemala

The January camp will come to an end with a friendly match

Los Angeles, CA – The Canadian Men’s National Team is preparing for a stern test in the final stretch of their January camp, as they face Guatemala in a tune-up before heading into June for the FIFA World Cup. They will be showcasing some current players and some new ones from the Canadian Premier League, as they will be tested against a big opponent.

Guatemala has a good squad

Under head coach Luis Fernando Tena, Guatemala has improved the National Team in its last three to four years, rebuilding the National Team since its suspension from international play by FIFA for governmental interference with the Guatemalan FA. New talents like Oscar Santis and Darwin Lom have made their national team stronger and more dangerous than ever before.

Even though they failed to qualify for the World Cup from Group A of the final round, they did have a strong CONCACAF Gold Cup last summer by reaching the Semi-Finals, and lost by a final score of two goals to one to the United States. After this summer, we will see which group in League A, Guatemala, will be drawn in for their upcoming CONCACAF Nations League Draw.

What Marsch is looking for in this game

Without several of his top players currently with their club teams in Europe, as this is not a scheduled International Window, Head Coach Jesse Marsch is looking to see what he has to be ready for the World Cup, but also taking a look at which players are the future for the National Team.

“Yeah, I think we’ll get a blend of, you know, a bit of the best group, best guys we have available, and some of the established guys like Joel (Waterman). And then mix in a few younger, newer players to the national team and kind of see if we can get that blend right. And then be ready to use a lot of guys from the bench. But, you know, I mean, we’re going into this match. I’ve said it’s a developmental game. That’s definitely the case. But we’re going into this match wanting to win,” said Jesse Marsch

Joel Waterman’s improvement

While Marsch had Joel Waterman with him at the press conference, there is no doubt he has improved his play with his club team and the National Team since he was called up during the 2024 Copa America. While he looked a bit tentative, his confidence has risen since he had a conversation with Marsch.

“I felt Joel would play too passively, and I thought he defended too passively. And I think he was doing that because he underestimated his athleticism. And what I’ve tried to say to him is, what I’ve seen from defenders at the highest level is that if you try to protect yourself from areas that you think maybe you’re not at the highest level, you’re going to open yourself up to be exposed for exactly those things.

So we worked a lot more on his aggressive forward defending. We worked a lot more on his aggressive 1v1 defending. You know, we challenged him to not be so worried about space behind, and that when he did get beat behind, he was ready to sprint and cover ground at the rate that he needed to. And I think that what he found is that actually, when he played more aggressively, he could actually show more of his strengths than he would expose his weaknesses.

And I think then his confidence and his game grew from there, both with the national team and with his club team. And so I think that Joel is a great example of what he calls adaptation. But I’ve tried to do this with all the guys, is to up their overall understanding of what the highest levels look like and how aggression fits into that and making sure that when you’re front-footed, whether it’s with the ball, whether it’s against the ball, whether it’s set pieces, whether it’s transition moments, that being the aggressor is always putting you in a position to win duels, to see things faster, to play faster, to be on top of the match. And Joel, because he’s intelligent, I think, has used that to his benefit in a great way.”

Marcelo Flores hasn’t switched yet

Since the discovery that Tigres UANL’s attacking midfielder Marcelo Flores mother is Canadian, Jesse Marsch has had conversations with him to see if he was thinking of doing the one-time switch for his international career from Mexico to Canada. While Flores was called up to this training camp, he hasn’t officially made the switch, and Marsch admitted he was at fault for not paying attention to that.

But Marsch wants Flores to make that decision himself, not force him to make that decision. Marsch wants it done the right way, not forcing Flores to do it for Marsch and for Canada.

“I want to reiterate, Marcelo wants to be here. He wants to be here. I made a mistake in assessing exactly what this match would be available for him and for some others. But his commitment to play for Canada right now is really high. And, the reason why he hasn’t made the one-time switch is that I haven’t asked him to. I’ve kind of asked him to take his time in evaluating this.

I don’t want any of the players, the dual nationals that we’ve been recruiting, I don’t want any of them to feel like I’m pressuring them or I’m cornering them to make a decision, or they’re not welcome. I try to treat this as a family decision, a life decision, and to make sure that when players decide to be here, they’re doing it on their own accord.

Because there’s no guarantee that they’re going to be part of the national team. They’re going to have to earn it still. And so whether it’s Daniel Jevison or when, Nico Segur or Promise David, I never said to them, if you come, you’re going to go to the World Cup. I said, it’s a good team, it’s competitive, but we think that the way we play can help you.

And if you find yourself compelled to be Canadian and to be part of this, then we think you would be a good addition. But you’re going to have to fight for everything because the squad is good. So that’s, that’s essentially where the Marcelo situation is at. I still know we’re going to have a conversation once the camp is done, but I still know he has a very, very high level of interest in being part of the Canadian national team.”

So this will be an interesting match against a strong Guatemalan side, who are ready to play with pride and are looking to the future after the World Cup ends. They will be looking toward this fall when the CONCACAF Nations League Group Stages begin to restart another cycle.

Canada Soccer News:

• Canada Soccer Announces Friendly in Edmonton
• Canada Prepares for January Camp and Friendly in California
• Canada Soccer announces their finalists for best players of the year award

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