Play for the draw? Canada coach Jesse Marsch has other ideas for Swiss

Canada is in a great position heading into its final group-stage match against Switzerland on Wednesday.

They’re already assured of advancing to the knockout round at a men’s FIFA World Cup for the first time ever. Furthermore, Canada has a chance to advance as the top team in Group B.

Do that and Canada will continue playing in Vancouver for the Round of 32.

A draw is as good as a win for Canada, as they hold the goal-differential tiebreaker following a 6-0 thrashing of Qatar.

Some teams in this situation would play for a 0-0 draw. Lock it down defensively, don’t take chances against the 19th-ranked Swiss.

That’s not going to happen with Canada though.

Speaking with reporters at BC Place on Tuesday, Canada head coach Jesse Marsch made it clear that his team is going to attack.

“I feel like the worst way to get the draw is to play for a draw. I think you have to go into the match and play for a win,” Marsch said.

It’s probably the right call.

Canada’s calling card under Marsch has been their aggressive style of play, utilizing a high press.

“In the later stage of the match you can use your substitutes and you can use tactics to now manage what you need out of the match. Manage the result is how I say it. We are going to start this match going into it with the mentality and the tactics to win. We’re not going to be overly conservative. We’re not going to be overly aggressive. We’re going to be us.

“One of the best parts of this team is who we are is pretty well built in… We are going to play to who we are and we’re going to play to our strengths, and we’re going to try to impose ourselves on the opponent.”

While Canada will be missing star midfielder Ismaël Koné, it sounds like they’ll get Alphonso Davies back. He won’t start, but Marsch gave every indication that Canada’s captain will come off the bench at some point. They may also get meaningful minutes from Moïse Bombito at centre back.

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Canada gets a message from Steve Nash

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Marsch revealed on Tuesday that the team is getting words of inspiration from prominent Canadians during the tournament.

Today, it was a video message from Steve Nash.

“At different moments along the way here, I’ve asked different Canadians to participate in messaging for our group that I think has been important for us to capture the mindset of what this moment is,” Marsch said.

“One of the things that Steve spoke about was the combination of tension and freedom. The tension is about the discipline and the focus, and the concentration to stick to the plan and to know what makes us who we are and what we are. And the freedom was to go out and play and believe in ourselves, and to go after the game and all ways that show confidence and self belief.

“I really love the message. I think it hit the nail on the head with our team.”