Moments after the final whistle of Canada’s landmark
World Cup triumph over South Africa
on Sunday, coach Jesse Marsch drew his players and staff into a huge huddle and delivered an impassioned message.
He praised them as “Canadian heroes” after their first-ever knockout win at the tournament sealed a place in the last 16.
He added that their success was laying the foundation for a massive future for the sport in Canada.
Marsch is known for sweeping, emotional declarations aimed at maximum impact.
This time, though, his sentiment feels spot on—the game is shifting in Canada.
“People are starting to call it football, not soccer,” one fan told BBC Sport before the match.
“Canada is becoming a football nation.”
That vision is exactly what Marsch set out to pursue when he took the Canada job two years ago—an ambition that once seemed far-fetched in a country where ice hockey reigns.
Mexico hosted the tournament’s opener and the USA will stage the final, drawing most of the pre-tournament spotlight and leaving Canada somewhat overlooked as a co-host.
Yet Canada steadily built momentum at home, nurturing excitement for both the event and the national team.
Captain Alphonso Davies, accustomed to raucous, football-obsessed crowds with Bayern Munich and in the Champions League, has noticed the shift back home since the World Cup began.
He said he was moved to tears seeing waves of red and white in Toronto for their opening match against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
“I’d never witnessed that many Canadians at a football match—it felt unreal,” he said before the victory over South Africa.
“It brought me to tears.”