Jesse Marsch and the Canadian men’s national team are staying on track.
As national teams reconvene for the first international window since the 2026 FIFA World Cup, many are treating it as the beginning of a new cycle heading toward 2030. For Canada, though, it’s about maintaining the progress they’ve enjoyed under Marsch’s leadership.
While their final opponents in this three-match window, the US men’s national team, called up 13 uncapped players, including eight teenagers, Marsch largely stuck with Canada's established core, adding a handful of new faces.
On Saturday, Canada hosts Chile at Toronto FC’s BMO Field, a venue now downsized to its regular self and strikingly different from the stadium that hosted their 1–1 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina to open the World Cup in June.
“There isn't really a need now to change everything or to start bringing in all new players, in a time when there's a new cycle and a continuing coaching staff,” Marsch said about the next steps the CanMNT is taking, starting with matches against Chile, Peru and the USMNT this window.
“There will continue to be a development and a cycle of how we progress to get ourselves really ready for 2030, but we felt like it was time just to continue to push the environment every day and continue to be great at the things we want to be great at.”
New cycle, new goals
Among Canada's stated goals for the new cycle are climbing into the world's top 24 and securing a Pot 2 position for the 2030 World Cup draw, which could improve their path through the tournament. Winning a Concacaf Nations League or Gold Cup title and qualifying for the 2030 World Cup are also among the benchmarks Marsch's group has set.
“A natural progression,” Liam Millar described it. The 26-year-old joined EFL Championship side Birmingham City on loan at the deadline, just two days after scoring his first Premier League goal for Hull City.
“There will be older players filling out and younger players filling in, and I feel like it's up to a lot of us who have been around for a long time to help the new players coming in and adapt to the style and what they need.”
Honoring a generation
Even as Canada look toward 2030, this window also offers an opportunity to recognize two players who helped define the program's previous era. Former Vancouver Whitecaps winger Junior Hoilett will be honored Saturday at BMO Field, while CF Montréal midfielder Samuel Piette will receive a similar tribute against Peru at Stade Saputo.
Both were left off the World Cup squad, but have been longtime fixtures, each earning 69 caps. Hoilett, who is currently without a club, will be honored Saturday near his hometown after a decade with the national team, having committed to Canada as a high-profile dual national in 2015.
Piette, meanwhile, will be honored against Peru at Stade Saputo, with the window expected to be the final national team appearances for both former fixtures in the international picture.
“Junior has helped so many of us throughout our careers,” Toronto FC’s Richie Laryea said this week about the player they affectionately call 'OG'.
“He helped me a lot when I got into the national team... He’s a big brother to a lot of the guys; everyone looks up to him."
A team in form
Marsch won’t have several key players to lean on through the window, with captain Alphonso Davies on his honeymoon and Derek Cornelius sidelined by a recent training injury, among other absences.
Still, several of the players Marsch does have available arrive in excellent club form.
Jonathan David, fresh off a loan move from Juventus to Atlético Madrid, has 3g/1a in his last three games, including in a 2–1 Madrid Derby win over Real Madrid, and former Orlando City star Cyle Larin has eight goals in 10 games with Southampton, earning the EFL Championship Player of the Month award for September.
Millar has also started brightly at Birmingham City, while Promise David recently moved to the Premier League with Brighton. The ex-MLS trio of Tajon Buchanan, Tani Oluwaseyi and Nathan Saliba are now together at Villarreal, while goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair enters camp fresh off winning the 2026 Michelob ULTRA Campeones Cup with Inter Miami.
“It’s tough to look four years out,” said St. Clair of taking on the new cycle. “We’re trying to look at this camp and each camp as, ‘It is what it is.’ The World Cup is the big thing everyone likes to talk about, but a lot is going to happen between now and then.
"It’s a new cycle; guys are looking to fight for their spots, there’s been new players coming in, but at the same time we have a strong core that’s looking to take us further than we’ve ever been, and that means winning a trophy.”
