Ahead of friendly vs. U.S., Canada men's soccer coach Jesse Marsch not shy about speaking his mind

Jesse Marsch knows he says things people may dislike.

He's not about to stop.

"Look, I'm American. But I'm honoured and really proud to be the Canadian national team coach," the head coach of Canada's men's soccer team said Monday.

"And I think we know I'm not afraid to say things that I think sometimes need to be said or that I feel should be said, whether people agree with them or not."

Marsch, who hails from Racine, Wisc., raised ire this week with comments he made about American mentality in a wide-ranging interview with The Guardian.

Canadian men's soccer coach Marsch says team hopes to crack top 24 in world rankings

He told the newspaper that Americans are "inundated with propaganda" from a young age and "feel like we deserve to be treated differently because we're Americans."

The comments come as Canada prepares to face the U.S. in a friendly in St. Paul, Minn., on Tuesday, with an ongoing trade war between the two nations playing out in the background.

"I get that it's not always the job of a sports person to put themselves in the forefront of the political environments and everything else. But I've had a unique perspective, being an American and having a bit of a Canadian mentality and representing a really important role in the nation," Marsch said in a press conference on Monday.

"So I've taken that on as something that I take very seriously. And when I believe that there's things that need to be said and stood up for, then I do that. Do I cross the line sometimes? Yeah, probably. But so what? So what? If the team's ready to play on the weekend, then we should all be happy."

Heading into Tuesday's game, Canada sits 27th in FIFA's world rankings, and is coming off a 1-0 exhibition victory over Chile on Sept.