Canada coach Marsch pledges aggressive start against South Africa on Sunday

Some battles are settled at the end of them, in the championship rounds. Others are won and lost in the opening moments.

Canada’s Round of 32 match against South Africa on Sunday — the first World Cup elimination game for both countries — feels destined to be decided quickly.

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“I think we’re going to be very aggressive,” head coach Jesse Marsch said in Los Angeles on Saturday. “From the first second, we have to be going after the game.”

When Canada has struggled, it has struggled early.

Its opening draw against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto, perhaps not surprisingly given the atmosphere and the stakes, began tentatively, with too many soft passes, too much unrealized finesse. Canada’s men played better when they played bigger, more like monsters than the people who run from them. 

The same was true in their loss against Switzerland. The first half was nervy and tight, almost unbearably so; the Swiss broke through that tension to start the second half and scored twice, and the Canadians didn’t remember what they were capable of until it was too late.

Only in their game against Qatar, a 6-0 demolition, did they play at their ferocious best. 

That’s the sort of performance they will need against the South Africans. 

“We’re expecting South Africa to be very intensive, to have a fast start, to be excited and spirited for this match,” Marsch said. “It’s a big moment for their federation and their team. We are very clear on what to expect. It’s also a moment for us, where we want to be at our best.”

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