Canadian men's soccer team set for another tough challenge against No. 2 France in friendly

The learning curve for Canada under new coach Jesse Marsch continues Sunday, with another potentially hard lesson waiting in the form of second-ranked France.

The Marsch era started Thursday with the 49th-ranked Canadian men blanked 4-0 by the seventh-ranked Netherlands in Rotterdam.

It won't be any easier at the Stade Matmut Atlantique in Bordeaux. The French have lost just two of their last 13 outings (10-2-2) — both defeats at the hands of Germany — since losing a penalty shootout to Argentina in the 2022 World Cup final.

"What an opportunity," Marsch said Saturday. "What a challenge but what a great opportunity. And I expect our players to be up for it."

"I'm confident that as difficult as the game will be [Sunday] that we'll be able to handle it in a really good way," added the 50-year-old American, who was named Canada coach on May 13.

The French are coming off a 3-0 win Wednesday over No. 87 Luxembourg with Kylian Mbappe, who just joined Real Madrid from Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer, setting up the first two goals and scoring the third.

Marsch, who is rotating the captain's armband to start, confirmed that midfielder Stephen Eustaquio will lead the team out Sunday. Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies captained the side against the Dutch.

Eustaquio, who plays club football for Portugal's FC Porto, says such tough foes are welcome.

"I think we are a very young team but we are very very motivated," he said. "We have a lot of hunger. This is an amazing opportunity to play a top, top team. We were wishing for games like this in the past couple of years.

"It was a great lesson learned against the Dutch," he added. "Although we lost 4-0, it was very good for us to play at that level. Now France, a very demanding