Needing only a draw, Canada coach Marsch cautions against playing safe in Group B finale vs. Switzerland

To steal a line from Stephen Eustáquio, Wednesday’s game against Switzerland is the most important in the history of Canada’s men’s program because it is the next one. Each day, each hour, this team has reached a new height, felt the weight of a new expectation.

But it’s almost a truism, in soccer and in life: Our fates turn on slivers, despite our grandest designs. The World Cup is one long, constant lesson in the consequences of small moments.

Steve Nash, the Canadian basketball great and soccer fanatic, sent the team a video message. The players and coaches watched it together on Tuesday morning, crowded onto hard chairs in a stark white room, before they went out for one last practice before the game of their lives.

In it, Nash talked about the delicate internal balance between tension and freedom that wins trophies — the importance of remembering the discipline that greatness demands while not forgetting the joy that helps deliver it.

“I really loved the message,” head coach Jesse Marsch said after. “I think it hit the nail on the head with our team. I want them to understand exactly what their roles are and what the match plan is and why the match plan is important.

“But I want our players, especially our attacking players, to go out on the pitch and be them.”

Canada will reach its first knockout round regardless of the result against the Swiss, and it shouldn’t be forgotten how seismic that is. An expanded tournament makes it impossible to compare eras anymore. This team has still earned its outcomes and the history it has made. 

But with a win or a draw at an electric B.C. Place, Canada will win Group B. It will play in the Round of 32 against another group’s third-place team, after a full week of rest, with no