Which version of Jesse Marsch can ignite a cold Jonathan David?

Jesse Marsch, like a lot of 52-year-old men, knows that he has likely lived more life than he has left to live, and he’s trying hard to finish stronger than he started.

One of his defining features as a player was his temper. It wasn’t vicious, exactly, but he ran hot, and he was capable of violence, especially when it felt righteous, like justice. “I wasn’t looking to make friends,” he’s said of the man he used to be. “I wanted to win.”

When David Beckham entered Major League Soccer’s frame in 2007 with the L.A. Galaxy, he faced Marsch’s Chivas USA. Marsch was excited for the test, and he wanted to show Beckham, and so the world, that he wasn’t afraid to get his boots in.

The two clashed from the opening minutes, until Beckham’s hand-checking verged, by Marsch’s lights, closer to disrespect. Marsch looked to the referee for help before deciding to settle his own accounts. He chased down Beckham from behind and kicked him, hard, in the stomach.

Beckham went down, popped up, and Marsch, a solid if unspectacular midfielder, squared up with one of the most celebrated players in the game.

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Marsch apologized to Beckham the next day: He just had this switch, he explained, and sometimes it got tripped like a wire. That’s when he’d do something he’d regret, like tracking down a handsy opponent to kick him in the stomach.

He’s worked in the decades since to quell those baser impulses. He’s fought to become kinder, calmer, more cultured, more generous. In the two years he’s coached Canada’s men, he’s been warm and accessible, a man who tries to improve the mood of every room he’s in, especially if that room is a restaurant.

But like a lot of people in