TORONTO — Canada coach Jesse Marsch said he didn’t do enough to ready his side for the first half of the co-hosts’ World Cup draw against Bosnia-Herzegovina and wants to see more “self-belief” in their next match.
Marsch said his second-half substitutes made a “big impact”, particularly Cyle Larin, whose equaliser in the 78th minute earned Canada a 1-1 draw and their first-ever World Cup point.
“I’ve got to figure out how to get a little bit more out of some of the starters and make sure that we have a better performance from the start,” Marsch told reporters in Toronto according to AFP.
“We want to make sure that the team is equipped from the start for all these matches,” he said, adding: “I feel like I didn’t do enough to get them ready for the first half.”
Marsch was asked about two key decisions with his lineup, including not starting Larin.
“Cyle wasn’t happy about not starting and we had a brief conversation about that, but I said, ‘Look, you’ve had a great year at Southampton whether you started or came off the bench,'” he said, praising Larin for putting himself in a position to find the net.
Asked about removing star forward Jonathan David after an hour, Marsch said: “Johnny didn’t have his best day. It’s normal that a player doesn’t always play at his peak.”
“We’ll need him in this tournament to be at his best and find a way to use this experience to be better for the next one,” the coach added.
Marsch also thanked Canada fans who blanketed Toronto Stadium in a sea of red for Canada’s first-ever World Cup match on home soil.
“In a difficult moment, we responded, and I have to also thank the crowd. The crowd, I think, willed us into the game.”
Bosnia-Herzegovina coach Sergej Barbarez told reporters “both teams deserved this point,” praising his side for a resilient effort in hostile terrain.
“It’s a huge compliment for my team to have not succumbed to that pressure,” he said.
