Venezuela enter Tuesday’s friendly against Canada as a different variation of the team that lost to Jesse Marsch’s side on penalties at the 2024 Copa America. They’re on their third coach since that quarterfinal shootout defeat, out of World Cup contention, and in the early stages of a transition that’s yielded mildly positive returns.
Canada’s men’s national team has changed, too, turning into a defensive machine under Marsch with clean sheets in 13 of his 26 matches, including Thursday’s goalless draw with Ecuador. The head coach said Canada’s 10 men, reduced by one after Ali Ahmed’s sixth-minute red card, showed so much “maturity” and “savviness” at BMO Field that he had precious little to add from the sidelines.
It’s why he even has a voice for Canada’s final match of 2025 in Fort Lauderdale.
“They were in control of the situation, which, as a coach, that’s what you’re trying to create, is autonomy,” Marsch told OneSoccer’s Kristian Jack. “We’re getting closer and closer to having that.”
But a prickly point remains: Canada haven’t scored in 319 minutes, dating back to Derek Cornelius’ 41st-minute winner against Wales on Sept. 9, and star striker Jonathan David is struggling up front.
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Tuesday’s Copa America rematch therefore offers Venezuela a test to measure recent progress and a chance for Canada to shake off what’s growing into a scoring obsession.
Venezuela’s interim head coach, 33-year-old former striker Fernando Aristeguieta, has already improved the national team’s approach. La Vinotinto controlled the majority of possession in their 1-0 win over Australia last month — a major improvement on their ineffectual 39 percent average during World Cup qualifying. They also limited Argentina to a single goal — a wonder goal at that — in a respectable 1-0 defeat they nearly avoided with a late shot that struck the crossbar. Venezuelan goalkeeper Jose Contrerras was spectacular in that Oct. 10 friendly, making 10 saves as he laid claim to the No. 1 position.
Venezuela’s “big, physical” strikers and explosiveness on the counterattack are what concern Marsch the most. He also sees Toulouse midfielder Cristian Casseres Jr. and Inter Miami counterpart Telasco Segovia as two of Venezuela’s most important players.
Marsch coached Casseres in 2018 while he was with the New York Red Bulls and held up the 25-year-old as an example of the level of talent emerging from Venezuela.
“He was a young, talented guy that we really believed in. Now that he’s at Toulouse — and I’ve seen him play live at the stadium in Ligue 1 — he’s become a real complete player and a really important player for Venezuela,” Marsch told reporters Monday. “So we know there’s a lot of young talent coming through Venezuela. It was one of the reasons why, at Red Bull, we were scouting so heavily to find gems in Venezuela, because we knew it was an up-and-coming footballing nation, and that’s proven to be the point.”
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With defender Alfie Jones obtaining Canadian citizenship and getting the start Tuesday, the British-born CanMNT call-up will have a difficult first assignment in Marsch’s defense. But Jones comes with his own physical traits. As a veteran of the Championship with close to 250 matches played in the English second tier, the 28-year-old has excellent command of the penalty area.
If Canada can’t score, panic won’t set in. Marsch won’t allow it to happen. He’s put a greater emphasis on his players’ shutdown performances and the number of scoring opportunities they’ve created in recent matches.
“If we weren’t creating chances, I’d be a lot more concerned than the fact that we are,” the 52-year-old added. “We haven’t even really talked about it internally because the performance has been good. We’ve been very stingy defensively. We’ve been very organized. We’ve been very difficult to play against. Those are the things that I think are most important, and that will always lead us to being able to find chances.”
The facts, though, remain challenging. Jonathan David is scoreless in 16 games for Juventus and Canada. Forward partner Tani Oluwaseyi hasn’t celebrated a goal for Canada since June 18’s shellacking of Honduras. Cyle Larin, who left camp with an undisclosed injury, hasn’t scored at all for Canada since October 2024.
Jacob Shaffelburg may offer a helping hand. Marsch drafted in the Nova Scotian winger, who scored Canada’s only goal from open play in the shootout win over Venezuela last summer, for the team’s 2025 finale.
