Clint Dempsey takes shot at Canada's American coach for 'switching sides': 'Worry about your own team'
Clint Dempsey takes shot at Canada’s American coach for ‘switching sides’: ‘Worry about your own team’ originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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As Canada head coach Jesse Marsch leads the country in the 2026 World Cup, he has a lot to say about his home country.
Marsch, an American native who both played for and was an assistant for the USMNT, criticized American players’ pride while praising the pride of Canadian players this week.
“Every one of these boys is incredibly Canadian,” he said, via ESPN. “And the pride that they have in putting on the jersey, representing the country, hearing the national anthem…In the U.S., sometimes we had to beg players to sing the national anthem. These guys sing the national anthem, belt it out to the top of their lungs, because they want to show the country how proud they are to be here, to be Canadians and to represent what Canada is.”
That comment caught ears in America, as fans didn’t take kindly to Marsch’s description. That includes Clint Dempsey, a longtime USMNT player who played in three World Cups for the country.
Dempsey is working for Fox this summer, and he aired out his thoughts on Marsch before Canada’s opening match on Thursday. Here’s what Dempsey had to say.
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Clint Dempsey takes shot at Canada coach Jesse Marsch
When Fox Sports host Rob Stone told Dempsey bout Marsch’s comment, the 43-year-old unloaded on Marsch by taking from his past experiences
“I can’t take this guy too seriously,” Dempsey said, before describing how proud he was to play for the United States. “It was an honor for me, growing up, to represent my country. When the national anthem happened, I wasn’t someone who would sing, I’d put my hand over my heart and I’d pray to the good man upstairs. I’m someone who’s bled for this country, I broke my nose playing for this country, I’ve come back from two heart procedures and played for this country.”
Dempsey then took an even more direct shot at Marsch for talking trash while coaching another country’s team.
“I’m not gonna take advice from someone who switched to the other side and is singing another country’s national anthem,” he said. “As my boy TT would say, ‘Stay in your own lane, it looks like he’s on a dang moped.’ Worry about your own team.”
“I can’t take that guy too seriously.”@clint_dempsey responds to Jesse Marsch’s recent comments about his time with the USMNT pic.twitter.com/x4JvlDHRkh
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 12, 2026
Dempsey and Marsch overlapped briefly with the USMNT from 2009-2011, when Marsch was an assistant coach and Dempsey was a player.
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Where is Jesse Marsch from?
Marsch was born and raised in Racine, Wisconsin, and he attended college at Princeton in the mid-1990s. Marsch then played much of his career in Major League Soccer. After retiring, he’s coached multiple teams all over the world, including the Montreal Impact, the New York Red Bulls and Leeds.
Marsch was an assistant coach for the USMNT from when he retired in 2009 to 2011, when the team fired Bob Bradley. During this time, Dempsey was one of the USMNT’s best players.
