Crepeau, St. Clair competing to be Canada’s starting keeper

Every decision Jesse Marsch makes as the head coach of the Canadian men's national team is going to be examined closely in the months ahead.

Every roster call made before an international window and every tactical adjustment that might affect who plays and who doesn't will become a talking point. And right now, there is already a big debate surrounding his starting goalkeeper.

Marsch has played both Maxime Crepeau and Dayne St. Clair in big, pressure-packed moments, but hasn't yet settled on one guy. Five weeks away from the Concacaf Nations League semifinals against Mexico, Marsch says he's leaning toward one guy, but still, won't be definitive.

“I think Dayne has the pole position, based on his performances [with Canada and in MLS],” Marsch said to TSN in January, just before the 500-day countdown to the World Cup began. “But the whole time I’ve said this will be a healthy competition.”

Every competition for a roster spot is motivated by Marsch's motto for the next 17 months until the start of the World Cup: “26 for 26” as in the 26 players he will take to the tournament.

So far, 49 players have had their shot, and Canada keeps building depth. Marsch would probably hope to be at least three players deep in most positions so he can move pieces around in different situations.

The situation Canada is facing now is competing for trophies. That's why Marsch's perspective is interesting ahead of the Nations League, even if his goalkeepers aren't going to put too much weight on that opinion.

“That was my first time hearing it,” St. Clair said in mid-January over the phone from Minnesota United’s training camp base in Santa Barbara, Calif. “I think I felt like I put myself in a good spot the last couple of games [of the MLS regular season and playoffs], but things can always change, as it has changed in the past.

"So, even though I’m in the pole position right now, according to [Marsch], I know the job isn’t done and the World Cup doesn’t start tomorrow.”

Crépeau wasn't aware of Marsch's early lean toward St. Clair either when reached by phone last week before Portland Timbers most recent preseason game in Indio, Calif.

“I wasn’t aware of [Marsch’s] comments,” Crépeau said. “The [Concacaf Nations League quarter-final]  games against Suriname where Dayne played, it was the fact that Dayne was in the playoffs. It was up to [Marsch’s] decision. He’s the man, he’s calling the shots. He’s our leader for the World Cup... I’m preparing the best way I can. I control what I can control.”

Since taking the job as Canada's head coach last spring, Marsch hasn't avoided or tried to obfuscate when asked about his roster decisions. But he's been careful not to sound definitive or get into the habit of handing out roster spots like their patronage positions.

For most every Canadian player – save for perhaps the seemingly irreplaceable Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David – “26 for 26” is Marsch's motto and his drumbeat.

Almost immediately after taking the job, Marsch challenged Tajon Buchanan to adapt to this system, and even sat the talented winger on the bench before Buchanan suffered a broken leg at Copa América.

He also sat 2022 World Cup starting defender Kamal Miller in favour of giving Moïse Bombito and Derek Cornelius chances in central defence. He's offered fresh opportunities to midfielders Ali Ahmed, Mathieu Choiniere, Liam Millar – before Millar tore his ACL while playing with Hull City – and, most notably, to Jacob Shaffelburg.

Marsch's nine-month track record with how he uses his goalkeepers proves he's taking his time and considering everything. In his first match in charge, Marsch started St. Clair against the Dutch in Rotterdam, then Crépeau maintained a rhythm from Canada’s 0-0 draw against France to the Copa América semifinals, until St. Clair started against Uruguay in the third-place game.

Then Crépeau and Canada beat the U.S. in the U.S. for the first time in 67 years, before St. Clair started the friendly against Mexico and the two Nations League games against Suriname.

By that time, at the end of the MLS season, Crépeau had lost his starting job in Portland to fellow Canadian James Pantemis. Quality, consistent playing time can tilt the scales for a lot of head coaches, and St. Clair is Minnesota’s undisputed starter.

But in five weeks, after the first four games of the upcoming MLS season, it could all flip, and then flip again during the season. A lot of things can happen over the next year and a half.

But while Pantemis, CF Montreal’s Jonathan Sirois, and Tom McGill, who is playing for MK Dons in England’s League Two, have each spent time in a Canadian camps under Marsch, they haven’t broken apart the matchup that is exclusively Crépeau versus St. Clair.  

“I think for us, it’s always been a competition,” St. Clair said.

As a goalkeeper, St. Clair wants to be relied upon. He speaks up in Minnesota United’s pregame huddle and he’s got the physical and mental capabilities to take a team the distance in any game. He’s also building a bravado in the net.

Sometimes it works, and he drops Vince Carter’s “It’s Over” celebration after making a decisive save in a playoff shootout. Other times he’ll jaw at pugnacious Swiss striker Xherdan Shaqiri before a penalty, or try to mess with Uruguay goalkeeper Sergio Rochet during Copa America’s third place penalty shootout, and he loses.

St. Clair puffs his chest out and shouts loud on the field, and even if his risks and rewards will always be in the spotlight, he's not a self-important blowhard just looking to hog attention. He takes being the last line of defence for his team seriously, and he wants to show it.

“That passion, that competitiveness is something we’ll always have and always show," is how St. Clair describes his mentality for club and country, and it's his touchstone, even after defeat.

St. Clair and Minnesota conceded six goals to eventual MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy in last season’s conference semifinal, but he doesn’t talk like that disappointment is hanging over him.

He's 27 and speaks honestly about putting all the pieces together in preparation for his prime. Right now, he’s focusing on mental training, because a goalkeeper with an edge sees an edge worth sharpening.  

“Last year was so long that you really couldn’t get in the gym. Obviously you want to get bigger and stronger and all those things, but the mental side was the side that I wanted to hone in on,” St. Clair said. “Reaction, stimulus, eye tracking – all those sorts of things kind of go into it.  Then just being aware of myself and being honest with myself about things that I do well as well about things I need to work on.”

Meanwhile, Crépeau’s performances at Copa América proved that, at his best, he makes Canada’s once heavily-scrutinized defence better. He ultimately led last summer’s tournament in saves, but it was one of Crépeau’s initial stops that helped ignite the team directive Marsch’s describes as “everybody has to commit all the way.”

Eighteen months removed from the collision that broke his leg in the 2022 MLS Cup final, there was Crépeau, eight minutes into Copa America, charging at Argentina attacker Angel di Maria and winning the ball. At 30, Crépeau's mindset is all-in, all-the-time, and he is adamant he will never  regret any decision he makes when he puts on his goalkeeping jersey for club and country. The way Crépeau describes it, he never wants to think "Oh s--t I should have."

But after one of the greatest runs any Canadian men’s goalkeeper has had in any international tournament, Crépeau soon found himself on Portland’s bench. And while St. Clair’s league form made Marsch pivot, Crépeau focused on end-of-season conversations with Portland head coach Phil Neville, and winning back his job back.

“I signed in Portland to win trophies,” Crépeau said. “I’m going for everything, every time I put on the jersey I’m going for it. In 2024, we [Crépeau and Neville] had our differences at a time, but looking forward to 2025, I know my role enough on and off the field, and it’s about winning games and getting silverware.”

That’s St. Clair’s mantra, too, just “focus on the preseason and making sure I’m ready” for the start of the MLS season. But then St. Clair adds: “The first four games of the season could kind of persuade Jesse to decide who is going to play in those Nations League games.”

Crépeau can’t deny that either, even with club demands immediately in front of him.

“Now it’s up to me,” he said about wanting to change Marsch’s mind, again.

They're different goalkeepers with different styles, but they share a similar resilient confidence. Both Crépeau and St. Clair sound the same when they talk about the Canadian starter job. Each guy speaks like he knows, if he plays his best, he'll be Marsch's starter come June 2026. Goalkeepers have to be that singular and that focused.

And still so far from the World Cup, the pursuit of that one job can become all-consuming. Both players would be forgiven if retreated deep inside their own processes, remained selfish, ignored each other, and didn't help the other guy. But that's not what's happening.

As Chile turned up the pressure on Crépeau in Canada’s pivotal, final Copa América group game, St. Clair was always up first to meet him at the sidelines, offering whatever he needed. And Crépeau was the same during the third-place game. They like each other, text occasionally, and ended their off-season together in Toronto, partying at fellow Canadian international Kamal Miller’s wedding.

“We know whoever is picking it’s not a personal choice against the next person,” St. Clair said. “It’s natural where you want to get picked, but we do a good job of keeping that outside and supporting the other guy. Both of us want our country to do well.”

“I’m a big believer of the human being comes first and then the business comes second,” Crépeau said. “We both share these ways of thinking and when you start on a foundation like this we talk like we’re brothers. The word brother has been around a lot [with Canada’s men], but we’re very genuine. When you have a foundation like this, how can the relationship be unhealthy?”

One job for one guy, that’s it. The debate won't stop, either. But if you draw-up Marsch's 2026 vision as a Venn diagram and “26 for 26” is on one side and “everybody has to commit all the way” is on the other, in the overlapping middle is Canada as a team.

For Marsch, even the competition for that one job has to be a shared pursuit that benefits the country’s goals.

“Their job will be to support each other and push each other,” Marsch said. “And the best thing they can do is make sure they’re ready to perform because [the decision about who starts is] really close. They’re both very good.”