Cold rain fell for two straight days, turning the freshly laid grass at Commonwealth Stadium into something closer to a wading pool. Forty-six thousand fans waded in anyway. Canada walked off with a 2-0 win and two second-half goals from Jonathan Osorio and Jayden Nelson.
The defence held when it mattered
Uzbekistan managed three scoring chances in the first half. Nearly none after the break. Marsch noted that Canada's last 11 matches have yielded just three goals against—solid numbers for a team that hasn't always generated offence from open play.
The matchup already has enough history; the job is to keep the reading list shorter than the tension.
"There's been a lot of talk that we haven't scored goals from the run of play, understandably so because we hadn't," Marsch said post-game. "But I kept saying the goals are coming because I know we have a lot of firepower."
He also stressed the importance of clean sheets. The offensive output was encouraging, but the defensive stability has been the foundation.
Injury concerns shadow the roster
Marsch is managing several unavailable players. Marcelo Flores suffered a ruptured ACL over the weekend and is out. Captain Alphonso Davies did some light jogging Monday but remained questionable for the World Cup opener. He spent the match on the sideline, encouraging teammates.
"It felt nice to get on the pitch and do some running," Davies said. "We'll have to see how everything goes in the next couple of days. Step by step."
The team now travels to Montreal for a final friendly against Ireland before opening World Cup group play on June 12 in Toronto against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Group B includes Switzerland and Qatar.