Newly appointed Canadian men's soccer coach Jesse Marsch has drawn on former colleagues and Canadian holdovers in assembling his staff.
Mauro Biello, an assistant coach who took over as interim head coach after John Herdman stepped down last August to take over Toronto FC, is retained as assistant coach/head of pro coaching integration.
Canada Soccer says Biello will serve as an assistant coach with the senior team, contribute to the men’s national team youth system and act as "liaison between the men’s national team and Canadian professional coaches."
Biello, a former Canadian international, served as an assistant to Marsch when he coached Montreal in its 2012 MLS debut season.
Marsch, named Canada coach on May 13, has also brought in Ewan Sharp, his assistant manager at England's Leeds United, and Franz Schiemer, his assistant coach at Austria's Red Bull Salzburg and Leeds.
Holdovers from Biello's staff are goalkeeper coach Paolo Ceccarelli, video analyst Joe Hamilton and assistant coach Paul Stalteri. All three are part-time roles.
Sharp becomes Marsch's assistant coach/head analyst while Schiemer, a former Austrian international, is set piece analyst/head of player development. Sharp previously served as a coach and analyst with the New York Red Bulls, Toronto FC (in 2021 as part of Chris Armas's staff), Lokomotiv Moscow and Manchester United.
Pierre Barrieu, who was Leeds' head fitness coach and performance analyst, becomes assistant coach/head of performance.
Barrieu was director of high performance with Toronto from January 2021 to July 2022 and has extensive ties to Bob Bradley, a former Toronto coach and Marsch mentor. He has also had stints with the Los Angeles Galaxy, Swansea City (Wales), Le Havre AC (France), Stabæk Fotball (Norway) Sheffield Wednesday (England) and the U.S. and United Arab Emirates national teams.
Stalteri, like Ceccarelli a former Canadian international, is listed as as "Canadian coaching community representative." The former Canada captain doubles as a coach with Toronto FC.
Canada Soccer says the Canadian coaching community representative will "be a rotating opportunity that gives Canadian coaches the chance to join the national teams during select windows," at the discretion of Marsch and Canada women's coach Bev Priestman.
The new staff will join the players ahead of 49th-ranked Canada's friendlies against the seventh-ranked Netherlands in Rotterdam and France in Bordeaux on June 6 and 9, respectively.
“This group of talented coaches is the right mix of experience and knowledge at the right time for our program," Marsch said in a statement. "Many of these coaches have worked with me in the past and understand my philosophy and leadership style.
"This familiarity, combined with experienced coaches who know the Canadian national team landscape, provides us with the best and most efficient process to transform this team into a new era."
Canada Soccer says the staff, at this point, is just for the June friendlies.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2024.
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
