It’s taken years, but Marsch will finally decide his starting goalkeeper for the World Cup this week. After evenly splitting starts between Dayne St. Clair and Maxime Crépeau through his tenure as head coach, he told reporters that the decision on the World Cup No. 1 will come after the Uzbekistan match, where both will play 45 minutes.
While St. Clair has taken on the higher-ranked team in the two-match international windows over the past year, Crépeau might just have the inside track on the top role. Much of that comes down to vibes, rather than goalkeeping, as Crépeau’s performances and confidence despite a 2–0 loss to Argentina to open the Copa América in Marsch’s third game in charge still looms large.
At the club level this year, neither has been great. Crépeau has allowed 43 goals on Orlando City, the worst defensive team in MLS, and has a goals prevented mark of -0.6, while St. Clair has allowed 28 goals on an Inter Miami team that isn’t much better.
“We’ve got to know one another off the field as well, and we’ve got to know what works for us when we’re playing, when we’re not playing, pushing one another, preparing one another for all the situations, basically,” Crépeau toldThe Canadian Press.
“We know ourselves pretty well, and there’s a mutual respect there because, obviously, we’re good guys, but we care for one another at the end of the day. It’s something that’s very healthy within our group.”
The decision won’t be easy, especially considering it’s Crépeau’s first World Cup after missing 2022 after a heroic leg-breaking save to help LAFC win MLS Cup. There’s probably no “wrong decision,” per se, but whichever way Marsch goes will be heavily scrutinized, and telling the pair of longtime friends which one will get to live their childhood dream isn’t an enviable position to be in.