Jesse Marsch believes Canada can mount "something special" as it aims to build towards the 2026 World Cup, starting with the Copa America.

Marsch's team somewhat surprisingly made it through Group A behind Argentina, at the expense of Chile, which won back-to-back Copa America titles as recently as 2015 and 2016.

In its maiden Copa America, Canada will now go up against Group B winner Venezuela for a place in the last four.

Looking ahead to the next World Cup, which Canada will co-host along with the United States and Mexico, Marsch thinks the sky is the limit.

"I was thinking, 'Why did I take this job with those three opponents [coming] up?'" Marsch said. "I knew when I took the job that that the schedule was going to be very difficult, and by the way – put Peru and Chile in there as well – the first five opponents I knew were going to be very difficult. 

"But I thought that it would give us a chance to create really high standards for how we wanted to play and that these games would show the players that we need to uphold ourselves to very high standards. I felt that if we could execute, then we could have some success.

"There's real excitement in Canada about the team and the way we've played. That comes with, I think, a real hunger to keep this thing moving forward."

Canada has fared better than its 2026 World Cup co-host USA, which crashed out in the group stage.

"I would love to say I'm just focused on what we’re doing here in Canada, but obviously, I’m paying attention, as always, to the U.S. men's national team and, like you, I’m sad," Marsch said.

"I'm disappointed by the performances, by the lack of discipline. There’s a lot of things that I think we've tried to be about, about the game in the U.S., and we’ve always believed in this group of players.

"I’ll tell you: I'm glad, I'm here, man. Because the people that I work with and the players that I work with, the things that we know that we can achieve together, the support that we have from inside the country, the support system for this entire national team is so positive, so I think it gives us a real chance to develop something and build something and be ready for a big tournament come 2026."