Canada's Whitecaps players back in training after Marsch alleges ‘poisoning' in Mexico

New York Times

a day ago

Canada men's national team head coach Jesse Marsch alleged on Friday that three members of his team who traveled to Mexico with the Vancouver Whitecaps for the Concacaf Champions Cup final were 'poisoned.'
The Whitecaps lost to Cruz Azul 5-0 in Sunday's final and cancelled their training session on Wednesday after a 'significant number' of players and staff members fell ill with gastrointestinal symptoms. In a statement the club said: 'As a precautionary measure, and in consultation with the club's medical team, as well as the local infectious disease consultant and Vancouver Coastal Health, the club cancelled training on Wednesday and held a modified individual closed session for cleared players today.'
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The Whitecaps have not alleged any foul play, and the club even brought its own chef as a precautionary measure after the Columbus Crew suffered a similar fate during its Concacaf Champions Cup final against Pachuca. That did not deter Marsch from making pointed allegations, despite later clarifying that he had no proof.
'It's for me, appalling that this is the second year in a row that Concacaf and the powers that be have allowed an MLS team to go down to Mexico for a big final and get poisoned,' Marsch told reporters after a Friday morning event with the Canada Ukraine Foundation (Ukraine is in Toronto to play Canada in the Canadian Shield friendly tournament). 'It's ridiculous. Something has to be done to protect these environments.'
The players Marsch is referencing are Vancouver's Jayden Nelson, Ali Ahmed and Sam Adekugbe. After returning from Mexico, the Whitecaps trio trained separately from the rest of the Canadian squad during their first session in Halifax.
'Look, in the past when you would go down there, I remember being with the U.S. national team and club teams going down to Mexico, it was 'will the fire alarm be pulled in the middle of the night? Will there be dancing and singing?' And those are somewhat spirited, competitive advantages that are created when you go down to Mexico. But poisoning the team is another, is another version,' Marsch said.
'Look I don't have any proof here that this (happened) but it's not random,' he added. 'It's not random that two years in a row this has happened. If I were the Vancouver Whitecaps, if I were the Columbus Crew, if I were MLS, I would be absolutely angry that this has been allowed to happen.
'When all three of (Nelson, Adekugbe and Ahmed) are sick, it's clear. It wasn't just 'Ah I don't feel so great'. There was talk of whether it was an infectious virus but in the end, I don't want to speak but I think the results are that it was food poisoning.'
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All three Whitecaps players trained with Canada during Friday's morning session in Toronto, but Marsch said it was unlikely they would be available for full 90-minute performances on Saturday against Ukraine.
Canada plays Ivory Coast in another friendly on Tuesday that serves as preparations for the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup, where Canada will face Honduras, El Salvador and Curaçao in group play as it vies for its first title since 2000.