Jesse Marsch: windmilling human meme or shrewd protector of suddenly dangerous Canada?

Some corners of the internet were determined that Canada’s totemic and traumatic 6-0 World Cup victory on Thursday would be remembered mostly through Jesse Marsch memes. The American’s handsy sideline shuffle after Jonathan David rifled the first goal of a hat-trick past Qatar duly racked up social media views by the million. Shots of Marsch holding up six fingers to Canada fans at the end of the match were chopped and put side by side with Michael Jordan in identical pose after winning his sixth NBA title with the Chicago Bulls. The man himself was adamant it would be remembered for what it was: a moment in time and a moment for all times, including the dark ones after Ismaël Koné’s World Cup was ended with a broken leg . Koné’s horrifying injury came almost halfway through an afternoon that saw records fall like confetti through the Vancouver air. “To create an identity for what Canadian soccer could be, you can say and do all the right things, but you need moments like today, where everybody remembers what happened,” Marsch said after the victory, the Canada men’s first in this tournament, the biggest ever by a Concacaf nation and the joint-largest by any World Cup host. “No Canadian will forget this day. There’ll be 40 million people that said they were here. It’s an incredibly seminal moment for everyone to understand that there’s talent in this country, that there’s mentality, desire, a lot of things that make this country special, even though it’s a hockey country. …