The video of the mesmerizing speech went viral, with Marsch’s mix of German, American-English filler and some choice swearwords clearly proving effective as Salzburg battled back to 3-3, only for Mohamed Salah to grab a winner for the then European champions.
While it may have been the speech that grabbed headlines and plenty of attention, it was the subsequent performances of Salzburg that led to Marsch being linked with managerial posts at some of Europe’s elite clubs—including Borussia Dortmund. The Austrian club had not only impressed in the Champions League, but landed a domestic double, finishing 12 points ahead of Rapid Vienna and crushing SC Austria Lustenau 5-0 to win the Austrian Cup.
In securing the title, Marsch became the first American coach to ever win a European soccer league title. “When I look back on the season, I’m really proud of how the group stayed together and how strong the belief was. Even when we lost a few players and had a difficult period around February,” Marsch tells Newsweek.
“Then with the coronavirus and the league being put on pause, it was a strange time for everyone, but we stayed together and supported each other. We have so many young players that are living here on their own, away from family in a different country, so we worked hard to make sure everyone stayed connected and supported. And when soccer returned, we came back ever stronger.”
Coping with losing star players
While the global pandemic merely delayed Salzburg’s title celebrations, it was the loss of star striker Erling Haaland and influential playmaker Takumi Minamino during the January transfer that most threatened to derail the campaign.
Norwegian striker Haaland had scored 16 league goals and eight in the Champions League—including a hat-trick against Genk—before joining Borussia Dortmund in a high profile move.
While Minamino left for Liverpool following his two impressive displays against the Premier League side. Both were seen as hugely instrumental to Salzburg’s success, and while Marsch sees big futures for the duo, he believes the Austrian club have plenty of talent waiting in the wings.
“There is no question that Erling will continue to elevate himself and show that he has the quality to be one of the best players in the world,” says Marsch. “And Takumi (Minamino) is a very smart player who can play in multiple positions, so I think it will only be a matter of time before he establishes himself.
“But we had a roster meeting today and will bring four players into pre-season with us next year, and I believe that all four have the potential to make the first-team. We are always having to rebuild and naturally we like to build from within.
“More and more young players are seeing that if they come to Salzburg it can be a launching pad for bigger steps in their career. And the more stories that we create internally, the easier it is for us to recruit externally. So that’s a big philosophy of what we do.
“For me, I enjoy developing young players and I enjoy the challenge of polishing a rough talent so that it can become a gem. You have to have patience, but also create a very demanding environment. So knowing what to do when with each player is not always easy, but that’s one of the keys to our success.”
In recent years Salzburg have profited from their excellent scouting network, bringing in young players and developing them before selling for a substantial profit. It is a model that has worked well for numerous clubs across Europe, perhaps the most high-profile of which is Ajax.
And while Salzburg have drawn comparisons with the Dutch giants, Marsch believes the Austrian side have perhaps seen ever greater talent develop at their own state-of the-art Red Bull Academy.
“If you look at the graduates from Salzburg in the last 10 years and compare them with Ajax, I think we would be ahead of them,” suggests Marsch. “Our goal is to continue to find and develop those talents, but also to establish ourselves at a higher level in Europe.
“We have to carve out our own future and now that we’ve had a taste of the Champions League, my job is to take the next step and make sure his team is always a Champions League team.”
“People don’t treat me like an American coach”
While Marsch has been linked with a move away from the Red Bull Arena, he remains committed to Salzburg and is determined to further develop his skills as a coach. He enjoyed success as manager of New York Red Bulls and was instrumental in helping RB Leipzig finish third in the Bundesliga and reach the final of the DFB-Pokal when working as assistant manager under Ralf Rangnick.
Marsch believes that move to the German league was hugely instrumental in helping him understand European soccer and he hopes that the perception of American coaches is now beginning to change, thanks in large to his success in Austria.
“It was important for me to adapt and adjust, as there was a certain perception about American coaches in Europe,” admits the 46-year-old. “I speak German with the media and with the team, which was always important for me.
“Now people don’t treat me like an American coach because they see the way I have adapted to how things work in Europe. Not just in terms of terminology, but also my soccer philosophy. I am very much a Red Bull coach. I like my teams to play with speed and aggression, and a great deal of credit for that is down to Ralph Rangnick, who I learned an awful lot from.
“But it was up to me to take this foundation and make it my own, and create an identity and style that can be very clear but also flexible to work with different types of players.”
So what exactly is Marsch’s soccer philosophy? “I like to play aggressively and go after the opponents. I like the game to be played more on our terms than our opponents. And that is a strategic decision. Let’s make the opponent have to adapt to us. And that was the case when playing the worst team in Austria or the best in Europe. And of course, all my teams score a lot of goals.”
This last statement certainly rings true, with Salzburg scoring a staggering 110 goals in just 32 league games. On top of the three goals at Anfield, in the Champions League they also scored six against Genk and two in a narrow defeat to Napoli.
And this taste of elite level soccer has only left Marsch and his squad even more determined to improve on last season’s Champions League campaign. “Up until we lost to Liverpool we hadn’t lost a game and had been scoring goals at will. So it was an important lesson for us as we saw how much room there was for improvement,” says Marsch.
“We had a taste of success and saw we were moving in the right direction, so the hunger has grown a lot as well.”
“Racism has no place”
But before Marsch can focus all of his attention on next season, there is one issue within soccer that he hopes can be further addressed over the summer. And that is the problem with racism, which has come heavily into focus with players and teams around the world supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
“My first thought goes to America because racism is a major, major problem in the country,” states Marsch. “Given the history we have with slavery, people have not moved the bar nearly far enough where we can say that we are a country that pride ourself on equality. We are nowhere near. We do not treat people of color anywhere near our equals. And that is totally unacceptable for me.
“It is necessary that we change flags, change statutes and change infrastructure and laws so address the issue of inequality. We also need a president that believes in the importance of equality. I hope the crisis of coronavirus and racism means that Trump has no chance to win another election.
“And in regards to soccer, both Uefa and Fifa need to do much more as they have not been aggressive enough in punishing clubs, fans and players for treating people of color differently. If there is one place that racism has no place, it is sport. Because we have seen too many examples of it does not matter where you are from or what color you are, the game is the ultimate leveler.”
