Dayne St. Clair’s confidence shines in Canada’s goalkeeper competition

For Dayne St. Clair, confidence is not in short order.

St. Clair is a goalkeeper who believes in himself and conducts himself on the pitch with a swagger that endears himself to his fanbase, be it with his club team at Minnesota in Major League Soccer, or with the Canadian men’s team.

St. Clair, it appears, has the right personality for a position that demands assuredness, sometimes even walking the fine line between self-belief and arrogance.

“I feel confident in showing my personality,” St. Clair said, “and that’s, I think, a big part of this camp, and what Jesse (Marsch) has been saying that he wants us to show — our personality. I know that that’s part of mine and true to who I am as a competitor on the field.”

Head coach Marsch has made vocal leadership, especially between the lines after the whistle is blown, a priority for his Canadian squad, and something, as St. Clair stated, has been worked on during this international window.

An impressive 3-0 win over Romania on Friday, where the always vocal Max Crepeau had the gloves, will be followed up on Tuesday when St. Clair is back in goal when Canada meets Wales in Swansea.

Despite his confidence in goal, being that presence, where he is comfortable barking at his teammates when needed, has been a work in progress for the 28-year-old Pickering, Ont., native. It is no surprise, despite being a major part of Marsch’s squads and teams, that he still has only 15 caps.

His international career is just beginning.

Of course, as a goalkeeper, all eyes are on you, and following Crepeau’s heroics at Copa America, where he was brilliant throughout and made the winning shootout save against Venezuela in the quarterfinal, there has been criticism directed toward St. Clair, who failed to make a save in the Gold Cup quarterfinal 6-5 shootout loss to Guatemala. Such opinion has irked Marsch, who defended his goalkeeper during a media availability on Monday.

There is no doubt what his manager thinks of him.

“I think Dayne’s been the best goalkeeper in MLS this entire season. He was an all-star, which I think is well deserved,” Marsch said. “I think that I really like Max and the qualities he brings and who he is as a person and as a goalkeeper, but I feel the same about Dayne. They’re different, but Dayne has been outstanding since I’ve been here.”

It has been another strong season at the club level with Minnesota United. St. Clair has nine clean sheets, good for second overall in MLS, as are the 23 goals his team has conceded this season, as they sit second in the Western Conference.

Compared to his main rival, Crepeau, who has struggled to keep the gloves at Portland this season, St. Clair is entrenched as his club’s choice ‘keeper. Playing time will very much be a factor when March decides on who will be his goalkeeper for Canada at the World Cup.

The battle is very much open as it stands, although the coach has suggested he intends to name a No. 1 sooner rather than later. St. Clair seems to have the confidence of Marsch, with the majority of starts since Copa America in 2024:

“I think I’m definitely in a good position,” St. Clair said, “but I also know that I feel like things are in my control. But I also know that things can happen very differently.

“And of course, there are a lot of opinions about our position. And at the end of the day, I’m just going to kind of keep doing my job because I know I was behind before. (Perhaps) people want to call me ahead now or whatever, but I know the most important thing to me is being ahead or the one for the World Cup.

“So how this roller coaster, this battle, goes up until then, of course, can be difficult at times. But the most important thing for me is putting myself in the best position and knowing that I gave everything to have my number called for that first game in Toronto and throughout the World Cup.”

Would he like to know ahead of time?

“It depends on whether your name is the one that gets called, right?” St. Clair said. “I think both of our goals is definitely to be the one that is starting that first game in Toronto and leading the team in the World Cup, so if it takes up into that point for your name to be called, of course you want that but I think also having the clarity and the confidence, not only for ourselves but for the team because our position is such a crucial position in terms of the leadership and things. So, I think just having that clarity will be nice as well, but I think we are going to fight until the end, regardless of whose name gets called, because, you know, in this sport, things can happen and change so quickly.”

Goalie tandems can be a strange dynamic. Regardless of where you fit in, you depend on each other at training as well as in the case of injury.

That said, it doesn’t sound as if St. Clair and Crepeau will waste too much time talking about the reality they are in together.

“No, I think there’s definitely a mutual respect between us, and we know that we will push each other. And at the end of the day, neither of us make the final decision,” St. Clair said. “So, there’s no personal grudge against each other. And I think that in our position, we know that we need each other, whether it’s for training or we see different things and we have different styles. So, can we still learn and build off each other? Because at the end of the day, we’re here to represent our country and it’s way bigger than either of us as individuals.”