MONTREAL – Back in 2012, Maxime Crepeau was a teenager in the Montreal Impact academy. The young goalkeeper sat with his family in the team’s player lounge — since developed into the team’s coffee room — and shook hands with Jesse Marsch. Marsch was then the Impact head coach, as Crepeau put ink to his first professional contract.Over 14 years later, Crepeau and Marsch walked together up a set of stairs in the same stadium. Crepeau has played for seven clubs total since then, and been the backup for Canada’s men’s national team when he should have been the starter.It was the resolve Crepeau has shown in the 14 years since that day that led him up those stairs to where he sat on Thursday: again beside Marsch. After months of letting the decision drag on and debate internally and externally, Marsch officially named Crepeau Canada’s starting goalkeeper for the World Cup over Dayne St. Clair in a press conference.“Maturity” and “experience” were the first words Marsch used to describe why Crepeau, the Orlando City goalkeeper, was given the nod.“That’s exactly what we need in the goal, along with all of his goalkeeping qualities,” Marsch said. “But I think that security that we get with Max, along with his overall talent and intelligence, really makes us a better team right now.”Even if St. Clair might have appeared like the more athletic goalkeeper at times, Crepeau is the leader Canada needs heading into a home World Cup.“There’s a part that I believe you have or you don’t, and there’s a part that throughout experiences, it arises as well,” Crepeau explained to The Athletic recently about his leadership style. “Even when I was young, I was always the one guy that was trying to push people forward, push people towards winning games.”Marsch and Canada prolonged their decision to name the starting goalkeeper. Even during Canada’s first World Cup tune-up 2-0 friendly win on Monday against Uzbekistan, Crepeau and St. Clair each played 45 minutes. Marsch informed Crepeau and St. Clair in a meeting Wednesday night in Montreal.There were long stretches through 2025 — Marsch’s first full calendar year coaching Canada — that it seemed St. Clair would be named Canada’s World Cup starter. St. Clair is taller and appeared to have better reach to make dynamic saves. St. Clair’s club form in 2025 was elite too: with Minnesota United, St. Clair was named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year for the 2025 season.Through the three international windows in September, October and November, Canada played six matches. St. Clair was given the start against the three strongest opponents in each window: Wales, Colombia and Ecuador.And so the starting goalkeeper position seemed like St. Clair’s to lose.But in 2026, St. Clair moved to Inter Miami and his club form dipped. In fairness, Crepeau also has not experienced a rock-solid club season, allowing an MLS-high 3.27 goals against per 90 minutes.Maxime Crepeau and Dayne St. Clair during a recent game between Orlando City and Inter Miami (Calvin Hernandez/Getty Images)St. Clair might offer a higher upside than Crepeau. But he did not show that enough this season. Quietly, Crepeau kept battling.There was a time in the fall of 2022 that the World Cup seemed possible for Crepeau. He was Canada’s backup to Milan Borjan leading into Qatar, though more and more as the tournament inched closer, Crepeau showed off better distribution and quality than Borjan.Yet in his final game before the tournament, MLS Cup 2022, Crepeau did as he does best: he came out with aggression to stop a shot. The ensuing collision saw Crepeau break his leg. He was out of the World Cup.“I wouldn’t want to lie: (the 2026 World Cup) is a bit more amplified. It hurt me a lot to miss out on Qatar — especially so close and in the fashion that everything happened,” Crepeau said.“The whole scenario was pretty wild. But now, four years later, I came back from that injury and I’m able to enjoy my football again. I was able to play for the country and club, and to pretty much say that Max is back from that broken leg, and I’m finding my game again after that injury. I’m proud to say that I’m back to myself, back to the level I can have and to my full potential.”After being told he would be Canada’s starter, Crepeau immediately called his wife Cristina. They shared tears. “We’ve been together since the academy days in Montreal,” Crepeau said. “People see me on the field, but anyone I am close with knows we’re in this together.”Because battling is what Crepeau does better than most. He struggled to get crucial playing time with the Portland Timbers in 2025 with the World Cup on the horizon. “I was in a bad situation in Portland where I didn’t have (the team’s) full support,” Crepeau said.He found his game again after a move to Orlando City.“I have a lot of baggage with me even though I’m just 32,” Crepeau said. “I have a lot of life experience that others can have access to. They can have conversation with me about it and that we can find some positives out of it. A little bit of guidance. So I think my experiences in my career, the highs, the lows, people can reflect on those highs and lows.”As the World Cup has crept closer, Marsch and the team’s leadership have tried to change the tone of camps: from expectant and eager over a home World Cup to serious and poised. In Canada’s World Cup training camp, there has been a noticeable shift in attitude among players.Blink once in this Canadian training camp, and you will miss someone on the team uttering the word “calm” multiple times.“What does the team need in that moment?” Crepeau asked of how he rounds out the team. “I think the team just needs somebody that will bring reassurance, will calm the chaotic moments. And will just bring confidence out of everybody on the field and on the bench and the stadium.”Crepeau was forced to make two remarkable saves after defensive breakdowns in Canada’s friendly against Uzbekistan. Those saves kept Canada in position to take a lead.Maxime Crepeau in action for Canada (Tim Vizer /AFP via Getty Images)“I think that’s a very high quality that goalkeepers around the world have at the highest level,” Crepeau said. “A goalkeeper can literally put water on the fire and just help your team to breathe to have a great moment.”In high-stakes moments for Canada, Crepeau has constantly responded. And with all due respect to St. Clair, Crepeau has performed in a way that St. Clair has not.In the days leading up to Canada’s 2024 Copa America opener against World Cup champions Argentina, Marsch stressed to his team: You are capable of beating any team on the planet.Many players looked around in surprise. They were a talented team, but had also gone 0-3 at the World Cup against great teams less than two years earlier. There were inclinations to not fully believe in their capabilities against Argentina.And then Crepeau came out and set the tone for Canada: he stepped out of his goal bravely against some of the world’s best attackers and made multiple saves, including against Lionel Messi. His shot-stopping and courage embodied the tone Marsch was trying to set.Maxime Crepeau dives at the feet of Lionel Messi (Hector Vivas/Getty Images)Canada might have lost the game 2-0, but Crepeau’s fearlessness and calm embodied a changed team.Flash forward a year to the 2025 Gold Cup. St. Clair was tasked with stopping penalties in Canada’s quarter-final against Guatemala. He let two through his fingers — and two Canadians failed to convert their penalties, it needs to be said — as Canada was ousted.The decision alone on Canada’s starting goalkeeper did not come down to those two moments. Nor did it come down to how each of Crepeau and St. Clair performed in their respective halves against Uzbekistan. It came down to Crepeau’s breadth of work. And how his reassuring approach right now, before the biggest tournament of their lives, benefits Canada.If Canada want to be calm and fearless in a home World Cup, they need Crepeau standing behind them.“We’ve spoken about not imposing any limits on ourselves and just enjoying the ride and going all in every day,” Crepeau said of the World Cup.“Once you limit yourself, you will find barriers. Don’t limit yourself.”