After three straight wins, the US Men’s National Team was looking to close off their September/October camp with a win over Canada and a perfect record into the new World Cup cycle. However, former USMNT player and current Canada manager Jesse Marsche and the Canada squad had other ideas.
Coach Mauricio Pochettino chose to make a number of changes, with Justin Ellis, Yunus Musah, George Campbell, Brooklyn Raines, Brian Schwake, and Mathis Albert coming in.
The USMNT again started out on the backfoot,
with Canada dominating in the first half. Jesse Marsch’s men seemed to have a very simple plan: press the US into turnovers and, failing that, press them into the ground. And they were dogged in that plan: By the 20 minute mark, Canada had already committed 10 fouls. And it was getting them looks on goal. First, they had a long distance shot that went WAY wide to the left. And then they had another shot from distance that went marginally closer to the goal. And then they had an actual shot on target! right at Brian Schwake. But Canada quickly got the ball back and created a dangerous cross from the left through Jacob Shaffelburg, forcing Schwake to act.
And yet, despite Canada’s domination of the game, it was the US who actually got on the scoresheet. When the US finally got into Canada’s penalty area, Alex Freeman was able to find Justin Ellis who was crashing the back post. 1-0 USA, perhaps against the run of play.
To close out the half, the US finally spent some time in Canada’s final third. They got a bevy of set pieces, both fouls and corners. But they came to naught. The most threatening moment was a free kick from Gio Reyna that was blocked to another corner. With that, the half turned over with the US in the lead.
The second half came with a slew of changes, with Pochettino choosing to tweak the players on the field by bringing on Sebastian Berhalter and Sergino Dest for Gio Reyna (who was fouled incessently in the first half) and Yunus Musah, respectively. Justin Ellis also came off after taking a knock in the first half, with Julian Hall steppin to replace him. There were a further set of changes at the hour mark with Tyler Adams coming on for Brooklyn Raines. Cole Campbell also came on, making his debut with Mathis Albert coming off. And then, just moments later, Canada had their best attacking moment of the match. Canada played in a free kick in the USMNT’s final third, finding Luc de Fougerolles. de Fougerolles volleyed it towards the near post corner, forcing Schwake into a reaction save to push the ball onto the crossbar. Canada got a slew of other corners and free kick opportunities, but couldn’t make anything of them.
The US did have their moments in the second half. In particular, Julian Hall had a good look after getting the ball down free on the right hand side, but his shot only found the side netting. Berhalter got a shot soon after, but his shot was easily blocked.
From there, the game ground out to the end. There was only one significant opportunity, with Canada getting a header off a corner in the box but putting the shot wide. Instead, there were plenty of fouls. All told, Canada committed 22, with the US turning up a similar 21 fouls. However, despite the grim play on display, the US will have a lot to be happy with. This was a fourth straight game with teenagers having a big impact, with 7 goals scored by teenagers across the window. The US took on and beat both Canada and Mexico, the biggest rivals in CONCACAF. And the team managed a second straight clean sheet.
The players now turn back to their clubs, with the USMNT returning to action on November 14th and 17th for the Nations League Quarterfinals against Haiti.
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