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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Sport
Beau Dure

USA 1-1 Canada: World Cup 2022 qualifier – as it happened

United States midfielder Brenden Aaronson (11) plays the ball past his marker.
United States midfielder Brenden Aaronson (11) plays the ball past his marker. Photograph: Christopher Hanewinckel/USA Today Sports

And here’s a full report from tonight’s game:

And that’s all for a game that will either be a small footnote in a successful U.S. qualifying campaign or a result that haunts these young Americans and their rattled fans for some time to come.

Only 12 more of these.

U.S. players have a pregame huddle in front of an enthusiastic crowd.
U.S. players have a pregame huddle in front of an enthusiastic crowd. Photograph: Christopher Hanewinckel/USA Today Sports

Brendan Aaronson speaks and gives less of an effort to withhold his frustration, saying it’s hard to play against a team that wants to stay back.

Alexi Lalas is in full rant mode about qualifying mishaps going back to 2017. “The grass is too high? Figure it out. It’s too hot? Figure it out.”

In other words, not a fluke:

It’s probably too early to talk about Gregg Berhalter’s job security.

John Brooks’ job security is probably gone.

Weston McKennie has earned the wrath of fans for a while.

The bright side for U.S. fans: McKennie will be back at some point, as will Gio Reyna and Tim Weah.

And give Canada credit. They defended well. Davies was always dangerous until he had to leave, and then Buchanan posed some problems.

Christian Pulisic gamely steps up for the postgame interview. They have a lot of games left. They were on the front foot for much of the game. But you can hear the frustration as he says all the proper things.

FINAL: USA 1-1 Canada

The USA won the CONCACAF Nations League.

The USA won the Gold Cup.

The USA just dropped two points at home to a team they should’ve beaten.

Tweet of the night:

90 min +2: Pulisic with a good corner kick, and Miles Robinson’s diving header goes over the bar.

90 min: Bodies hit the floor. Dogs and cats are fighting. And it’s a harmless U.S. cross in the end.

John Herdman was the Canadian women’s coach when the USA got a fortunate call and won their Olympic semifinal in 2012. He can taste the result here.

Only three minutes of stoppage time.

89 min: Canada’s Sam Adekugbe holds things up by going down with an apparent cramp. The crowd is not happy.

86 min: And Pulisic puts it over the bar. That would’ve been difficult.

Gregg Berhalter looks like a man who fears for his job. Jurgen Klinsmann was fired around this same time in the last qualifying cycle. The USA has one more game in this window, and it’s at Honduras, where nothing is guaranteed.

85 min: Sargent gets the better of Hutchinson, and Johnston trips him. Free kick from 30 yards. Pulisic lines up.

83 min: At last, here come the subs. It’s like a hockey line change.

OUT: Aaronson, Pefok, Lletget

IN: Roldan, Sargent, Konrad

Pulisic stays.

81 min: Have we mentioned that the USA hasn’t made a sub aside from putting in Yedlin for the injured Dest? If the USA can’t find a winner, the heat will turn up on coach Gregg Berhalter for leaving a tired atack on the field.

Celebration for Canada.
Celebration for Canada. Photograph: Christopher Hanewinckel/USA Today Sports

79 min: Oh my, oh my. The USA might be lucky there’s no VAR her. Buchanan beats two defenders and then drops as he runs with Adams.

But the replay shows the ball was outside the box, and the contact was dubious.

78 min: My apologies to Jonathan David, who simply zips past John Brooks with the ball and barrels in from the wing before shooting wide from a difficult angle. Clearly Canada still has some attack left, especially if Brooks is going to play like this.

76 min: And that’s it for Davies. He can’t continue. Adams sportingly gives him a half-embrace on his way out.

The uber-experienced Jonathan Osorio and the ancient Atiba Hutchinson are on.

75 min: Brooks with a long ball ahead to Pefok, who tries to nod the ball over to the onrushing Aaronson but plays it too far in front.

Davies is still on for now.

73 min: This is strange. Adams atones for his error a bit by stopping Davies cold with Lletget’s help. Davies shepherds the ball out of play as it glances off the corner flag for a throw.

And now Davies is down, grimacing.

And he’s motioning for a sub.

This would be horrible for Canada. There’s really no attack without him.

69 min: Yedlin has a nifty backheel to break up an attack, and the USA is off to the races. Tyler Adams fouled Mark-Anthony Kaye off the ball and gets a yellow card.

We’ve mentioned this is a young team, right?

Updated

66 min: Canada is looking more dangerous. Kaye sends a long shot just over the bar.

I neglected to mention the view on the broadcast of a Canadian taunting U.S. fans while wearing a Montreal Expos hat. The Expos were a baseball team that was swiped away and taken to Washington.

YELLOW to Kaye for a clumsy challenge at midfield.

Hey, remember Buchanan and David and how all the Canadians on Twitter were upset that they didn’t start? They’re on now.

About that goal, in which the two older guys on the backline were just roasted:

GOAL! USA 1-1 Canada (Larin 62)

Alphonso Davies races down the left and plays a simple cross to Cyle Larin, who is all alone for the tap-in from five yards.

The crowd falls silent.

Updated

62 min: Canada playing with fire at the back, but they’re also creating some slightly uncomfortable mome.......

60 min: The commentators are reasonably asking if Pulisic might come out soon, given his rust from his Covid layoff, but he’s looking good here. Earns a corner that is nearly turned in by Pefok.

I’d like to see more of the incisive buildup, but here’s the goal:

Canada looks mildly dangerous while the stadium is still buzzing, but the ball falls harmlessly into Matt Turner’s hands.

GOAL! USA 1-0 Canada (Aaronson 54 min)

Thank the referee for playing advantage as Pulisic was fouled.

The ball went Pefok-A. Robinson-Aaronson, with the latter stretching out a leg to poke it in from five yards out.

Updated

55 min: A 50-50 challenge ends up as a foul on Lletget, the most curious refereeing decision so far.

53 min: With Doneil Henry momentarily out injured, the USA has possession but little else.

Halftime clearly ruined this team’s momentum.

50 min: We have players down with no calls, and honestly, Pulisic went down far too easily.

Now another Canadian cross, this one from Reading player Junior Hoilett zips through the penalty area. Nervous start for the USA here.

49 min: Canada gets forward long enough for a moderately promising cross. Not much else.

48 min: Nothing has happened.

Second-half kickoff: All 22 players who finished the first half are back for the second.

And also elsewhere ...

El Salvador-Honduras has concluded 0-0.

So your standings are:

Mexico 6
Panama 4
El Salvador 2
Honduras 2
USA 1
Canada 1
Costa Rica 1
Jamaica 0

Three advance automatically. Another goes to a playoff.

We have news from elsewhere:

They’re scoreless in the 21st minute of stoppage time. (Apparently, the power outage didn’t affect the referee’s watch.)

HALFTIME: USA 0-0 Canada

The U.S. attack has looked good for the last 25-30 minutes. The Canadian counter has been effectively neutralized.

And yet they have no goals to show for it.

Updated

45 min: Oh they’re threatening now. Yedlin crosses too far, but it’s played in the middle just past Pefok’s head. Lletget unleashes a shot that nearly takes Pefok’s head off but instead goes just wide of the post.

A goal in the two minutes of stoppage time we’re getting here would be more than deserved at this point.

44 min: The USA playing a man down, and Davies is on the ball down the flank, but the USA has Tyler Adams, so that’s that.

Now Yedlin comes out to make it 11 as IFAB intended.

Here’s that wild chance (now fixed):

Updated

40 min: OFF THE POST! Brooks plays a 30-yard ball to Lletget, who pivots and plays to Aaronson, who rifles the ball to where Pulisic and Pefok are literally falling over each other to get to it. Borjan would’ve had no chance.

The bad news for the USA: Dest is down. DeAndre Yedlin has already been warming up. Not going in yet.

39 min: Canada with some promising possession deep in the U.S. half. Then some action either way ending with plays that our referee could’ve whistled but does not.

36 min: A valid critique of the U.S. attack:

And as I say that, Pefok announces his presence by holding off a defender and putting an inviting cross along the top of the 6 that someone really should’ve accepted.

Much better from the USA in the last 15 minutes.

31 min: Speaking of scrums and rucks, about eight players converge in the penalty arc, and the USA winds up with possession. The ball gets to Lletget, whose weak shot deflects off Scott Kennedy, who nearly had an own goal a couple of minutes ago and nearly does it again.

Corner kick, counterattack and YELLOW to the USA’s John Brooks for a foul to break things up.

Here’s the earlier near-calamity for Kennedy.

Updated

Fox is quick with the highlight:

28 min: YELLOW to Canada’s Richie Laryea for one foul too many, a blatant and pointless shove in Pulisic’s back in midfield.

And he have a scrum! OK, technically a ruck, and we’ll take this occasion to say the USA is trying to avenge Canada’s win in Rugby World Cup qualification.

27 min: CHANCE and it starts with Dest passing the ball! It goes ahead to Aaronson, who crosses. The ball glances off a Canadian defender, and Borjan has to stretch to prevent the own goal.

Meanwhile, around the world ...

Here’s the report on that coup ...

23 min: Aaronson surges through a cluster of defenders at the top of the penalty area but is eventually stopped.

We go end to end, where Miles Robinson alertly races back to stop a Canadian attack before it starts.

21 min: So why not test the injured keeper right away? Antonee Robinson does just that from 25 yards out, but Borjan falls to his right to smother it.

Johnston then trips on the grass. Again, though he’s Canadian, he plays for Nashville SC. We’re in Nashville.

19 min: Oh, this looks bad for Canada. Goalkeeper Milan Borjan, a 33-year-old who plays for Red Star Belgrade, is down and pointing to his leg and/or groin. The trainer is out, and a bunch of sweaty players are getting water. He’ll stay in.

18 min: Want to talk deceiving stats? MLSSoccer.com’s stats say the USA has completed 126 passes to 29 for Canada. And yet Canada has come closer to scoring by far.

17 min: OK, we’re told this is the first World Cup qualifier for the 30-year-old Nation, and he’s called into action as Pulisic loses his balance and then is fouled (?) by Mark-Anthony Kaye, which is also the name of the co-host of the Yes Music Podcast.

The ARs are from Jamaica; the fourth official is from Grenada.

CHANCE! Dest naps while the ball is played over his head to Davies. He reaches the end line and plays it back to Larin, who should’ve put it away. Instead, Turner is able to get a hand to it and deflect it off the post.

15th minute, and Canada has been better.

Our referee is Oshane Nation from Jamaica. The ARs are ... hang on ...

11 min: Cyle Larin is all alone in space! Was he offside? Apparently not -- the AR didn’t have his flag up, and there’s no VAR for which to wait. It’s a tame shot in the end. But Canada has looked more dangerous here, which is ... not expected.

8 min: Alphonso Davies shows his class with a run down the left. He draws two U.S. defenders and threatens to beat both of them, but the superb Tyler Adams finally wins it in a battle of two of the best players to come through MLS academies.

7 min: Bundesliga and World Cup veteran John Brooks commits a lazy foul, and Canada gets a half-decent free kick opportunity. End results is a Canadian foul.

Scott Bassett points out that kickoff was after 8:12. But it was a nice rendition of the U.S. anthem for a change, wasn’t it?

United States fans make some noise.
United States fans make some noise. Photograph: Christopher Hanewinckel/USA Today Sports

4 min: A poor Pulisic free kick nevertheless earns a corner kick. They take it short and accomplish nothing. Canada, wearing all black like a northern New Zealand, counter but fumble it away.

3 min: Pulisic gets the ball and ... is immediately fouled hard by Alistair Johnston, playing on his homefield (Nashville SC).

1 min: Canada wins a corner kick. They take forever to set it up. A bit early for time-wasting, isn’t it? Anyway, it’s nothing important.

Speaking of referee certification, our officials tonight are ...

...

OK, surely they’ll tell us ...

It’s kickoff.

... surely they’ll tell us ...

The Fox Sports broadcast starts with what I believe is Chris Stapleton singing Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters,” and it’s all sorts of awesome.

A robot brings a live connection with a 13-year-old kid to midfield, and it’s all sorts of awesome.

Weather in Nashville looks all sorts of awesome. More than 40,000 fans expected. Are we supposed to be maskless for such occasions now?

Kickoff in ... yeah, you’ve got time to go to the fridge.

Elsewhere in World Cup qualifying ...

Panama is up 3-0 late in Jamaica. That’ll take the Reggae Boyz to 0-2.

Mexico just took a 1-0 lead in Costa Rica. If that holds, Mexico will take the group lead at 2-0.

El Salvador and Honduras, always a tense affair, are deadlocked at 0-0.

The big news, of course, is in Brazil, where we had a pitch invasion for the Covid age, with health officials suddenly racing onto the field to stop play seven minutes after kickoff, claiming some players from Argentina had skirted pandemic regulations. That sounds like a trick question from my referee recertification quiz.

Brazil and Argentina clear the field.
Brazil and Argentina clear the field. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Weston McKennie has apologized for violating Covid protocols and therefore not playing tonight ...

Game time is ... ?

Scott Bassett checks in via email: “Any idea if 8:00 is the actual kickoff time or if it’s the usual American network bait and switch time in order to pump more ads for crap we don’t need into our commercially saturated brains?”

The latter, though it won’t drag out as long as always.

EXPECTATIONS

Canada has good reason to feel good for the first time in a long, long time. Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich) is the best Canadian player in decades and scored the first goal in a 2-0 win over the USA in BC time. (Before Covid.) Jonathan David (Lille) and Tajon Buchanan (moving from New England to Club Brugge) are young players who are so highly regarded that their absence from tonight’s starting XI is breaking Twitter. Cyle Larin (Besiktas) is a proven scorer at this level. They made the semifinals of the Gold Cup. With the World Cup field expanded to 529 teams, qualification may be within reach.

Alphonso Davies in action against Honduras in the first World Cup qualifier.
Alphonso Davies in action against Honduras in the first World Cup qualifier. Photograph: Phamai Techaphan/REX/Shutterstock

The USA are hovering between “hope” and “pressure.” Christian Pulisic (Chelsea) was the first in a flood of young players to top European leagues, including Weston McKennie (Juventus), who isn’t playing tonight, Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund), who isn’t playing tonight, and Tim Weah (Lille), who isn’t playing tonight.

Konrad de la Fuente recently moved from Barcelona to Marseille. Sergiño Dest will join him in leaving Barcelona if he doesn’t learn to pass the ball when he’s quintuple-teamed.

Josh Sargent recently moved from Werder Bremen to Norwich City so he could keep playing at the top level and alternately amaze and frustrate, as strikers tend to do.

This is a young team, which may explain why they couldn’t find a breakthrough in the World Cup qualifying opener in El Salvador. The elder statesman by far is defensive cornerstone Tim Ream, who has played for Fulham through literal ups and downs.

Meanwhile, for CANADA! CANADA! CANADA! ...

Rather than post the fancy Twitter graphic listing the starters, let’s take a look at how the USA! USA! USA! might line up:

Good evening all (if you dwell in one of the countries competing tonight). We’ll set the stage after we get through a whirlwind of lineup notes.

Zach Steffen is out with COVID, though Matt Turner has more or less nailed down the starting spot in goal for now.

Gio Reyna is out with a hamstring issue, which will elicit groans from all who recall his father’s constant nagging injuries.

And Weston McKennie ... is out for some reason.

BUT ... Christian Pulisic is back.

Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how the US got on their last game:

The United States showed promise but no ability to finish in its pandemic-delayed World Cup qualifying opener, drawing 0-0 at El Salvador on Thursday night in the type of Central American stadium that repeatedly has stymied the Americans.

Both teams created few chances before a boisterious yet polite sellout crowd of about 30,000 that started filling Monumental Estadio Cuscatlán, Central America’s largest, about eight and a half hours before kickoff.

The US, trying to rebound from their failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, failed to win their sixth straight road qualifier dating to 2016 (two losses, four draws).

“We can make a lot of excuses about the game, but at the end of the day there’s some positives to take away,” midfielder Tyler Adams said. “We got a clean sheet, we didn’t give up a goal, we’ll take the point and we’ve got to focus on the next game.”

You can read the full report below:

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